Law Students Panel 2020

Sophie Zhao was a summer fellow at Innocence Canada and is a 2L student at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Law. She previously completed a Joint Honours Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Psychology at McGill University. This semester, Sophie will be a full-time student in the criminal law division of Downtown Legal Services, a clinic affiliated with the law school. Additionally, Sophie is working part-time for an art lawyer on research related to preserving cultural heritage and crimes against art. In her spare time, Sophie enjoys reading literature, watching operas, and solo backpacking.

Matthew Tse is a second-year law student at McGill University. His interests include theories of justice, technology and the law, and social empowerment. He has also written, among other things, on rap music’s relationship with the civil rights movement, gender inequality in the medical field, and gangs in the Prairies. Prior to his law degree, Tse graduated with a BA in sociology from McGill. Beyond academics, he has played for Hong Kong’s national lacrosse team at the 2018 World Championship, and also founded an e-commerce business during his freshman year (www.visionsocks.ca).

Katelyn was called to the bar in Ontario earlier this summer. She recently completed her articling year at Cassels, a full-service Bay Street firm. She will be returning to that firm in the autumn, where she will be joining both the litigation and business groups, and her practice will focus on intellectual property litigation and competition law. Katelyn attended law school at Western University as a mature student. Prior to law school, she worked for the government of Ontario, and primarily the Ministry of the Attorney General, in various roles focused on business and organizational strategy. Katelyn has also been an LSAT tutor and instructor with the Princeton Review Canada, certified at the ultimate level, since 2014, and has worked with students to improve their personal statements for their law school applications. She also holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts at the University of Toronto. Katelyn sits on the Board of Directors of the Woodsworth College Alumni Association and the Woodsworth College Council.

Genevieve Antono is a third-year student (3L) at Harvard Law School and Co-President of the Harvard Association for Law and Business (HALB). She is also host of the HALB Leadership Podcast, which is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other major platforms. At school, she also volunteers as a Harvard Law School Admissions Fellow and is a recipient of the American Bar Association's Women in M&A Scholarship and Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC) Scholarship. Gennie graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University in 2017 with a BA in political science. Prior to law school, she worked as a Legal & Compliance Analyst for Real Estate Private Funds at The Blackstone Group and as an SEO Fellow at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. She spent her 1L summer at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York and Hong Kong. She spent both her 1L and 2L summers at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

Rebecca completed her law degree at the University of Ottawa in the common law program. During her time at the University of Ottawa, Rebecca volunteered for a variety of social justice initiatives including LEAF’s "Only Yes Means Yes" program, which taught high school students about the law of consent, and Pro Bono Students Canada (PBSC) as a volunteer for a research project with the Sexual Assault Network. She was later a member of the Student Advisory Board of PBSC at the University of Ottawa. In the last year of her studies she worked as a caseworker at the University’s Legal Aid Clinic in the Women’s Division, assisting clients who had been the victims of violence with applications to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board. It was during her summer experience at Innocence Canada, where she worked on legal education modules and client cases, that she knew she wanted to pursue a career in criminal law. Rebecca is thrilled to be continuing her legal career and social justice work as a staff lawyer at Innocence Canada by helping those who the criminal justice system has failed.