Alumni Profile: Jim Gavin

Alumni Profile: Jim Gavin

Photo by SMU

Written by Nathan Robichaud

Determining a career path can be intimidating and often the more difficult the career, the more frightening the road appears. Yet students of all faculties find themselves drawn to a field well known for its relentless long nights of studying, competitive and adversarial nature, and looming economic and academic barriers of entry. I am, of course, referring to the field of Law, and I was fortunate enough to speak with Saint Mary’s business program alumni and Dalhousie law student, Jim Gavin. Jim was willing to describe his motivations, experience, and aspirations for his future in Law, and discuss his motivation for founding a vital society at the Schulich school of law to advocate for law students at Dal with mental and physical disabilities.

“As a lawyer, I’ll have the capacity to create change directly,” Jim, like many eagerly pursuing a Law degree, is drawn to the idea of being directly involved in the nitty-gritty of many social issues. He described a pro-bono effort he’s involved in working with youth to educate students going into university about sexual assault laws and their rights. “It’s fulfilling work. I want to make sure I can keep doing this as a lawyer, but you hear a lot of horror stories about lawyers with good intentions that sell their souls to the man and I want to make sure that doesn’t happen to me.” Jim’s aspirations speak for themselves, but he also mentioned feeling split on what field of law he would like to pursue, “being able to be an agent of change and make an impact in individual lives is great, but Trade Law is what inspired me to pursue Law.” He described this as a standard split in Law. Specific fields allow for significant impacts on individual lives, and others create broad effects that affect us collectively though not in such a direct sense.

Jim’s commitment to be a direct agent of change is observable in his actions, even in his early pursuit of Law. Feeling there was a lack of advocacy for Law students with disabilities, and with the help of other first-year students dealing with disabilities, the Dalhousie Disability Allied Law Students Association (DDALSA) was founded to aid those in need to reach their potential within the School of Law. Jim credits his desire to ensure aid is available to his own experience dealing with both dyslexia and ADHD and that he was inspired by an Ontario lawyer, Orlando Da Silva. Da Silva has been open about his own experiences as a lawyer who deals with mental illness which inspires Jim, and many others, to continue not to back down in the face of adversity. 

DDALSA, though only just founded by first-year students who themselves are still adjusting to the challenges of Law school, aims to break down the stigma associated with mental and physical disabilities, “it’s important for me that I refuse to lower my sights because of my disability. Getting into Law school was a big moment for me that proves I can succeed because of my disability, not despite it.” This advocacy group aims to help Jim and others like him succeed, but it takes people like Jim to ensure DDALSA becomes a positive agent for change. In parting, I asked what goals the group has for next year, “we would like to bring in Orlando Da Silva to do a talk at Dalhousie, but nothing is in the works yet.” As previously mentioned, the team behind this initiative is just getting started, but with individuals committed to making an impact, Jim feels they can do just that.