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Congratulations to graduating student Shane Belbin, who recently won this year’s Canadian Law Student Essay Prize presented by the Canadian Defence Lawyers (CDL) Foundation. The goal of the prize, as stated by the Foundation, is to “promote interest in civil defence litigation as a preferred field of practice and to encourage academic excellence.”

The competition required Shane to write a paper relevant to the interaction between insurance coverage and tort claims, including a discussion of issues arising in insurance law, tort law, and civil procedure. Tort law and civil procedure are mandatory courses at Schulich, and Shane chose insurance law as an elective course in the fall term.

In December, Shane saw the paper-submission invitation in one of the CDO’s weekly newsletters. “When I saw the topic, I thought it was something I could start picking at over the Christmas break,” he says. “That was me making a poor estimate of how much work it would be!”

In January, Shane started writing what ended up being a 5,500-word paper titled “Unconscionable Conduct Aside: Civil Procedure Issues in Enforcing Insurance Settlements.” It explores the issues that can arise when a settlement is reached and a release from liability is signed, and the injured party thinks afterward that he or she didn’t get a fair deal. Shane reached out to Professor Lorraine Lafferty, who had taught him insurance law in first semester and who agreed to review his draft.

“Even if you don’t win, it’s worth doing the extra work to write and submit these papers, if you can make the time. There’s value in the experience and the exposure.” — Shane Belbin

On April 19, the CDLF emailed Shane with good news: he had won the national prize! “I was surprised but pleased,” he says. “I wrote it for fun, as opposed to for a course credit, which other submissions likely were.” Shane has already put some of the $5,000 prize toward a deposit on a wedding-reception venue; he and his fiancée are planning to get married in the summer of 2017 in Pasadena, N.L.

“I’m delighted Shane has won this national competition,” says Prof. Lafferty. “Most law students write an essay to obtain a grade and course credit. Shane took the initiative to write this essay and enter the competition on his own time. In his essay, he combined elements of study from each of his three years at Schulich – Tort Law from first year, Civil Procedure from second year, and Insurance Law from third year. It’s satisfying to see a student integrate his learning from various courses in the curriculum. His prize is well deserved!”

This isn’t the first of Shane’s papers to receive accolades; last fall he won the Magna Carta Canada 2015 National Essay Competition for Nova Scotia for his 1,500-word paper “Magna Carta and Access to Justice: The Legacy of Proportionality in Nova Scotia.”

“Even if you don’t win, it’s worth doing the extra work to write and submit these papers, if you can make the time,” says Shane, who starts articling at Curtis Dawe in St. John’s on May 2. “There’s value in the experience and the exposure.” His essay will be published electronically and distributed widely through CDL’s national network. On May 26, he’ll attend the CDL’s conference in Toronto, where he’ll be presented with the award.