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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 16, 2001

OTTAWA - Canadian Bar Association President Daphne Dumont, Q.C., is pleased to announce that Talha Syed, a graduate of the University of Victoria Law School, has won the CBA's Viscount Bennett Fellowship for graduate level studies for the 2001-2002 school year.

Mr. Syed, of Camrose, Alberta, was selected from a field of 18 legal scholars from across Canada. He will pursue a graduate law degree at Harvard University in intellectual property and eventually plans to teach law. "Intellectual property law interests me because it is central to some of the most important developments in the world today: globalization, the information economy and the bio-tech revolution," says Talha Syed.

"From an analytical point of view, the history and current operation of intellectual property law presents a specific case study for evaluating general hypotheses regarding the development and role of law in society," he adds.

At the undergraduate level, Talha Syed completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) at the University of Western Ontario, with a major in Political Science. After completing his BA, Mr. Syed worked abroad for 18 months. He taught English in South Korea, which sparked his interest in teaching, and served as a volunteer researcher at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, a non-governmental organization in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Beyond his academic success, Mr. Syed was a member of the Environmental Law Centre, did volunteer research for the Legal Info Clinic, a drop-in service which provides free legal assistance to the community, and was an editor at the student-run Appeal at the University of Victoria. He also played a variety of intramural sports, including ball hockey and tennis.

The fellowship was established under the terms of a trust by former Prime Minister and CBA President Viscount Bennett. The first fellowship was awarded in 1946. Since then, some 65 students have been awarded the fellowships. Valued at $20,000, it is awarded annually to a Canadian student to encourage high standards of legal education, training and ethics.

The Canadian Bar Association is dedicated to improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 37,000 lawyers, notaries, law teachers and students across Canada are members.

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CONTACT: Hannah Bernstein, Canadian Bar Association, 500 - 865 Carling Ave. , Ottawa, ON, K1S 5S8 Tel: (613) 237-2925, ext. 146; E-mail: hannahb@cba.org.