Trailblazers

The camera catches Diane Goodman (LLB 1983, LLM 1991) standing proudly behind her daughter, Ella, who has inherited her mother’s big eyes. Goodman’s eyes have seen a lot: her work as senior legal advisor for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is filled with the disturbing details of women and children being beaten and raped in refugee camps. While she has risked her own safety to help those in troubled areas of Rwanda, Cambodia and Haiti, her spirit remains intact. “Being in the field with refugee women and children and seeing what they can achieve in the most difficult circumstances with absolutely nothing has been incredibly inspiring,” she says.

The candid shot is one of 19 photographs in the Faculty of Law’s Trailblazers, a salute to U of T’s female law grads. For the exhibit, the women chose how they would like to be photographed. Pam Shime (LLB 1995), who has developed courses in advocacy and in gender and the law for U of T, had her picture taken on her black Harley-Davidson, smoking a fat cigar. Jean Fraser (BSc 1969 Trinity, JD 1975), a senior partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, asked to be photographed on the dock of her cottage on Lake Joseph.

Dean Mayo Moran, who became the Faculty of Law’s first female dean in January, unveiled Trailblazers in March. The exhibit is on permanent display at Flavelle House, 78 Queen’s Park.