Expertise
Education:
- University of Western Ontario (2019) JD
- University of Ottawa (2013) BA (Specialization in English)
Details
- Bio
- Blog Posts
- Recognition
Sean Blakeley
is an articling student at Lenczner Slaght.
Sean recently completed his Juris Doctor at Western Law. In addition to earning several prizes and scholarships – including the Robert M Solomon Scholarship in Tort Law and the Canvasback Publishing Prize in Administrative Law – Sean completed the JD program as Western Law’s 2019 Gold Medalist. Apart from his studies, Sean spent most of his time involved in the law school’s mooting program and on his job as a research assistant. Throughout his program, he demonstrated a strong interest in issues of constitutional and administrative law.
Before attending law school, Sean worked for many years as a chef in Ottawa. By the end of his culinary career, he held a senior position at one of the city’s top restaurants. Whenever he is not working or studying law, Sean is always trying to find Toronto’s very best restaurants.
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Highwood Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Judicial Committee) v Wall
Until recently, there was some uncertainty as to whether, in some circumstances, the decisions of private organizations might be subject to judicial review. For example, in West Toronto Football Club v Ontario Soccer Association, the Ontario Divisional Court held that some decisions of the private Ontario Soccer Association could be reviewed, as it exercises a compulsory power over anyone who wishes to play soccer in Ontario. Conversely, in Milberg v North York Hockey League, the Ontario Superior Court held that it did not have jurisdiction to judicially review the decision of the North York Hockey League, as the League was not exercising a statutory power or power of decision. Last week, the Supreme Court of Canada clarified this area of administrative law in Highwood Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Judicial Committee) v Wall: in its unanimous decision, written by Justice Rowe, the Supreme Court held that “judicial review is reserved for state action”. Given the confusion in the lower courts, this is significant.
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Gold Medal (2019)
University of Western Ontario, Faculty of Law