Photo of Chiamaka Ilozue [LLM/25]

Chiamaka Ilozue

Thesis: “Shareholder proposal in Canada: questions, concerns, and opportunities for improvement.”

Advisor: Professor Darcy MacPherson

Chiamaka Ilozue completed her LLB at Lancaster University in the UK in 2019, and received her BL (Barrister-at-Law) in 2021 at Nigerian Law School in Lagos, Nigeria. Prior to commencing studies in her LLM at Robson Hall, she worked as a Legal Officer at the Securities and Exchange Commission, and was Legal Counsel at Etiaba & Co, Etiaba Chambers in the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria. Ilozue has worked as a graduate research assistant at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Law while completing requirements for her LLM degree.

What is your thesis on and who is your advisor?

My thesis is on the corporate aspect of law. This is because my interests in corporate law were naturally informed by the inconsistency laws on claims and tort governing the business environment I grew up in. Hence, my thesis topic is on: Shareholder Proposal in Canada: Questions, Concerns and Opportunities for Improvement. My thesis advisor is Professor Darcy MacPherson.

Where did you previously study or practice law?

I had my first degree at the University of Lancaster. Then, I proceeded to the Nigerian Law School where I was called to one of the largest bar associations in Africa as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Thus, I was practicing law in Nigeria before I came to Canada.  

How did you come to study at the UM Faculty of Law?

Pretty much, I was searching for schools that offered a Master of Laws (LLM) program and came across the University of Manitoba. However, I was more particular about the University of Manitoba, specifically for graduate studies in Master of Laws (LLM) because of its renowned reputation in quality education and superior learning systems. Professors at the university are widely known for their intensive research and expertise from Contract Law to Human Rights Law. 

What do you hope to do with your LLM?

Obtaining an LLM (Master of Laws) from the University of Manitoba will guide me to what public and corporate legal teams I would love to be part of, equipping me with a dynamic and evolving range of skills to work anywhere in public and private markets. 

What have been your favourite aspects of studying at Robson Hall so far?

My favorite aspects of studying at Robson Hall are my classes. I get the opportunity to vehemently express myself on the different area of laws as they come. Thankfully, the lecturers are always quite engaging with their stimulating questions. 

How has the graduate seminar been of help to you in the preparation of your thesis?

The graduate seminar is indeed a stimulating one. It has helped me approach my thesis in a different light by exposing me to various research methods in order to achieve the goal of finishing my thesis in a timely manner.

What would you tell other students about the benefits of taking an LLM degree?

Lastly, I would advise students to take on the LLM program as it directs you to a new phase in a career marathon of learning from experienced Legal professionals.

Lovelyn Osiele [LLM/25]

Lovelyn Osiele

Thesis: “Examination of securities regulation in Canada.”

Advisor: Professor Darcy MacPherson

Lovelyn Osiele completed her LLB at Benson Idahosa University, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria in 2019 and received her BL (Barrister-at-Law) from The Nigerian Law School in Lagos, Nigeria in 2021. She enrolled in the University of Manitoba’s LLM program in 2023.

What is your thesis on and who is your advisor?

My Thesis Topic: A Comparative Analysis of Securities Regulation in Canada and the United States.  My Thesis advisor is Professor Darcy MacPherson.

Where did you previously study or practice law?

I had my Bachelor of Laws degree (LLB) from Benson Idahosa University, Nigeria where I also practice law.

How did you come to study at the UM Faculty of Law?

I had a couple of friends who always discussed about the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg Canada, so I picked an interest and decided to research about the University on my own. I found a lot of interesting things about the school I just couldn’t let go. I studied how highly the University of Manitoba is ranked, the various scholarships offered, and how supportive the Professors are, I noticed the student-teacher relationship, and the University of Manitoba from my research is best known as a research institution and has the best law program. 

What do you hope to do with your LLM?

I am pursuing this degree in Law because I have been looking forward to getting the role as a Senior lawyer in my place of work which has been eluding due to my inability to acquire a higher professional degree. I am particularly certain that on completion of my program, I will be adequately equipped with the skills I hope to acquire from my Law certificate, I will also have acquired the requisite qualifications to stand as a good candidate for the role in my organization.

What have been your favourite aspects of studying at Robson Hall so far?

The lecturers and Professors are friendly and ensure they provide everything needed for a successful academic year. The E.K. Williams Law Library is so equipped and I have access to learning materials. Also being taught by intelligent professors gives me so much edge and confidence. 

Read a feature story about Oluwafisayo Stephen Ayita of this class, who graduated in June, 2025. He is now a student in the Internationally Trained Lawyer program, working towards becoming licensed to practice law in Manitoba.

Applications for the Master of Laws program at the University of Manitoba are now open until December 15, 2025. Apply now.

My name is Wura Dasylva, and I am the current Board Chair of the Regina & District Chamber of Commerce and a partner at Miller Thomson LLP. My legal practice includes working with business owners through various stages of the business lifecycle – starting a business, growing the business by way of raising capital, expanding the business through partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other means; and finally the transition of the business to new owners or the next generation through succession planning. 

The Robson Hall Experience

Having studied and practiced law in Nigeria, moving to Canada for a fully-funded thesis-based master’s program at the University of Manitoba was exactly what I needed to advance my career. Not only did the scholarships eliminate financial stress, they also enhanced my competitiveness when I got into the job market. My experience at Robson Hall set me up for success in my career and other life ventures. I recall engaging in intellectually stimulating discussions in class and writing papers (and eventually, my thesis) which were often critiqued by my professors – all of which challenged by biases, sharpened my critical thinking skills and enhanced my writing style and soft skills. 

The pursuit of an LLM at Robson Hall with a research focus on mergers and acquisitions (“M&A”) and alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) was a pivotal step in my journey as a legal professional. As I reflect on how the University of Manitoba shaped my career, especially through the guidance of my advisor, Dr. Jennifer Schulz, my other professors and the staff at the Faculty of Law, the International Centre and the Career Services Office, I couldn’t be more grateful that I chose Robson Hall or, to put it better, Robson Hall chose me. From conference opportunities to resume tips, the University of Manitoba gave me all the tools that I needed to succeed as an international student in a new country (and school).

Choosing Corporate Law

Wura Dasylva [LLM/17] is now a partner at the Miller Thomson Regina office, specializing in Mergers and Acquisitions and Alternative dispute resolution.

M&A is at the heart of corporate law, governing how businesses grow, consolidate, and navigate complex financial and regulatory landscapes. At the same time, ADR plays a crucial role in resolving conflicts efficiently outside the courtroom, making it a useful tool in corporate transactions. Corporate transactions often involve negotiations, potential disputes, and regulatory challenges that require both legal expertise and problem-solving skills. By blending these two research areas, my LLM program set me on the path to becoming a savvy M&A lawyer, capable of handling high-stakes corporate matters while mitigating risks and facilitating negotiations that aid seamless transactions.

As a foreign-trained lawyer, understanding the nuances of the Canadian legal system was essential. Robson Hall also gave me a strong foundation in this regard through various academic resources. After completing my LLM, I joined the Regina office of Miller Thomson, a national law firm with over 500 lawyers in 10 cities across Canada, bringing with me a unique combination of corporate law experience and strong academic background. As many would know, success in the legal profession, especially for an immigrant, requires knowledge, strategy, mentorship, hard work and resilience — but with the right foundation (which Robson Hall gave me), the possibilities are endless.

Community involvement

My role as Chair of the Regina Chamber of Commerce allows me to participate in business and policy decisions. Again, I have Robson Hall to thank for helping me to find my interest in Chamber of Commerce advocacy work which stemmed from my International Business and Trade Law class at Robson Hall, providing me with foundational knowledge on trade policies and agreements.

Having been a recipient of scholarships and excellent mentorship and support from Robson Hall, I am now paying it forward. In addition to serving as the Chair of the Regina & District Chamber of Commerce, I mentor law students in various Canadian law schools through the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers / Black Law Students Association (CABL/BLSA) formal mentorship program. I have also acted as principal to articling students at my firm, in addition to mentoring other international students and foreign-trained lawyers. 

Until next time,

Wura Dasylva
Partner
MILLER THOMSON LLP

“The benefits of these new program features are significant for both the legal community and Manitobans. They enhance access to justice, promote citizen advocacy, and provide more opportunities for individuals to pursue legal education for the betterment of others,” said Dr. Richard Jochelson, Dean of Law. “The introduction of a course-based option for completing the LLM will encourage more practicing lawyers to expand their legal expertise and improve their practice, as our graduate students now have access to our clinical courses.”

The course-based LLM will appeal to practicing lawyers or to those employed in the legal sector with law-adjacent education and experience (for example, members of the public service) seeking further academic qualifications. The degree offers further specialized knowledge relevant to one’s career, while providing practical skills and knowledge not obtained from one’s undergraduate education.

“Whether students enrol in the course-based or the thesis-based routes, they have many ways to individualize their courses of study”, said Dr. Donn Short, Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies. “Students may choose to pursue a general field of study, or one of our specialized streams in Human Rights, Business, Indigenous Studies, Law and Society, Criminal Law or Public Policy. Students in the course-based LLM organize their courses around a theme or a cluster, but pursue their mastery of an area of concentrated interest through the classroom experience. Students in the thesis-based route take courses to help design and implement a research project that leads to a thesis.” 

The thesis-based LLM prepares students intending to pursue thesis-based academic qualifications, or simply an opportunity to engage in sustained and substantial academic original research on a topic of interest.  An essential feature of the thesis is that the student ultimately must demonstrate competence to complete a research project and present findings.

The UM Faculty of Law offers individualized, careful supervision for each graduate student from a faculty of legal scholars engaging in scholarly work on the cutting edge of legal issues relevant to local, national, and international communities. Faculty members’ research is used by lawyers, courts, legislative bodies and policymakers across the country, and is published in leading journals and books by renowned presses.

Thesis-based graduate students will each have an advisor, while course-based students will be assigned a Study Advisor with expertise in their chosen field of study by the Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies.

Applications for the LLM program at the University of Manitoba are open up to 18 months prior to the starting term, and the annual application deadline for all applicants to the program is December 15 prior to a start date of the following fall term.

Visit the LLM program Explore page for more information.

“People were always inviting me to alumni events, and I was regretfully having to say, “Actually, I didn’t study law here,”” says Lebois, who holds both a BA (2005) and an LLB (2008) from the University of Ottawa.

Lebois had initially selected the U of O because, he explains, “continuing my education in French was important to me, and very few options were available in Western Canada at the time. I was thrilled when Robson launched the A2J in French program, and saw an opportunity to celebrate that and participate in Robson’s French common law culture by completing my thesis in French.”

While Lebois was contemplating whether or not to do an LLM at the University of Manitoba, the founders of the Access to Justice in French (Common Law) Concentration program, then-Professor Gerald Heckman (now Justice Gerald Heckman of the Federal Court of Appeal), and Professor Lorna Turnbull, reached out for support from the Francophone legal community. The timing was right, and Lebois joined the Faculty’s graduate program in 2021 as an LLM student, inspired by the research of (now-retired) Professor Karen Busby, founder of the Centre for Human Rights Research housed in Robson Hall.

His thesis, written in French under Turnbull’s supervision, was titled, “Les modes substitutifs de résolution des différends en matière de violence à caractère sexuel ou de discrimination chez les institutions postsecondaires au Manitoba.”

Lebois’ thesis drew from a number of experiences including his time working as in-house Counsel at the University of Manitoba, where one of his portfolios was serving as Human Rights Counsel for the Office of Human Rights and Conflict Management. “As I was continuing to learn about the investigatory process and continuing to administer it at the University, I was also talking to counterparts across the country and seeing what was going on at their universities,” recounts Lebois. “I was asking questions about how their systems worked and what was successful within their areas, and how we could improve.”

These mechanisms are provincially legislated but not very standardized, and Lebois argues that they could be improved.

“My generalized observation was that everyone who is involved in the complaint mechanism is somehow diminished by the complaint process,” Lebois says. “So, whether you’re the complainant or the respondent, and regardless of how the outcome ended up flowing, whether the complaint was substantiated or not, whether there was obviously visible discipline of the respondent or not, that didn’t really matter, people were finding themselves lacking something for having participated in it.”   

He wondered if there was a better way to handle complaint mechanisms. Then he discovered the book, Achieving Fairness: A Guide to Campus Sexual Violence Complaints (Thomson Reuters, 2020) by Johanna Birenbaum and now-retired UM Faculty of Law professor Karen Busby, which goes into depth about the complaint mechanisms that exist across Canada at post-secondary institutions. He used this book as a roadmap and focused his research on a complimentary idea—how to better integrate certain types of dispute resolution models into the complaint mechanisms that currently exist.

Lebois’ bold and innovative research focuses on complaint mechanisms for human rights violations as they exist at postsecondary institutions in Manitoba. Based on his careful research and experiences, Lebois’ dynamic thesis proposes a different system than the one that postsecondary institutions currently use. The current model is a concurrent offering of resolution options, where a complainant is offered alternative dispute resolution concurrently to more formal mechanisms of redress. “Offering these concurrently is the wrong choice in my opinion, and that is what I argue in my thesis,” Lebois explains. “I believe that they should be offered as a cascade where the alternative dispute resolution for non-criminal behaviors should always be offered first before a formal complaint mechanism is explored.”

“ADR doesn’t get necessarily a great rap outside of certain types of uses, and certainly, there are some who say alternative dispute resolution is only appropriate in certain circumstances; for example, only when desired or asked for explicitly by a complainant. I’m not necessarily in agreement with that assessment,” Lebois explains. “I think that there are a number of examples wherein groups have participated in alternative dispute resolution even if it wasn’t given as an entirely opt-in option and that’s still benefited a number of the stakeholders. In the criminal sphere you see this a lot already, where you have diversion programs that move someone to sentencing circles or to alternative resolution where they have to take actions that are really specific to the crimes that they have committed, and the accused is expected to take ownership of the actions that they have posed within their community. And that is something that works.”

Lebois admits that there are valid critiques of ADR, and in some cases, it certainly draws out more of the complainant’s time and energy. But, as Lebois says, “There is a lot of opportunity for presenting a space in which the accused can take ownership, can apologize, can learn, and can make concrete steps towards restitution.”

He drew a lot of inspiration from the Dalhousie School of Dentistry case from 2015, where many of the students involved saw great outcomes from ADR rather than more formal mechanisms. “There is much more room for alternative dispute resolution to take centre stage as part of the complaint mechanisms that exist at post-secondary institutions,” is a key takeaway from this research according to Lebois.

When asked who benefits from his thesis, Lebois says, “It’s not really a stretch to say it’s everyone that benefits from this. […]  Universities are an economic driver within Manitoba, representing a lot of important work being done, a lot of important training being done, and a lot of innovation that’s taking place. You want the systems that underpin all of that to work well as well.”

However, the research itself gears more towards the decision-makers of complaint mechanisms, boards of governors and directors, depending on which post-secondary institution, because it is about the ways that the system can be adjusted to better serve everyone.

Lebois is a testimony to the University of Manitoba’s LLM program at the Faculty of Law.  Completing a master’s degree in law, being a Francophone lawyer, and conducting research in the French language are possible, even outside of Canada’s Francophone hubs like Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick.

Even though his thesis topic is not related to language rights, his decision to write it in French, is “a nod to the language rights that are entrenched in the University of Manitoba Act,” he explains, “and an acknowledgement of the oft-forgotten cultural realities that founded both the province of Manitoba and the University of Manitoba (thanks to its founding colleges, one of them now operating as Université de Saint-Boniface). Just as we seek to show prospective JD students the value of completing the A2J in French program, I also wanted to be an example of that at the graduate level.”

Lebois recommends that lawyers with the capacity to upgrade French/English bilingualism to communicate clearly and concisely should do so, as this opens a lot of opportunities, including a graduate degree. He suggests that more lawyers should consider investing in their French skills because of the benefits to themselves and to the community they serve. “Bilingualism really does have a lot of benefits noted throughout the profession, and so I really wanted to shout that from the rooftops as much as I could to say it’s doable, and it’s worth taking the time and effort to do it,” he says.

The Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba hosts the Access to Justice in French Concentration program for JD students, and now has graduated its first of hopefully many more LLM students in French.