BOYLE – A Boyle School alumnus who at one point contemplated becoming a diplomat, is the top of the 2023 University of Alberta Faculty of Law Class, with his peers also voting him ‘most likely to become Dean of the Faculty of Law.’
Trevor Sullivan, 24, graduated from the U of A Faculty of Law June 8 and received the 2023 Horace Harvey Medal in Law for having the highest grade-point average in his class over his three years in the program — the honour is informally known as the ‘gold medal.’
“Receiving the gold medal means everything,” said Sullivan in a faculty news release. “It recognizes the countless hours I put into my studies over the last three years and affirms the value of my dedication and hard work.”
For Sullivan, who’s quoted in the release saying that the “award is as much a reflection of the unwavering support of my loved ones as it is of my own efforts”, the journey has been made by small steps which started at Boyle School.
“I had a couple of teachers who cared about civics and educating students about governance and how the legal system worked,” said Sullivan during a June 6 interview. “By the time I was graduating (in 2017), I was thinking about being a diplomat.”
However, upon beginning his political science studies at the U of A, Sullivan said he realized that he didn’t like International Relations, which was obviously an issue for a prospective diplomat.
“Instead, I focused on the political and legal issues that were a little closer to home,” he said.
Despite the change in interest, Sullivan said that he still wasn’t fixated on law.
“I wouldn’t say that I never thought about being a lawyer in the past, but when you’re interested in humanities or social sciences like I was, that’s always the job right? They make a good living, they do interesting work, so it’s always something that was on my mind,” said Sullivan.
Of course, moving from a small town to a university can be a bit of a shock for anyone, and there’s things that Sullivan said he would have done differently, like getting involved in student clubs earlier in his university career.
As for his advice to students graduating this year, Sullivan said that he’s been best served by his work ethic.
“From my own personal experience, I think that success is a testament to the value of grit, perseverance, focus, whatever you want to call it. I certainly wasn’t born with any innate natural ability for reading or taking notes. I had to put in a lot of effort to succeed, and I think that that’s something that people can learn from. If I had to break it into smaller pieces, I would say set goals, keep at them, and don’t give up too easily when you hit a roadblock.”
During his time in law school, Sullivan served on the editorial committee of the Alberta Law Review where he gained valuable experience in legal citation and editing but also found a community of hard-working and passionate law students.
“The willingness of students to support one another and the sense of camaraderie we developed as a result were definitely highlights of my law school experience,” said Sullivan. “By my third year, for each course I took, I had friends who were either currently or previously enrolled, and on whom I could rely for advice, notes, and study materials if needed.”
Meanwhile, the same faculty news release notes that Sullivan was voted ‘Most Likely to Become Dean of the Faculty of Law’ at the Carbolic Smoke Ball and ‘Most Likely to be Cited by the Supreme Court of Canada’ at the 2023 graduation banquet.
“I’m almost as proud of those awards as I am of the gold medal!” he’s quoted as saying.
Now that Sullivan is finished law school, he’ll be clerking at the Alberta Court of Appeals branch in Calgary for 10 months, before starting at the Edmonton-based law firm Reynolds Mirth Richards & Farmer LLP to finish articling.
