No. 1 - Trent University

young PROFESSIONALS
oliver cooper
His passing of the Ontario bar coincided
with his hiring at McGillen Keay Law
Offices in Peterborough— quite an
accomplishment for a person who, only
a few years before, had given up on
academics.
Looking back on his time in
Oshawa, Cooper says that the Trent
experience has influenced much of what
he does on a day to day basis as a lawyer.
“Those in-depth and sometimes
intense discussions build your ability to
probe into the heart of the matter
—which is essential both inside and
outside the courtroom,” he explains.
“The classes I took challenged
common conceptions of a variety of
ideas and definitely changed my world
view. The instructors —particularly
Professor Cosgrove in Sociology
—trained me to look at things in a
different way. In a more abstract way.
They promoted critical thinking. All of
these skills are important when you are
examining and planning cases.”
According to Oliver, these skills are
particularly important when applied to
litigation.
“So much of it is building
arguments,” he notes. “You need strong
arguments to prosecute and you need
strong arguments to defend. I definitely
feel that my Arts degree training gave
me the skills to deconstruct notions
that otherwise might be taken for
granted and to build my own strong
arguments—to build my cases.”
Oliver’s work—and life—have long
Trent Traditions.
“I’m proud to be working with
Robert McGillen, who went to school
with my dad,” he says. “I think they were
the second ever graduating class at
Trent.”
His landing in Peterborough is a
return of sorts to the area.
“I definitely have some roots here,”
he notes. “My grandparents were from
here. My father grew up here. We had
family cottages in the area. It’s really a
great place to live and work.”
None of which would have
happened if he hadn’t taken that one
single course.
“It took me awhile,” he smiles.
“But I finally got to where I want to be. ❖
Join today!
Membership discount
for all Trent alumni
www.trentu.ca/athletics
(705) 748-1257
t h e A t h l e t i c s C e n t r e
A T T H E T R E N T C O M M U N I T Y S P O R T & R E C R E A T I O N C E N T R E
20 Trent Magazine 44.1