Prof. Victor Nabhan: A Bilingual Approach to January Term
The proud bilingual and bijural history that forms the foundation of the Faculty of Law is well represented by the January term course, Studies in International Law: International Intellectual Property taught by visiting professor Victor Nabhan.
Offered in January for the past three years, Prof. Nabhan’s course is noteworthy for being taught in both French and English. “I find that exciting,” he says, “because I can pass from one language to the other, sometimes right in the middle of a sentence. There are often ways to say things in the other language that can significantly improve the expression of a given idea.” Prof. Nabhan is not the only professor to teach in this method; Prof. Peter Oliver also uses both official languages to teach his Fall course, Constitutional Law II.
Prof. Nabhan’s course was attended by 17 students from the French and English Common Law Programs, as well as five visiting students from France, Belgium and Poland. This cultural and linguistic diversity added a valuable element to the class. “There was a real team spirit forged around this diversity,” says Prof. Nabhan. “It could have been something that divided the class, but it seemed to really unite everyone into one cohesive group.” Students didn’t hesitate to express themselves in both languages for their class presentations, even if it meant venturing away from the comfort of their mother tongue. This effort, says Prof. Nabhan, “contributed to an atmosphere of camaraderie and open exchange where each student felt respected and accepted.”
The national and cultural diversity of the students also had an impact on the teaching methodology for the course. It allowed Prof. Nabhan to raise issues of comparative law after illustrating the subtleties and flexibility in the application of international treaties and national legislations. “Being able to touch on comparative law allowed me to show how agreements can be transformed, often through different methods; it allowed me to show the freedom enjoyed by so many member countries.” Among the specific topics addressed was the modification of the Canadian Copyright Act. The first version (C-60) was abandoned by the Conservative government, which introduced a revised version (C-61) in June 2008. “The same legislator had the chance to try two different approaches for translating the same measures from two international treaties (WCT and WPPT),” says Prof. Nabhan.
Teaching an intensive course in the shortened January term requires further adjustments to the normal instruction method. Students have only three weeks to attend their course, not the 13 they get during a regular term. “This is a fundamental element,” explains Prof. Nabhan. “You cannot ask a student to absorb the same amount of information in three weeks that they would normally receive over a 13-week period. The question for the professor is: what material is the most essential?” Prof. Nabhan assumes his students can allot six hours per day to their studies and assignments, in addition to the time spent in class each day. Some course material must therefore be sacrificed, but it is important for professors and students alike to know how to pace themselves to most effectively deal with the concentrated material and short timeframe.
Prof. Nabhan previously taught at the Faculty of Law at Université Laval for more than 20 years. He was also a consultant for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and UNESCO. He continues to provide counsel for different organizations and governments, as well as teaching intellectual property law at many universities across the world. In 1996, he was named president of ALAI (Association Littéraire et Artistique Internationale), an organization that seeks to protect literary and artistic copyright.