He will support the Startup Law Clinic and apply his filmmaking experience
The University of Ottawa has appointed Garrick Apollon as its new entrepreneurship and innovation director for the common law section.
In this role, he will support the Startup Law Clinic and apply his filmmaking experience as the founder of edutainment production company CPE Studios to mobilize knowledge.
“I’m excited about promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in a law school that is looking at the bigger picture. What we're trying to do is really create the next generation of leaders for our country,” Apollon said in a statement. “The work that we do at the law school is a privilege. You get the chance to shape minds and hearts. In law school, you cannot just work on the mind. We already have incredibly bright students. My approach as an educator is to work on their heart. What's your passion? What do you want to do? What kind of meaningful change do you want to make in your community?”
He explained that the rise of artificial intelligence has pushed the legal profession to undergo a major transformation; thus, lawyers must have an entrepreneurial mindset beyond technical legal skills.
“Entrepreneurship is a mindset. It's a culture. We need to foster that culture in law schools so that students are ready for the next stage of their lives. Even if they don't start a business, they will need to apply entrepreneurial skills within their organizations. They’ll need to be problem solvers. Trailblazers. Innovators,” Apollon said in a statement.
A strong advocate for equity and representation in the legal profession, Apollon established at the Heart of Entrepreneurship, a Black entrepreneurship initiative, at the university’s Professional Development Institute. Under the initiative, he trained 100 Black entrepreneurs together with local NGO the Community Settlement, Support and Orientation Centre.
Through CPE Studios, Apollon releases documentary films serving as case studies for professional development. He champions the use of the medium in legal advocacy, with his interest in filmmaking having been sparked by a desire to combine legal expertise with storytelling.
His most recent documentary series, entitled “Lost Generation: A Call to Action,” tackles systemic challenges in education such as anti-Black racism and governance problems; the series premiered at the Ottawa Art Gallery.
“The purpose of the film is to drive meaningful change in policy. Training alone won’t change anything unless we change policies, behaviors, and how we do things in schools,” Apollon said. “We have a lot of trailblazers—trailblazing Black men and women, racialized men and women. Things are changing in the legal profession, but we need to foster the change and get people engaged in the Black community.”
Apollon will look to develop a course series on entrepreneurship while generating opportunities for students to obtain practical experience under the Startup Law Clinic, which concentrates on the legal challenges faced by early-stage startups.
