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Archaeology, convocation, student stories, alumni
ARCH graduate’s wrongful conviction advocacy work leads to law school
It only took one archaeology course in her first year for Charlotte Taylor-Baer to discover her love for the subject. With a passion for forensic sciences and a dream of one day becoming a criminal defense lawyer, a double major in archaeology and criminology just made sense.
Charlotte had a busy four years balancing the course load of a double major with resume building positions on and off campus. From being in the SFU Pre-Law Society and the SFU Canadian Cancer Society to the SFU Orangutan Awareness Club and a Welcome Day Leader, Charlotte ensured that her time spent on campus was meaningful. Her time volunteering made her “more open minded, a better leader, and a better learner,” Charlotte says.
Fueled by her desire to become a lawyer, Charlotte began advocating for the wrongfully convicted. She joined the International Wrongful Convictions Day Committee (IWCDC) as fundraising project manager and the UBC Innocence Project as a student volunteer.
Taking it a step further, Charlotte co-founded the Wrongful Convictions Collective (WCC), an international organization working on wrongful convictions advocacy by hosting fundraisers, educating the public, and ensuring that exonerees are accurately represented in the media. Her work in the WCC has taken Charlotte all over the country as a guest lecturer at different universities and high schools.
While Charlotte certainly worked hard at her studies during her undergraduate years, she doesn’t necessarily believe academic success is the most important component of earning your degree. “It’s the people you connect with who will make a real difference in your life! To be more successful, do things that are interesting and meaningful to you.”
Now with two majors, three certificates, an honours thesis, and a breadth of experience, Charlotte is ready to “help bridge the gap between science and the justice system while pursuing a career as a criminal defense lawyer,” she says. But first, Charlotte will be attending law school at McGill this Fall.