Iqaluit (Jun 19/06) - Madeleine Redfern trusted that the Akitsiraq law school would be a vehicle to take her places. She was right.

Since Aug. 31, 2005, she has been one of only 27 clerks in the Supreme Court of Canada. Her one-year term in Ottawa ends in two months.

Redfern was among the 11 graduates of the Nunavut-based Akitsiraq law degree program in 2004.

It was a four-year pilot project that had professors from across the country coming to Iqaluit to impart legal knowledge. She remembers that there were plenty of detractors when the endeavour was launched.

"'It's going to be a Mickey Mouse program. They're going to dumb it down,'" were the types of negative remarks she said she heard.

"If anything I think I've learned that the program that was delivered in the North was so rewarding and enriching compared to the semester I spent down in Victoria at the university," she said, noting that the individual attention, the format and specific lessons on the Nunavut land claim were particularly invaluable.

In fact, her passion for Inuit rights is bringing her back to Nunavut, where she will work for Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. this fall. In addition, she said she and some fellow grads are determined to see a second cohort of law students graduate from the territory.

"I believe that 10 Inuit lawyers is just not enough. It's just a start," she said, adding that she aspires to open an Inuit law firm someday.

Redfern, the mother of a teenage daughter, plans to take the bar exam within a year of leaving the Supreme Court.

To arrive at the Supreme Court, Redfern had to interview with Supreme Court Justices Louise Arbour, William Binnie and Frank Iacobucci - all of whom are essentially superstars within legal circles.

"I guess I went in not overly intimidated or anxious," she recalled. "I figured if all that came of it was a 20-minute interview with each judge, that would be amazing in and of itself."

She was one of three clerks assigned to work for Justice Louise Charron last fall. For Charron's cases, Redfern helps prepare summaries of what has happened in the lower courts and outlines of the parties' and intervenors' submissions. She also supplies overviews of comparable case histories and even drafts conclusions and recommendations.

"It provides our judge a road map, a concise and comprehensive summary of the case that she is going to hear," Redfern explained.

It's been a fulfilling experience, but it has involved extremely long hours seven days a week, she said.

In her previous work as a retail business owner and in her volunteer experience with various boards, she said it was always the legal aspects that intrigued her. She jumped at the chance to enrol in Akitsiraq.

"It was the only thing that I would have ever gone back to school for," said Redfern.