Rotary Club of Lloydminster president, Mike Sidoryk, fields questions for guest speaker Magan Haycock, who used a Rotary global scholarship grant 10 years ago to become a New York City lawyer with a goal to be a UN tribunal lawyer. The former Lloyd resident spoke by Zoom with her dad, John, in the audience at the club’s Monday lunch. Geoff Lee Meridian Source
A Rotary global scholarship grant can be empowering.
That’s been the case for former Lloydminster resident, Magan Haycock, who is now a New York City lawyer with Cadwalader’s Global Litigation team.
Her firm represents clients throughout the U.S. and abroad in criminal, governmental regulatory and civil litigation matters.
She explained how a Rotary grant has put her within reach of her career goal to be a United Nations tribunal lawyer in a Zoom talk at the Rotary Club of Lloydminster Monday luncheon.
“It’s been 10 years, which is really crazy because it feels weird I’ve been in the field of law for 10 years,” said Magan.
Barry Davis set up the talk in his introductory remarks with Magan’s dad John in the audience.
“Next month is 10 years since we signed the application to sponsor Magan through a global scholarship grant,” he said.
Davis recalled the club partnered with the district and Rotary International for matching grants to send Magan to law school at the University of Pennsylvania after her BA from Queen’s University in Ontario.
“Magan was very qualified for that. Her objective of the grant was to work towards the UN in the area of global conflict and resolution and particularly with human rights and conflict resolution for children in those conflict areas,” explained Davis.
“When she came to us, she spoke five languages including Mandarin. She had worked, studied and volunteered in 29 different countries. She’s got this big broad cultural awareness.”
Her experience includes work she did in Israel and Palestine.
Magan says her next step is to get more experience in NGOs and join a board to learn how they raise money.
“I also want to get qualified to be a crisis hotline counsellor on a volunteer basis,” she said.
Magan emigrated to Canada and Abbotsford B.C. from South Africa with her family when she was just 10. Her family moved to Lloydminster when she was in college.
After college, she did a transit survey for Lloydminster in 2013, then took a year off and got the global grant as an undergraduate law student at Queen’s.
After she graduated from the U of Penn law school, she worked for a law firm in New York and then moved to San Diego as a prosecutor before landing her current job.
“I learned (in San Diego) about the psychology of violence prosecuting against violence against women and kids,” said Magan as part of her career interest in human rights.
Her dad likes where she’s at now in New York.
“She’s setting herself up close to the United Nations getting into the NGOs. She wants to be on international tribunals. To get there the requirement is to have international experience and that’s what she’s boning up on at the moment,” he said, crediting Rotary for getting her to this point.
John says if it weren’t for Rotary it would have been way more difficult for Magan to settle in Pennsylvania and the grant also made it possible for her to study in America.
“It’s a very difficult place to go and study for a Canadian, but thanks to Rotary she could do that.
“It’s very expensive to go; it’s an Ivy League university and it was a great help to get over the hump. She got a full ride, a full scholarship, but Rotary helped her to make the three years.”
John says in her third year, she went to Paris to study at the Sorbonne which is now the University of Paris and focused her studies on international politics.
“If it weren’t for the support she received she wouldn’t be able to do that. There aren’t many Canadians who are accepted,” he said.
Davis calls Magan’s success wonderful.
“It’s all her. We’re really glad to be able to support her,” he said, adding, “In our case, Magan came looking for help.
“We were able to make a substantial contribution to that scholarship with matching donations.”
Davis noted Rotary currently doesn’t have another application.
