Bachelor of Law at 55!

“Set yourself challenges, and push your limits”.

It’s kind of the mantra ofAlfredo Munoz. The former SPVM sergeant has broken down doors all his life.

Judoka, bachelor in physical education, policeman, entrepreneur… his list of accomplishments is long. And he has a new feat of arms: a bachelor’s degree in law. He has just completed it, after having undertaken it in 2019. From 2018 to 2019, he was studying for a certificate in law at the University of Montreal.

When he left the SPVM, after 12 years of service, Alfredo Muñoz converted to a private investigator while continuing his activities at SOS Ticket, the contravention dispute company he founded and of which he is the former owner. .

It is by giving training to lawyers in private practice on the statements of offense and the road safety code that he wanted to go further, to “get on the ice”, as he says. -even.

Result? He enrolled two years ago at the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa. “I discovered a passion for law,” he tells us. I was lucky to have good teachers ”.

Interview with a student unlike any other, who today, as a trainer and investigator, says “better understanding the needs of lawyers”.

Tell us a bit about your academic background to get started.

I have an atypical background. I did my law certificate at the University of Montreal, because it was not possible for me to enter directly into the baccalaureate.

When I did my baccalaureate in physical education, I was an athlete. I have done world championships and Pan American championships in judo. My focus was on sports.

My studies were not secondary, they were tertiary (laughs). My average, despite my experience, did not allow me to enter directly into the Faculty of Law of the University of Montreal.

I had the chance to meet people from the University of Ottawa. I’m going to give them a good advertisement, because they dazzled me, amazed me, because of their openness and their intelligence. These are people who are open to difference, to atypical paths like mine.

They trusted me, and that, given to a certain period of your life, is important. It was an amazing challenge, and I could never thank them enough.

Exactly. A return to school, in your fifties, is not trivial. What was the biggest challenge you encountered?

My biggest challenge in my life, even after the world championships, training for the Olympics, the Pan American games, was to do my bachelor’s degree in law.

Two kids, no money, six classes per session, investigative work, all of that on the way to Ottawa! I slept three to four hours a day. For a year, I left in the morning, at 3:45 am, my children were in bed, and I returned in the evening when they were sleeping. I haven’t seen them for a year, almost. Today, I see them every day and make the most of them.

It was a family challenge, my wife helped me in an extraordinary way. I had that chance, then my father gave me a little help economically, so that we don’t lose the house.

It was a great big challenge. Would I do it again? It would hurt! (laughs). That being said, I had the chance to discover law, which is now a passion. At 55, discovering a passion is priceless.

You mention the study-family-work balance. What job did you do during this period?

Investigations. Whether it is investigations of fraud, extortion, murders … any type of investigation. Spinning mills, everything related to the investigation part from A to Z.

I have an experience of 26 years. I have been on anti-gang drugs, narcotics, and now, since 2007, I have been doing private surveys.

Let’s go back to your passion for the law. Do you see any similarities between investigative work and the law?

Are there any similarities? Absolutely. I think that we remain within the law, in the notion of defending people, of defending the rights of individuals.

It’s a whole. And that’s the beauty of it: if you only focus on the investigative part, you will miss the theoretical and legal side. Now I have an overview of the whole thing.
The investigation involves finding facts, and helping lawyers build evidence and build their cases. Today, with the eyes of the bac, I understand their needs much better and I can better advise them. For me, it is an opening to the world, and it allows me to produce a much more complete analysis of the files I am investigating.

A crush, perhaps, for one of the areas of law during your training?

You will laugh, but I liked everything. Whether it is family law, insurance law … But a personal crush, which has no relation, is intellectual property law.

Why intellectual property law? Because it is a particular right, a right which is fine, very subtle. It is also the protection of the craftsman and the inventor, at the same time being an excessively complex field.

It’s complicated, and I like that, because there is subtlety and because we take into account the notions of fairness, for example. This is what makes our law so rich, it is this notion of equity, like the notion of balance between the parties. There is also the “unfair competition” aspect, which involves investigating as much as possible.

I found all of this interesting because it is new. You don’t go back to college at 50 with the eyes of a 20-year-old. You can pretty much associate everything you learn with times in your life.

It is not an obligation, for me, to have done my law. It is a privilege.

Now that you have completed this “privilege”, what do you plan to do? Projects ?

At first, I wasn’t sure. What I like to do and what I do well are surveys, of course.

For now, I would like to offer investigative services to firms and lawyers… with, of course, a much bigger vision.

I am no longer a simple investigator. I am no longer just the guy who is going to do a spinning… Today, if you give me a file, I am able to analyze it, of course, with my eyes of 26 years of experience, but also with my eyes taken from my training in law. I am able to better advise lawyers in their cases, for example to help them find good angles of attack.

I loved law so much that I also decided to do common law. I’m not ruling out being called the Barreau du Québec, but I would prefer, for the moment, to be called the Bar of Ontario. Then I’ll see. Right now, what I like about the Law Society of Ontario is that it allows me to practice across Canada through the common law tradition.