Merv Leitch Q.C. Memorial Visiting Chair

This chair has been established in honour of C. Mervin Leitch, BA, LL.B. Q.C., who passed away in mid-1990. The Member of the Legislative Assembly for Calgary Egmont, he served as Attorney-General and Provincial Secretary, Provincial Treasurer, and Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. Prior to his political career he was active in legal professional associations, serving as President of the Calgary Bar Association and as a Bencher of the Law Society of Alberta. He was a partner in the Macleod Dixon law firm in Calgary. In addition to being a director of several Canadian corporations, he was also on the Board of the Canadian Institute of Resources Law, which is affiliated with the Faculty of Law at the University of Calgary.

The chair is funded through an endowment established by friends and associates of Mr. Leitch. Initially, the endowment was used to present lectures on topics of public importance. Since 1991 the lecturers were:

The Honourable Peter Lougheed, PC, CC, QC	1991
The Honourable Allan E. Blakeney, PC, QC	1992
The Rt. Honourable Brian Dickson (Retired)	1993
The Honourable Mr. Willard Z. Estey, CC, LLM, LLD, QC	1994
Mr. Ron D. Southern, President and CEO, ATCO Ltd.	1995
The Honourable Marc Lalonde, PC, OC, QC	1996

The Annual lecture series underwent a change to an annual visiting chair format. The chairholder visits both the U of A and the U of C Faculties of Law each year for two or three days. That person participates in one or two classes and delivers a noon-hour presentation to the students as well. Since the change to this format, the visiting Leitch chairholders have been:

Madam Justice Rosalie Abella	1999-2000
Dr. Harry Arthurs, BA, LLB, LLM, LLD (Hon), DLitt (Hon), OC, OO, FRSC	2001-2002
Professor Donald McRae, FRSC, LLB (Otago), LLM (ibid), Dipl Int Law (Cant)	2003
The Honourable Gérard La Forest, CC, QC	2004
Dr. Pierre Marc Johnson, FRSC	2005
Professor Mayo Moran	2006
Professor Stephen C. McCaffrey	2007
Honourable Peter Loughheed	2008
Richard Stallman	2009
Meg Kinnear	2010
Justice Thomas Cromwell	2010-11