News

The Faculty of Law hosted 21 members of the Council of Canadian Law Deans (CCLD) on May 16 and 17 for their Spring meeting. CCLD brings together the heads of law schools across Canada to allow members to consult on various issues such as legal education in Canada, legal research and cooperation among law schools. This was the first time the law school played host to the CCLD, and it was done in true western spirit. In a May 16 event, the group participated in the White Hat Ceremony with Mayor Naheed Nenshi. 

On May 16, Allan Ingelson, professor and executive director of the Canadian Institute for Resources Law, presented a paper titled "Significant Changes to the Canadian EA process" at the Health Impact Assessment section of the 33rd annual conference of the International Association for Impact Assessment. The paper was co-authored with professors Alistair Lucas and Nickie Vlavianos. The conference theme ("The Next Generation") embraced the impact of current global change now and in the coming decades and how impact assessment will evolve. Allan, Alistair and Nickie would like to thank the Alberta Law Foundation and the Cenovus Continuing Legal Education program for their support.

Professor Bryce Tingle, N. Murray Edwards Chair in Business Law, commented on the "say-on-pay" practice in Canadian Business magazine. Read the complete article online.

On May 9, Chief Justice Warren K. Winkler received an Honorary Degree from the University of Calgary. Read the story about his journey from Pincher Creek to Chief Justice in the Pincher Creek Echo.

Professor Nickie Vlavianos will speak at the 2013 Energy Regulatory Forum on May 16 on regulatory restructuring and Bill 2: Responsible Energy Development Act. This event provides an opportunity for justices, administrative tribunals, academics and members of the private bar to discuss the practice of energy regulatory law in Alberta.

Professor Jonnette Watson Hamilton and Nadine Hoffman, the Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law librarian at the Bennett Jones Law Library, are leading at panel on “Inquiry-Based Learning Faculty: Faculty-Libraries and Cultural Resources Collaboration” on May 15, as part of "Collaborating for Learning,” the inaugural University of Calgary Conference on Postsecondary Learning and Teaching. Conference sessions reflect effective and creative teaching and learning among students, instructors, and multi-unit partnerships. Jonnette will be speaking about the collaboration between herself and Nadine in Law 703, the compulsory graduate seminar on legal research and methodology. 

The following students have secured clerkships following their graduation:

• Carolyn Mills, Court of Appeal of Alberta
• Ricki-Lee Gerbrandt, Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta
• Andrea Ryder (LLM), Tax Court of Canada
• Heidi Rolfe, Federal Court of Canada

Professor Bryce Tingle, N. Murray Edwards Chair in Business Law, will speak to the Deputy Minister Committee on Economic Trends and Policies, hosted by the School of Public Policy. Bryce will speak on the entrepreneurial finance ecosystem in Canada. The event takes place on May 13 in Calgary.

Even though the students are gone, the Faculty of Law continues to participate in collaborative scholarly engagement in the summer, beginning with the first Roundtable on May 13. This event will be led by professors Jennifer Koshan and Jonnette Watson Hamilton and will focus on Quebec (Attorney General) v. A., 2013 SCC 5, the Supreme Court's latest decision on section 15 of the Charter. Our Roundtables are informal discussions of recent cases or other legal developments of interest. One or more faculty members lead the discussion offering a summary of the case or development, and some discussion questions. Faculty members, members of  Faculty of Law associated institutions, graduates students, student research assistants, and other students working at the law school over the summer are invited to participate.

When Sean Green decided to pursue a career in law five years ago, he wasn’t your typical applicant. Read the UToday story to find out why.

Dora Lam, QC, JD'85 and her daughter Christina Lam, BSc'10 will both take part in convocation on May 9. Dora will serve as the ceremony's Distinguished Graduate and Christina will receive her law degree. Read the whole UToday story.

Professors Nigel Bankes and Alastair Lucas will be in New Zealand in the first part of May for several academic meetings. The first is the meeting of the Academic Advisory Group (AAG) of the Section on Energy, Environment, Resources, and Infrastructure Law (SEERIL) of the International Bar Association. The AAG meets every two years to discuss draft chapters of a book project. The theme of the project is “energy underground.” Nigel is presenting a paper on managing disputes between the owners or operators of different underground resources (e.g. gas-over-bitumen, potential disputes between gas storage operators and adjacent petroleum producers) and Alastair is presenting a paper on the regulation of multi-stage hydraulic fracturing. Alastair's paper is co-authored with two colleagues from the Energy Resources Conservation Board.  The second meeting is at the University of Waikato, Hamilton on the topic of global changes in environmental, energy and resources law. The third meeting is a conference sponsored by The Energy Law Association of New Zealand. The conference draws on the papers prepared for the IBA meeting and is on the topic of “energy underground: innovative law and policy for transformative technologies.” This third meeting will be held in Wellington.

Professor Shaun Fluker comments on the new Responsible Energy Development Act in “New Alberta Energy Regulator will take on role as environmental enforcer” in the May 1 edition of the Edmonton Journal. He and other faculty members have commented at length on ABlawg about the new Alberta Energy Regulator. See, for example, Shaun’s posts on “Bill 2 and its implications for landowner participation in energy project decision-making” and “Bill 2 Responsible Energy Development Act: Setting the stage for the next 50 years of effective and efficient energy resource regulation and development in Alberta.”

Professor Jennifer Koshan has won the 2013 Canadian Association of Law Teachers (CALT) prize for Academic Excellence. Read the whole story in UToday.

Arlene Kwasniak, professor and associate dean (research) in the Faculty of Law, has been pushing for new approaches to protect Alberta’s land and water for decades. Read more in UToday.

Professor Alice Woolley's column "The 'Human Excellence' of Judging" published on Slaw, the Canadian co-operative about all things legal. Alice comments on the decision by Justice O’Donnell in R. v. Duncan which has gained some notoriety in the legal community. She argues that when a judge writes a judgment like Duncan he abandons his judicial craft. 

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Landmen (CAPL) has reproduced ABlawg entries written by Professors Nickie Vlavianos and Shaun Fluker on the enactment of the Responsible Development Energy Act in Alberta. Nickie provides an overview of significant changes to energy regulation implemented by the new legislation, and Shaun examines how the new legislation will change the rules on landowner participation for energy project decision-making.  Both articles are included in the current volume (April 2013) of The Negotiator.

“The Supreme Court, Ameliorative Programs, and Disability: Not Getting It”, an article written by Professors Jonnette Watson Hamilton and Jennifer Koshan, has just been published in (2013) 25:1 Canadian Journal of Women and the Law 56-80. This article examines the impact of the Supreme Court’s recent section 15(2) jurisprudence on people with disabilities, with Jonnette and Jennifer arguing that the Court’s extreme deference to targeted benefit programs may perpetuate the social exclusion and marginalization of persons with disabilities to whom the government denies benefits. The article is part of a special issue of the journal that honours Dianne Pothier, a leading Canadian legal scholar in the areas of constitutional, labour, and disability law. A draft of the article is available on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) here.

On April 18, Professor Jennifer Koshan presented her research on integrated domestic violence courts to the board of HomeFront Calgary. Homefront is a community based agency that works with the courts, judges, lawyers, police, child services, shelters and local treatment agencies to provide services and programs in the area of domestic violence.

Executive Director Allan Ingelson and Owen Saunders, of the Canadian Institute of Resources Law, will present at the School of Public Policy's conference on international financial transparency with reference to business in Congo on April 17 and 18. The event will look at issues around financial transparency in international dealings and include presentations from Dr. Rilwanu Lukman, Former Secretary General of OPEC and Former Nigerian Minister of Petroleum, The Honourable Joe Oliver, Minister of Natural Resources, Government of Canada, and Dr. Paul Collier, Director, Centre for the Study of African Economies, Oxford University. For more information, visit the School of Public Policy or call 403-210-3802.

Professors Jennifer Koshan and Jonnette Watson Hamilton's article  "The Continual Reinvention of Section 15 of the Charter" has been accepted for publication in a special edition of the University of New Brunswick Law Journal entitled "The Promise of Equality: Are We There Yet?", and is now available on SSRN. An earlier version of this piece was presented by Jennifer and Jonnette at an Assentio Mentium event in October 2012.

E-waste is a growing concern for countries around the world, and illegal e-waste recycling is a major concern of governments and companies the world over. On April 1, the Canadian Institute of Resources Law (CIRL) hosted Lieselot Bisschop from the University College Ghent in Belgium to present her lecture "The Illegal Transport of Electronic Waste: A Case Study of a European Trade Hub." Read the UToday story for more details.

The Faculty of Law is pleased to announce the new Kerry Dyte Q.C. Student Assistance Fund, a $50,000 donation to the law school to provide students access to emergency funding. Read more in the UToday article from April 3, 2013.

Professor Liz Whitsitt is in Washington, D.C. this week participating in the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law. Liz will be taking part in a panel discussion on uncommon remedies in international dispute resolution. The theme of this year's meeting is international law in a multipolar world. Visit the website to find out more about the ASIL and its annual conference.

Third year law student Cassandra Sutter, working with the Faculty's Environmental Law Clinic, taught by Professor Shaun Fluker, was instrumental this term in helping a coalition of Cochrane residents to oppose the construction of a wind turbine by a high school in their neighbourhood. On March 25, the Cochrane town council resolved to enact a municipal bylaw to address the development of renewable energy projects within Cochrane, and that individual applications for such projects would have to wait until this bylaw was enacted. The details of this resolution were reported in a March 27 story in the Cochrane Times. Cassandra’s work on this project included drafting a presentation on behalf of the coalition for submission to the Town of Cochrane, appearing before the Rocky View School Board as the representative for a coalition, and research into applicable provisions of the Municipal Government Act (Alberta) and legislative provisions governing the jurisdiction and powers of the Alberta Utilities Commission concerning wind turbines in Alberta.

The Faculty of Law held its fifth Assentio Mentium event on March 28 at the University of Calgary’s Downtown Campus. Professor Nigel Bankes gave the presentation “The Duty to Consult: Where have we been and where are we going?”   Assentio Mentium is a membership-based community outreach and scholarship program designed to connect the Faculty of Law with Calgary’s legal community. This unique program will give students, faculty, alumni, law firms and members of the legal community a place to discuss current legal issues and expand their networks with the goal of enhancing the reputation of our school and community in Canada and beyond. For more information or to become a member, visit the Assentio Mentium website.

The Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada was at the Faculty of Law on March 20, talking about Canada’s human rights record in his lecture Canada on the World Stage: Whither Human Rights? Alex Neve told the audience that Canada’s good reputation on the human rights stage is starting to decline but that law students can help resolve the issues. Read the UToday article about his visit.

On March 14, as part of the Cenovus Continuing Legal Education Program, Professor Nickie Vlavianos presented to the Association of General Counsel of Alberta on the Alberta Responsible Energy Development Act. Nickie’s presentation focused on changes that the new act will bring to the consideration and approval of energy projects in Alberta and discussed important issues such as the nature and independence of the new provincial energy regulator and the public participation process.

Professor Catherine Brown was nominated to the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law in March. The Academy boasts more than 300 members from 26 countries. Its primary goal is to “concentrate on the analysis of the substantive requirements and the tax consequences of the transfer of wealth” which includes balancing the conventions of local law with multinational involvement. Catherine is one of two Albertans in the Academy, which has 28 members from Canada.

The visit to the law school by Judge Juan Guzmán (retired) as part of the Faculty of Law’s Total Visiting Speakers Program, is the subject of a March 21 UToday article, "Famous Chilean judge tells stories of terror, transformation and justice."  The film, “The Judge and General” by Elizabeth Farnsworth and Patricio Lanfranco, was screened at the law school on March 12 and followed by a question and answer session with Judge Guzmán. Judge Guzmán.spoke about "The Chilean Dictatorship and the Judiciary" on March 14.  

Dean Ian Holloway, Q.C., and Professor Alice Woolley, as well as the law school’s first dean, John McLaren, will be speaking at the recently announced conference on “The Future of Law School” to be held September 26 – 28 in Edmonton. Ian will appear on a panel dealing with “Circumstances” and Alice will be speaking about “Law School, Curriculum Reform and the Definition of the Good Lawyer” on a panel about “Challenges.” Download the poster here.

Professor Alice Woolley began tweeting on legal ethics matters on March 19, with a focus on Canadian issues and events in that field and you can follow her @LegalEthicsLady on Twitter. And don't forget to follow the law school -- UCalgary Law @ucalgarylaw on Twitter as well. Our new Marketing and Communications manager, Ali Abel, has taken over that account and is keeping those who want to know what is going on at the law school informed.

Chrystia Freeland, the Editor of Thomson Reuters Digital, presented the 2012-2013 Merv Leitch, QC Memorial Lecture on “Plutocrats: How the Global Super-Rich are Shaping our Future” on March 18, arguing that current income and wealth inequalities are different in nature and size than any previous gap between the rich and the rest. She examined, as she does in her recently published book, Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else, the economic, political, techno logical, and social changes that resulted in the emergence of the wealthiest 0.01%.  Ms Freeland is a native of Peace River, Alberta, where her father, Don Freeland, practiced law until his recent retirement, as did his father, Wilber Freeland – a classmate of Merv Leitch – before him.

The Merv Leitch, Q.C. Scholarship for Constitutional Law was presented to two second year students, Anthony Reitboeck and Nelson Medeiros, and the Merv Leitch, Q.C. Scholarship for Natural Resources Law went to third year student, Colin Poon. These awards were presented at the annual Merv Leitch, QC Memorial Lecture on March 18 by Jim Leitch. The awards recognize overall academic merit and strong participation in extra-curricular activities.

Congratulations to the UofC team of Bill Duke, Jessica Robertshaw, Jennifer Thiessen and Zeinab Yousif on winning the Bennett Jones Cup in Health Law Advocacy (left), with an extra congratulations to Jessica Robertshaw, the UofC Top Oralist. Congratulations and thanks also go to their coach, Sheena Owens, of Bennett Jones LLP, and their Faculty Advisor, Professor Liz Whitsitt.

The photographs from the 2013 Annual Law Reception – an event that included the announcement of major gifts by Norton Rose Canada LLP for the International Energy Lawyers Initiative and by BDP for their Burnet Duckworth & Palmer Scholars Fund and a moving presentation by Sean Green (left) -- are now available in the Photo/Event Galley here. Photographs from other major events in the 2012/2013 academic year are also available in the Gallery.

Bob Rae, Interim Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, and Sean Casey, the party’s Veteran Affairs & Associate Justice Critic, were at the law school March 15 to take part in a “Politics and the Law” event sponsored by the Faculty’s Career & Professional Development Office. The event featured an address by Chima Nkemdirim, Chief of Staff to Mayor Nenshi, and two break-out sessions, one with Brian Thiessen (LLB 1997), a partner with Blake, Cassel & Graydon, the Fundraising Chair for Mayor Nenshi’s campaign and the former President of the Alberta Party, and a second with Matt Grant (JD 2012), an articling student with Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer, and the former Co-Campaign Manager for MLA Kent Hehr.

Professor Kathleen Mahoney is currently serving as Vice Chair of the selection committee for the 2013 Trudeau Scholarships, and she will be in Montreal the week of March 18 to interview the semi-finalists for these awards. The fifteen scholarships awarded each year by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation are valued at up to $60,000 a year for a maximum of four years and are the most prestigious doctoral award in Canada. Kathleen was a 2008 Trudeau Fellow.

Professor Alice Woolley presented her paper on "Can Good Character Be Made Better?  Assessing the Federation of Law Societies' Proposed Reform of the Good Character Requirement for Law Society Admission" as part of the University of Ottawa Common Law Section Professionalism Speakers Series on March 11. Her presentation will be available as a podcast here

The University of Calgary Jessup team — Delna Contractor, Waqas Iqbal, Gloria Moore, Mike Selnes, and Alexander Watson —was recognized with a First Place Applicant Memorial and a First Place Combined Applicant/Respondent Memorial in the White & Case Canadian National Division Qualifying Tournament of the 2013 Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition held March 6 – 9 in Kingston, and the award for 2nd Place Overall Oralist went to  Waqas Iqbal (left). The team finished in fifth place overall in the Canadian tournament. They will represent Canada’s written submissions to the World Finals Competition in Washington. Congratulations to all team members and to the team’s Coach, Professor Owen Saunders, and Faculty Advisor, Professor Liz Whitsitt. U of C / University of Houston Joint JD student, Barrett Schitka, was a member of the UHLC team that competed in New Orleans last weekend in the US Southern Super Regional and he was selected as one of the top five oralists in that tournament.

The University of Calgary Corporate/Securities Law Moot team — Gunnar Benediktsson, Andrea Gray, Byron Reynolds, Joshua Sealy-Harrington and Julie Bogle (researcher) — placed second in the national competition held March 8 and 9 in Toronto and Gunnar Benediktsson (left) received the Top Oralist award. Gunnar and Byron represented the U of C team in the final round, mooting before The Honourables Robert Armstrong and Robert Blair of the Ontario Court of Appeal, The Honourable Howard Wetston, Chair of the Ontario Securities Commission, The Honourable James Farley, former Justice of the Ontario Superior Court, and James Turner, Vice-Chair of the Ontario Securities Commission, and losing to the U of T in a close 3-2 decision. Congratulations to all team members and to the team’s Corporate Sponsor, Bennett Jones LLP, their Coach, Harinder Basra, and Faculty advisor, Professor Shaun Fluker!

The Annual Law Reception was held the evening of March 7 to recognize friends, donors and the Calgary legal community, with the W.K. Moore Award for substantial contribution and ongoing commitment to the law school being presented to William (Bill) E. Smith (left). Among his other contributions, Bill has been a member of the law school’s Admissions Committee for years. Professor Jonnette Watson Hamilton was honoured with the presentation of the 2011-2012 Howard Tidswell Award for Teaching Excellence. The evening was hosted by Dean Ian Holloway, Q.C,, who publicly acknowledged the support the Faculty of Law has received to date in the Campaign for Calgary Law. Third year students, Alastair MacKinnon and Lisa Hodgson, acted as emcees for the event, which was held at the University’s Downtown Campus..   

Professor Nigel Bankes presented the inaugural Indigenous Research Seminar, Progress in the Decolonization of International Law,” on March 6 in the U of C Native Centre. Nigel focused on the work of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, a topic he has recently written about in “Indigenous Land and Resource Rights in the Jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights: Comparisons with the Draft Nordic Saami Convention” (2012) 54 German Yearbook of International Law 231–280. The Indigenous Research Seminar Series is an initiative of the Indigenous Knowledge and Research Sub Committee.  

See the story about last week's visit to the law school by Verlyn Olson (left), Alberta’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, "Minister of agriculture encourages law students to consider rural practice" in the March 5 edition of UToday. The event organized by the Rural, Energy and Agriculture Law (REAL) Students' Society.

Congratulations to six U of C law students for their advocacy in the Alberta Court of Appeal Moots on March 1 and 2: to Daniel Collins and Jennifer Joss, who won the Crminal Law Moot, to Nelson Medeiros and Brandon Rasula, who won the Constitutional Law Moot, and to Brandon St. Pierre and Kourtney Rylands who won the Civil Law Moot. Daniel Collins and Jennifer Joss argued R v JA, 2011 SCC 28, for the appellant before a bench composed of The Honourable Patricia Rowbotham of the Court of Appeal of Alberta, Mr. Eric Tolppanen Q.C, from Alberta Justice, and Mr. Michael Wylie of Norton Rose Canada LLP. Nelson Medeiros and Brandon Rasula argued Reference Re Securities Act, 2011 SCC 66 for the appellant before The Honourable B.K. O’Ferrall of the Court of Appeal of Alberta, Mr. Eric Tolppanen Q.C. from Alberta Justice, and Ms. Letha MacLachlan Q.C. from the Environmental & Resources Law firm. Brandon St. Pierre and Kourtney Rylands argued Reece v Edmonton (City), 2011 ABCA 238, for the respondent before The Honourable Patricia Rowbotham of the Court of Appeal of Alberta, The Honourable W.A. Tilleman of the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta, and The Honourable M.A. McCorquodale of the Provincial Court of Alberta. Thanks to all of the students who volunteered and helped the Faculty host this event, including Timekeepers Carrie Baker, Russell Patterson, and Charlotte Stokes; Competition Hosts Sarah Ivany, Jessica Babineau, Heather Chan, George Nashaat, Ana Dzitac, Heather Chan, and Ana Dzitac; and photographer Elise Woodall. And thanks to Chantal Pegg, Administrative Assistant to Faculty, for her enthusiastic organization of the event!

Four U of C law students took part in the Kawaskimhon Aboriginal Moot held March 1 – 3 at the University of Western Ontario Faculty of Law: Jessica Wong, Ricki-Lee Gerbrandt, Graham Martinelli, and Alastair MacKinnon (left).Their coach, David Venour, the Faculty’s Aboriginal Law instructor, reports that “the Moot went very well and the students performed superbly.” The Faculty is proud of the students’ performance and grateful to their coach for his mentorship.

The Supreme Court of Canada released its judgment in Saskatchewan (Human Rights Commission) v. Whatcott on February 28, accepting many of the arguments made by the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF), which was represented on the intervention by Jo-Ann Kolmes of Edmonton and Professor Kathleen  Mahoney. The Court affirmed that hate speech causes deep harm to vulnerable groups and to society at large, and that hate speech prohibitions in human rights legislation are justified. The Court also concluded that freedom of expression is enhanced when equality rights are respected, hate speech represses expression by targeted groups, and hate speech delivered in a religious or political context will not be insulated from hate speech laws. LEAF's factum in Whatcott v. Saskatchewan is available at www.leaf.ca.

Professor Nigel Bankes is part of a Working Group on “Exploring the International Context for Land Claims” at the 4th National Conference of the Land Claims Agreements Coalition on "Keeping the Promise: the Path Ahead to Full Modern Treaty Implementation" February 26-March 1 in Gatineau, Quebec. He will be speaking about the Canadian experience and approaches to modern treaty agreements and implementation. The Conference will bring together over 450 participants from all levels of government, modern treaty organizations, academics, businesses, Aboriginal organizations and others to celebrate the successes of 40 years of modern treaties in Canada and blaze the trail for the next 40 years of modern treaty implementation. The Working Groups are at the heart of the Conference. In a series of facilitated break-out sessions, participants will examine case study “context” stories, identify barriers, and generate approaches to overcome the challenges preventing full and effective implementation of agreements. Results of these sessions will be incorporated into the Coalition’s Model Implementation Policy.

The Gale Cup Moot took place in Toronto on February 22-23 and the U of C team — Joseph Antifaev, Andrew MacGregor (left), Jeffrey Major-Hansford and Lindsay Rowell — took home the prize for Best Team Not In Finals (Anglophone). The full winners' list is availabel here. The team was ably coached by Jolaine Antonio, Appellate Counsel, Alberta Justice; Abby Griener (LLB 2007), Associate, Vogel LLP; and Kyra Kondro, Crown prosecutor, Alberta Justice. This was Jolaine and Abby’s final year as coaches of the U of C Gale Cup Moot team and we thank them for all of their fine coaching and mentorship of students over the years.

Professor Kathleen Mahoney spoke about “The Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement and the Goal of Reconciliation:  Is it Possible?” to the Knights of the Roundtable in Calgary on February 19. Kathleen was the Chief Negotiator of the Settlement Agreement representing the Assembly of First Nations, and is a member of the National Administration Committee overseeing the implementation of the Agreement. The Knights are a group of about 40 mainly retired professionals, university professors, politicians, and business people that has met weekly since 1925 to lunch with a speaker of either historical or contemporary interest, then discuss with the speaker during a question and answer period.