University of Alberta Faculty of Law
File:UAlberta Coat of Arms.png | |
Motto | Quaecumque Vera |
---|---|
Motto in English | Whatsoever things are true |
Type | Public |
Established | 1912 |
Chancellor | Eric P. Newell |
President | Indira Samarasekera |
Provost | Carl G. Amrhein |
Dean | Philip Bryden |
Location | , , |
Colours | Green and Gold |
Nickname | The Golden Bears (men), The Pandas (women) |
Affiliations | AUCC, CIS, CWUAA, AUFC, UArctic, ACU, CUSID |
Mascot | GUBA (men), Patches (women) |
Website | www.law.ualberta.ca |
Established in 1912, the University of Alberta Faculty of Law is the oldest faculty of law in western Canada. The University of Alberta Faculty of Law is one of the most well established Law Schools in Western Canada. It is consistently ranked as one of the best Law school in Western Canada. In 2003 Canadian Lawyer Magazine ranked the University of Alberta the 2nd best in Canada (3rd the year before). MacLeans magazine, in 2007, ranked the University of Alberta as the #1 Law School in Western Canada.
Early History
Phenomenal growth in Canada’s western region during the 1880s resulted in an influx of settlers to the area. Among these early pioneers were many professionals (including lawyers), from other parts of the country, as well as the globe. A general lack of regulation in the profession allowed for many different approaches to the application of law a cause of major concern.
By 1898, the Law Society of the Territories had come into existence. This organization formalized Bar admission eligibility by establishing new requirements. In order to gain admission to the Bar, law students were now required to article under a practicing lawyer for a period of five years. The compulsory articling period was shortened to only three years for students who had previously earned a degree in either Arts or Law, or had graduated from the Royal Military College.
As it was generally accepted that law was learned through the practical experience of articling, lectures were offered on a part-time basis only, permitting students to carry on part-time study while still working full-time day hours. Lectures were commonly given in early morning hours or at supper time after work, in order to accommodate the working students’ schedules.
As the first law school in Western Canada, the University of Alberta Faculty of Law made significant efforts to help establish the practice of law in western Canada.
The Faculty of Law’s first class, which counted only eight people, graduated in 1915.
By the Faculty’s second year (1913-1914), there were fifty students registered in the Bachelor of Laws program.
In 1921, the Faculty of Law implemented major changes and redesigned the existing LL.B. program to become a full-time, three-year program with mandatory attendance at University lectures. Before these new program regulations, attendance at lectures was not compulsory, and the LL.B. degree was not required for admission to the Bar. Other changes to the Bar admission process included shortening the articling period following completion of the LL.B. degree to only one year.
Location
Edmonton
The University is located in Edmonton - the Capital City of the province of Alberta, a riverside city with a population of nearly 1 million.
Climate
Edmonton's temperature varies considerably, ranging from +30 to -40 degrees celsius (84 to -40 degrees fahrenheit).
Academics
Focus
The University of Alberta Faculty of Law is prominent in health law, constitutional law, jurisprudence, property law, and the legal profession.[1] The Alberta law school educates the majority of legal professionals that enter the Law Society of Alberta; although graduates have gone on to practice throughout Canada, England, Australia, and the United States.
Joint Programs
LL.B/MBA
The University of Alberta Faculty of Law offers a joint LL.B/MBA program in cooperation with the University of Alberta School of Business. The program is offered within a four-year period - one year less than taking each degree separately. Beside new entrants, students in the first year of the regular MBA program or first and second year students enrolled in the Faculty of Law are eligible to apply for the joint program.
LL.B/JD
The University of Alberta Faculty of Law and the University of Colorado Law School (at Boulder, Colorado) offer a dual degree program. This program enables students from both law schools to obtain an Alberta law degree and a Colorado law degree in a four-year period. Alberta students take the first two years of their legal studies at the University of Alberta and their third and fourth years in Boulder.
Graduate Programs
LL.M
The LLM is an advanced research degree, which provides students with an opportunity to study a particular area of law in greater depth than is possible in the LLB program. Although the LLM does not qualify a student to practice law in Canada, there are a variety of reasons why students enter the LLM program. The LLM can be completed either by a course based route or a thesis based route. Students in these programs must have completed a law degree. Students are admitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research (FGSR), and degrees are awarded by FGSR; however, students are taught by members of the Faculty of Law and generally do their study and research in the Faculty of Law.
Postgraduate Diploma in Law
The program is designed to provide an extensive exposure to a limited area of the law and to help prepare candidates as specialists in that area. The Postgraduate Diploma in Law is a shorter program, which can be completed in one semester of full-time study. Diploma students take three or four courses, including an independent research paper. The diploma is intended for students who have an LLB (or equivalent) and want to supplement or update their legal education.
Ph.D
Approved
Admissions
Regular
To be considered for admissions, the applicant must have successfully completed an undergraduate degree, or at least the first three years (90 credit hours) of a program leading to a degree, at the University of Alberta or from a university recognized by the University of Alberta. An LSAT score is also mandatory for admissions.
The regular application deadline is November 1st.
Mature
To be considered a mature applicant one must meet the following criteria:
A) An applicant must be 35 years of age prior to the first day of September in the year admission is sought. There is no maximum age restriction for admission to the law program. B) An applicant must provide evidence of a minimum of five (5) years past achievements in non-academic areas indicative of ability to succeed in the studies in law school. C) An applicant must have a minimum of two years (60 credits) leading towards any degree or equivalent acceptable to the University of Alberta, completed prior to or in the winter session preceding the September in which admission is sought (i.e., by April 30th).
Aboriginal
To be considered an aboriginal applicant one must meet the following criteria:
A) Normally an applicant must have a minimum of two years leading towards any degree or equivalent acceptable to a university in Alberta, completed prior to or in the Fall/Winter preceding the September in which admission is sought (i.e., by April 30th). Consideration may be given to Aboriginal Applicants with a minimum of one year leading to a degree or equivalent, if they exhibit evidence of past achievements in non-academic areas indicative of an ability to succeed in law school. B) An applicant must have written the Law School Admission Test within a 5 year period preceding the September of the year in which admission is sought. The last acceptable LSAT writing date for September admission is December of the previous year.
Admissions for Aboriginal and Mature students are more holistic than for applicants in the regular category.
Statistics
The entrance average is traditionally around 3.7/161 (GPA/LSAT). The University of Alberta Faculty of Law weighs the LSAT and GPA equally. The male/female ratio has in recent years been an even split (with most years having slightly more females than males). The average age of admitted students is 24.5
Tuition
Tuition fees for entering Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) are set at C$10,216.16 for domestic students and C$27,342.20 for international students in 2008-2009.
Facilities
Library
The John A. Weir Memorial Law Library is one of the best in Canada. It contains a collection of some 300,000 volumes, making it the second largest Law Library in Canada (#1 in Western Canada).
Institutes and Centres of Excellence
Also housed within the Faculty of Law are the Alberta Law Reform Institute, the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice, the Centre for Constitutional Studies, the Health Law Institute, and the International Ombudsman Institute.
The students from the Faculty of Law run an independent legal aid clinic named Student Legal Services of Edmonton and the independent Alberta Law Review.
Reputation
The academic reputation of the University of Alberta's Faculty of Law is high due to its focus on practice and the legal profession itself. Over a dozen graduates have become Rhodes Scholars and two have won the Vinerian Prize at Oxford. Students from the University of Alberta have clerked at all levels of the Canadian Court system, including the Supreme Court of Canada, the judiciary and the cabinet at both the provincial and federal levels. Traditionally, the University of Alberta's Faculty of Law has graduated many of Alberta's Justices and Judges along with many of Alberta's most prominent lawyers. The University of Alberta is often viewed as the center of legal education and community in Alberta, as originally envisioned by Alexander Weir. The school achieves a near 100% employment rate for law graduates from the University of Alberta.
The graduating student with the highest GPA over the three year Bachelor of Laws program is awarded the Horace Harvey Gold Medal in Law.
Faculty
Today, the law school has over 35 full-time faculty members.
2008-2009 Faculty:
Annalise E. Acorn
Eric Adams
Sanjeev Anand
Kathryn Arbuckle
Richard Bauman
Catherine E. Bell
Barbara Billingsley
Ron Bouchard
Russell Brown
Tamara Buckwold
Peter Carver
Timothy Caulfield
Timothy Christian Q.C.
Christine Davies Q.C.
Frederick DeCoste
Gerald L. Gall O.C.
Joanna Harrington
Elaine L. Hughes
Cameron Hutchison
Eran Kaplinsky
Robyn Kaulback
Lewis Klar Q.C.
John M. Law
Matthew Lewans
Morris Litman
Heather Manweiller
Mitchell McInnes
A. Anne McLellan
James W. Muir
Delphine Nakache
Val Napoleon
Erin L. Nelson
Shannon K. O'Byrne
George Pavlich
Steven Penney
David R. Percy Q.C.
Linda C. Reif
Wayne N. Renke
Gerald B. Robertson Q.C.
Jeremy D. Schick
Christopher Sprysak
Roderick J. Wood
Moin A. Yahya
Bruce H. Ziff
Alumni
The University of Alberta has an extensive list of distinguished alumni.
- The Right Honourable Madame Beverley McLachlin, current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
- The Honourable Madame Catherine Fraser, Chief Justice of Alberta
- The Honourable Mr. Allan Wachowich, Chief Justice of Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta
- The Honourable Mr. W.A. Stevenson, former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
- The Honourable Mr. Ronald Martland, former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
- The Honourable Mr. Ron Stevens, former Deputy Premier of Alberta and Minister of International and Intergovernmental Relations; Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta
- The Honourable Mr. David Hancock, Alberta Minister of Education and Government House Leader
- The Honourable Peter Lougheed, former Premier of Alberta
- The Honourable Ron Ghitter, former Senator and Alberta MLA
- Judge Tony Mandamin, Aboriginal Judge of Provincial Court of Alberta
- Clarence Campbell, former President of the National Hockey League
- Wilton Littlechild, first treaty Indian in Canada to serve as a Member of Parliament
- Daryl Katz, CEO & Chairman of The Katz Group and owner of the Edmonton Oilers
- Eldon Douglas Foote
- Frank MacInnes, CEO & Chairman, EMCOR Group
- David McLean, The McLean Group CEO and Canadian National Railway Company Chairman of the Board
In December 2005, law school alumni Frank MacInnis ('71), donated $2.5 million to the law school.[2]
References
See also
External links
- Official website
- Canons of Construction - University of Alberta Faculty of Law Student Newspaper
- Faculty Profiles
- History of the Faculty of Law written in 1955