Message from the Dean

Welcome students, alumni, researchers, and friends to the University of Calgary Faculty of Law

Dr. Ian Holloway, Q.C., Dean of LawLocated in the heart of northwest Calgary, with a view of the majestic Rocky Mountains, our campus is a haven of natural beauty and pleasing architecture.  Green space is bountiful and the campus is well laid out and easily accessible.  The newly renovated Faculty of Law, housed in Murray Fraser Hall, is one of the most central and technologically sound buildings on campus. The stunning building renovations, increased student enrollment, expanded curriculum, and addition of new faculty members were all made possible via the realization of goals set in our 2004 – 2009 Strategic Plan and the successful fundraising initiative that accompanied it.   

The Faculty owes much of its success to the generous donors who championed the facility and program upgrades.  Over $20 Million was raised to ensure the Faculty of Law could take its place as a top law school in Canada and its place as the pre-eminent Canadian law school in the area of Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law.  We are proud to offer top-notch JD and graduate programming as well as joint programs with the Haskayne School of Business and the Faculty of Environmental Design. Future program growth and development will be facilitated via the important research and teaching partnerships we have formed with the University’s Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy, and the School of Policy Studies.  

Our students are well positioned for success given our proximity to top legal experts in the field and the enviable position Calgary has of being second only to Toronto as home to the largest number of major corporate head offices.  The Faculty of Law is an integral part of both a city and province that have become world leaders in the resource and energy sector and have developed significant high-tech industries. These developments are reflected in the legal practices of the province's major law firms which must support the highly sophisticated financial and cross-border activities of their corporate clients. 

To meet industry demand, and support the growing challenges faced by rapid expansion and change in resource based businesses, we’ve boosted the number of students admitted to the JD program from 75 to 100 annually, and have increased the Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law course offerings to 22. Student success is easily measured via our high articling placement rate. Both our 2010 and 2009 graduates had a 99% articling placement rate. Statistics are officially reported as of November following the graduation year.

Ramping-up our enrollment and course offerings simply would not have been possible if it were not for the addition of the following highly-qualified professors: Shaun Fluker, Nickie Vlavianos, Jassmine Girgis, Allan Ingelson, and world-renowned fiscal and tax policy specialist and holder of the Palmer Chair in Public Policy, Jack Mintz.

We have achieved most of what we set out to accomplish in the 2004 – 2009 Strategic Plan.  We are now  renewing our focus and crafting a  2010-2015 Strategic Plan, and a new fundraising initiative, to ensure that the success of the past five years is not only sustainable, but can be enhanced to keep the Faculty of Law in a place of prominence nationally and internationally.

Welcome to the Faculty. This is an exciting time to be involved with us.  It is a time of change, challenge, and success, for Faculty, students, alumni, and friends alike.