Sharpening minds, softening perspectives

Photo: Asha Fritz

In her role as a sessional instructor with the University of Alberta Faculty of Law, Andrea Bailer has noticed two distinct qualities emerge as she watches her students grow: a “sharpening” of their analytical and writing skills and a “softening” of their worldview to become more receptive to diverse perspectives or life experiences.

“This growth empowers students to engage more constructively in extremely complex and often challenging conversations,” she says. “I am just grateful that I get to be a small part of that process.”

Bailer’s students clearly see her role as more than a “small part.” Earlier this year they successfully nominated her for the Pringle/Royal Sessional Teaching Excellence Award, which she will officially receive at an awards reception in October. 

For Bailer—who balances her day job as a public law litigator with part-time teaching—the student-led honour is a deeply touching validation of her decision to step into the classroom.

“To think that students went out of their way to support me and put my name forward for something like this is truly incredible,” she says. “This award suggests that I have a contribution to make to legal education, and a responsibility to try to make an impact where I can.”

The recognition is a full-circle moment for Bailer, whose own legal journey started as a student in the Faculty of Law. In her third year of law school, Bailer worked as a Writing Fellow. Her experience teaching Legal Research and Writing made her realize she wanted to return to the faculty as an instructor one day.

After earning her JD in 2016, Bailer spent nine years with the Department of Justice Canada, where she developed expertise in Indigenous-Crown legal relations. Eventually, the dream of being involved in legal education inspired her to pursue an LLM at the University of Ottawa and she later returned to Edmonton, where she currently works for the provincial government as part of the Environmental Law Team. 

When she began teaching in 2024, Bailer was eager to bring the experiences she’d had since graduating back to the classroom. “With teaching, I was very excited by the chance to share some of the substantive knowledge, practical insights and perspectives on the law that I had been exposed to and developed over the course of my legal practice and graduate studies,” she says. “I was also keen to hear what students have to say about the legal problems affecting the world today. I wanted to continue learning from them.”  

Bailer has designed and delivered two courses, both of which address complex socio-legal subjects. The first course, Legal Approaches to Sexual Violence, is a “passion project” inspired in part by the research she did for her Master of Laws degree. 

“I am trying to offer a space where we can think deeply about the law and its impacts on an immersive level,” she says. “In all my classes, I try to develop students’ ability to critically reflect on the role we play as legal professionals, as privileged members of this system. Students may find they do not have the time or energy for this kind of reflection later on in their legal careers. My hope is that, with this foundation, these topics will be something they can take with them and return to.”  

Bailer has also developed her own section of Indigenous Peoples and Canadian Law, a course which has a significant emphasis on Treaty 6 land, scholars, case law and history and is heavily informed by her years working as a public law litigator in that field. 

To keep students engaged with these weighty subjects, Bailer uses varied teaching methods. She encourages peer-to-peer learning, invites guest speakers and offers in-class assignments that highlight the strategic and ethical decisions students will have to make as future legal professionals.

“My hope is that my students learn to ask better questions of the law and what it can do for everyone’s benefit.”

Judging by student feedback, that hope is already a reality. In course evaluations, students have praised her “warm, safe energy” and called Bailer “the best course instructor” of their time in law school.