The University of Alberta Faculty of Law would like to offer our warmest congratulations to our former colleague the Honourable Mr. Justice Russell S. Brown on his appointment to the Alberta Court of Appeal, in Edmonton. He has been appointed as a Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of Alberta, a Judge of the Court of Appeal for the Northwest Territories, and a Judge of the Court of Appeal of Nunavut, to replace Madam Justice Myra Bielby. The Law School's faculty, sessional lecturers, staff, and students are absolutely delighted for Justice Brown. He was initially appointed to the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, on February 8, 2013, to replace Mr. Justice Keith Yamauchi.
"Russ Brown was an outstanding colleague when he was a member of our Faculty," said Dean Philip Bryden. "He was an award-winning teacher, a gifted scholar, and a willing and able contributor to Faculty and University administration. His initial appointment to the Court of Queen's Bench was a major loss for the Faculty but a significant gain for the people of Alberta. It gives me great personal satisfaction to see that his many abilities have been recognized by his elevation to the Court of Appeal, and I have every confidence that our province will benefit from his knowledge, hard work and sound judgement for many years to come."
Justice Brown was called to the Bar of British Columbia in 1995. He practised law in B.C. from 1995 to 2004, working initially with the law firm of Davis & Co., now Davis LLP, and later with the law firm of Carfra and Lawton in Victoria, B.C. He joined the University of Alberta's Faculty of Law in 2004. A recipient of the Faculty's Tevie H. Miller Teaching Excellence Award (2007), Justice Brown taught Tort Law, Civil Procedure, Property, and Wills and supervised graduate students at both the LLM and PhD level. His research interests lie generally within tort law (particularly recovery for pure economic loss and factual causation) and public authority liability for takings, and he is the author of Pure Economic Loss in the Canadian Law of Negligence (LexisNexis, 2011). His torts scholarship has also appeared in (among other journals) the McGill Law Journal, the Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal, the Journal of International Biotechnology Law, the Dalhousie Law Journal, the University of British Columbia Law Review, and the Canadian Business Law Journal, and he has authored the sole comprehensive treatment of Canadian public authorities' common law liability for takings (in Horsman, Morley, eds., Government Liability: Law & Practice). Justice Brown's work in the law of takings was recognized by the Literati Network (UK)'s award for "outstanding paper" for 2010. In addition to contributing to academic conference proceedings, he has been invited to speak to lawyers, judges, legislators and policy-makers across Canada and in the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and New Zealand. He was called to the Bar of Alberta in 2008, and has appeared as counsel before the trial and appellate courts of both Alberta and British Columbia.
From 2011 to 2013, Justice Brown acted as the Associate Dean (Graduate Studies) of the Faculty of Law, and during this time period he was also a Research Fellow of the Health Law and Science Policy Group (now part of the Health Law Institute). (http://www.hli.ualberta.ca/) He is a past Chair of the Health Law Institute Board, a past member of the Board for the Canadian Forum for Civil Justice (http://cfcj-fcjc.org/), and has served as Chair of both the University Appeals Board, and the University Practice Review Board. He has also chaired or served on the executive of various subsections of the Canadian Bar Association, in addition to service on committees of the University's General Faculties Council and the Law Society of Alberta.
Before studying law, Justice Brown worked in provincial (British Columbia) and federal governments. He was also a Legislative Intern at British Columbia's Legislative Assembly and has served on various public and private boards and advisory boards, including the Advisory Board to the Salvation Army.
In addition to Justice Brown, the University of Alberta Faculty of Law has contributed a number of distinguished members to the Alberta judiciary, including Justice Ellen Picard of the Alberta Court of Appeal and Justice June Ross of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench.