Thank-you and Welcome - A Change at the Top at the UAlberta Faculty of Law

Katherine Thompson - 30 June 2014

(l-r): Dean Philip Bryden, U of A Law Dean 2009-14, & the Hon. Catherine Fraser, Chief Justice, Court of Appeal of Alberta

Today, June 30, 2014, Dean Philip Bryden reaches the end of his five year term as Dean at the University of Alberta Faculty of Law. He arrived in Edmonton in July 2009 from his position as Dean of Law at the University of New Brunswick, where he served for five years. Prior to that he had been a member of the University of British Columbia Faculty of Law from 1985 to 2004, including a three year term as Associate Dean from 1993 to 1996.

(l-r): Dean Philip Bryden, U of A Law Dean 2009-14

Dean Bryden's research and teaching interests are primarily in the field of administrative law, but he has also worked in the areas of constitutional law, human rights law and labour law. While at the University of Alberta he taught Foundations to Law every year and Administrative Law in 2011. Bryden received an undergraduate degree in History from Dalhousie University, a BA in Jurisprudence and a BCL from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar, and an LLM from Harvard University. He has practiced law in New York and Vancouver, served as special assistant to Secretary of State, Gerald Regan and was a law clerk to Madam Justice Bertha Wilson of the Supreme Court of Canada.

Highlights at the Faculty while Philip Bryden was Dean include the Faculty of Law's celebration of its Centenary in 2012-13, including our very successful Centenary Gala Dinner in the fall of 2012, the Special Convocation in the spring of 2013 at which Chief Justice Catherine Fraser received an honorary degree, and our international Conference on the Future of Law School held in the fall of 2013. The Faculty saw a number of departures of faculty and staff, but we also began a process of faculty renewal through the hiring of tenure stream faculty members Peter Sankoff, Gail Henderson, Ubaka Ogbogu and D'Arcy Vermette. In addition, we were able to reorganize our staffing to create the position of Director of Academic and Cultural Support and were able to recruit Shannon Gullberg to fill that position.

(l-r): The Hon. Mr. Justice Russell Brown, Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta, Dean Philip Bryden, U of A Law Dean 2009-14, & Prof. George Pavlich

The Faculty of Law has begun the process of reviewing our curriculum to create more flexibility for students in the upper year program while respecting the Canadian common law degree requirements mandated by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. Through the initiative of Professor Catherine Bell and with the support of the Edmonton Community Legal Centre and Legal Aid Alberta, we were able to expand the opportunities available to our students to engage in experiential learning through our Low Income Individuals and the Law Clinical Program. He is a regular contributor to Canadian Lawyer Magazine.

Through the generosity of many alumni and friends we were able to make major renovations to the classrooms and other facilities in the Law Centre and to put together a portfolio of more than $1 million in annual financial support to students in the form of bursaries, scholarships, prizes and awards.

The University of Alberta Faculty of Law thanks Dean Philip Bryden for his commitment to our Faculty, students and alumni and welcome him back as a professor in the Faculty following his year of administrative leave.


To view more photographs from the Faculty of Law event, on June 17, 2014, to honour Dean Philip Bryden, and Catherine Miller (Director of Development and Alumni Relations), please click link





Dr. Paul Paton - Introducing the University of Alberta Faculty of Law's new Dean

UAlberta's new Law Dean, Dr. Paul Paton

Prior to accepting the position as our new dean at the U of A Faculty of Law, Dr. Paul Paton was a Professor of Law and Director of the Ethics Across the Professions Initiative at McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific in Sacramento, California, where he served as the inaugural Vice-Provost from 2012 to 2013.

For a decade prior to joining the academy full-time in 2004, Dr. Paton had a distinguished career in private practice (with a commercial litigation practice), corporate counsel (PricewaterhouseCoopers) and public service settings (senior government policy advisor). Educated at the University of Toronto (BA and LLB), and the University of Cambridge (MPhil, International Relations), he holds masters and doctoral degrees from Stanford Law School.

Dr. Paton's research focuses on ethics in corporate contexts, legal ethics and lawyer regulation in a comparative perspective, and on corporate governance matters. He has been recognized nationally in the US, Canada and the UK for his contributions to debates on the future of the legal profession. He was appointed for five years to the CBA's National Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee, serving two years as Chair. He is also a columnist on ethics for Lexpert magazine.

We welcome Dr. Paul Paton to the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta and look forward to introducing him to the Alberta legal community and our alumni worldwide.


Media coverage for UAlberta's new Law Dean Dr. Paul Paton: