Associate Professor Matthew Lewans signs a copy of his new book for his father at the April 14 book launch
As any academic will tell you, writing a book is both a labour of love and a culmination of many years of research. It's also deserving of a little bit of fun. In that spirit, colleagues, friends, and family of Associate Professor Matthew Lewans gathered at Iconoclast Koffeehuis in Edmonton on April 14 for a reception to celebrate the publication of his new book, Administrative Law and Judicial Deference, published earlier this year by Bloomsbury.
The book examines how the common law of judicial review has responded to the development of the administrative state in three different common law jurisdictions - the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada - over the past 100 years. In the book, Professor Lewans argues that the idea of judicial deference is a valuable feature of modern administrative law, because it gives lawyers and judges practical guidance on how to negotiate the constitutional tension between the democratic legitimacy of the administrative state and the judicial role in maintaining the rule of law.
The reception was well attended by Professor Lewans' colleagues at the Faculty of Law, as well as members of the Edmonton legal community, his family, and friends. During the celebration, Professor Bruce Ziff acted as informal Master of Ceremonies, and David Phillip Jones, Q.C., from de Villars Jones provided remarks and spoke to Professor Lewans' scholarship.
Congratulations, Matthew!
Matthew Lewans is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Alberta Faculty of Law. Called to the Saskatchewan Bar, he practiced law for several years before pursuing graduate degrees at the University of Oxford, the University of Auckland, and the University of Toronto. His research and teaching interests concern the interface between administrative law, constitutional law, jurisprudence, and professional responsibility. In addition to his teaching and research activities, Professor Lewans is a member of the Board of Directors for the Edmonton Community Legal Centre, a not-for-profit organization that provides free legal services, advice, representation, and education to low income residents in the Edmonton area.