After many years of dedicated service to the University of Alberta Faculty of Law, Professor Gerald Robertson, Q.C., and Professor Elaine Hughes have retired. Faculty, staff, and students joined friends and family of the professors in CN Alumni Hall earlier this spring to honour their many contributions to the Faculty and to Canadian legal scholarship. At the reception, Dean Paul Paton provided remarks on the professors' service to the Faculty and to students, while Professor Rod Wood and incoming Assistant Professor Cameron Jefferies shared personal memories of Robertson and Hughes respectively.
"Gerald Robertson and Elaine Hughes made significant contributions to teaching and research during their tenure at the Faculty of Law and we wish them well in their retirement," said Dean Paul Paton. "As one of Canada's leading health law scholars, perhaps best known for his work in medical malpractice law and mental health law, Gerald published extensively throughout his career, including the leading medical malpractice textbook in Canada, Legal Liability of Doctors and Hospitals in Canada (4th edition, co-authored with Justice Ellen Picard) and the textbook Mental Disability and the Law in Canada (2nd edition). Elaine is one of Canada's most prominent environmental law scholars - a true trailblazer in the field - someone who researched, wrote, and taught in environmental law before its importance as a field of inquiry was recognized."
Gerald Robertson, Q.C., LLB (Edinburgh), LLM (McGill)
Gerald Robertson joined the University of Alberta Faculty of Law full time in 1983, was promoted to full professor in 1988, and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2000. In 2011, Prof. Robertson was appointed the inaugural Katz Group Chair in Health Law.
Prof. Robertson's teaching responsibilities at the Faculty included tort law, conflict of laws, and health law. Throughout his tenure, he earned many awards and accolades, including the Law Society of Alberta / Canadian Bar Association Distinguished Service Award for Legal Scholarship, the University's J. Gordin Kaplan Award for Excellence in Research, and the Faculty's Hon. Tevie H. Miller Teaching Excellence Award.
Outside the Faculty, Prof. Robertson contributed extensively to the legal community, serving for more than 20 years as a vice-chair of the Mental Health Review Panel under the Mental Health Act. He is currently the alternate chair of the Alberta Review Board under the Criminal Code of Canada.
Elaine Hughes, BSc, LLB (Alberta), LLM (UBC)
Elaine Hughes joined the University of Alberta Faculty of Law in 1989 and was promoted to full professor in 2000. Throughout her tenure at the Faculty, Prof. Hughes taught domestic environmental law, international environmental law, natural resources law, land titles, and animal welfare law. She also taught undergraduate courses in engineering, agriculture, and environmental studies.
Prof. Hughes published widely in the areas of domestic and international environmental law, including works on forestry, environmental offenses, parks, marine pollution, pesticides, animal welfare, and legal theory. In recognition of her significant contributions to research and teaching, she was awarded a McCalla Professorship in 2011.
Prof. Hughes is the co-author of three editions of Environmental Law & Policy with Al Lucas and William Tilleman, and is the co-author of an upcoming book being published by Irwin Law - Public Lands and Resources Law in Canada - with Al Lucas and Arlene Kwasniak.