Gerald Fridman, QC in 2016 upon receiving honourary Doctor of Civil Law from the University of Western Ontario (source: Western Law)
Professor and former UAlberta Law Dean Gerald Fridman, QC, FRSC, one of Canada's most prolific and leading private law scholars and teachers, died on Friday, November 24, 2017. He was 89.
Fridman's career spanned continents, universities and generations.
Considering the scope of his distinguished career, his tenure as dean at UAlberta Law from 1970 to 1976 was just the beginning. He would go on to impact thousands, not just within the law profession but the rest of society as well.
Fridman's journey in law began across the pond when he graduated from Oxford University in 1948 with a BA, a BCL and an MA. Later, he jumped continents yet again and soon graduated from the University of Adelaide in South Australia with a Master in Law.
Along with his deanship at the Faculty, he held academic positions in Australia, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Canada, both as a sitting and visiting professor. Throughout his career as a practicing lawyer, he was admitted as barrister-at-law in London, England, served as barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of South Australia and worked as barrister and solicitor in both Alberta and Ontario.
He was also appointed Queen's Counsel in Ontario and served as Director of the Alberta Institute of Law Research and Reform.
As a prolific scholar and an expert in the law of contracts, agency, torts, sale of goods and restitution, Fridman published more than a dozen books on legal matters and over one hundred articles, major papers, case notes and book reviews.
His work has been cited in more than 50 decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada and his writing on Canadian private law has impacted hundreds of law professionals, students and academics. Currently, he is the only Canadian legal academic to have written five separate leading treatises on five distinguished areas of Canadian law.
Not only was he awarded the Walter Owen Book Prize for distinguished writing on Canadian Law upon the publication of the first edition of The Law of Torts in Canada. He also published several other treatises including The Law of Contract in Canada, The Sale of Goods in Canada and Restitution.
A memorial service was held for Fridman in London, Ontario on Friday, December 1, 2017.
Fridman's career spanned continents, universities and generations.
Considering the scope of his distinguished career, his tenure as dean at UAlberta Law from 1970 to 1976 was just the beginning. He would go on to impact thousands, not just within the law profession but the rest of society as well.
Fridman's journey in law began across the pond when he graduated from Oxford University in 1948 with a BA, a BCL and an MA. Later, he jumped continents yet again and soon graduated from the University of Adelaide in South Australia with a Master in Law.
Along with his deanship at the Faculty, he held academic positions in Australia, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Canada, both as a sitting and visiting professor. Throughout his career as a practicing lawyer, he was admitted as barrister-at-law in London, England, served as barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of South Australia and worked as barrister and solicitor in both Alberta and Ontario.
He was also appointed Queen's Counsel in Ontario and served as Director of the Alberta Institute of Law Research and Reform.
As a prolific scholar and an expert in the law of contracts, agency, torts, sale of goods and restitution, Fridman published more than a dozen books on legal matters and over one hundred articles, major papers, case notes and book reviews.
His work has been cited in more than 50 decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada and his writing on Canadian private law has impacted hundreds of law professionals, students and academics. Currently, he is the only Canadian legal academic to have written five separate leading treatises on five distinguished areas of Canadian law.
Not only was he awarded the Walter Owen Book Prize for distinguished writing on Canadian Law upon the publication of the first edition of The Law of Torts in Canada. He also published several other treatises including The Law of Contract in Canada, The Sale of Goods in Canada and Restitution.
A memorial service was held for Fridman in London, Ontario on Friday, December 1, 2017.