Criminal lawyer Dino Bottos, '89 LLB, was honoured to receive the University of Alberta Law's 2018 Pringle/Royal Sessional Teaching Excellence Award because the award's namesakes both taught and mentored him.
As a law student at UAlberta Law from 1986 to 1989, he took an evidence class from Peter Royal, QC ('74 LLB), and an advocacy class from the late Alex Pringle, QC.
"They showed me the best way to stay involved in legal theory was by coming back to law school to teach and give of yourself what you learned, so you can impart that to students who come after you," says Bottos, a prominent criminal lawyer at Bottos Law Group who has been a sessional for nine years.
He has practised law since 1990, but Bottos taught school for two years prior to that. Law students praise him for being coherent, comprehensive and engaging, as well as able to inspire, "at every 8 a.m. class."
He teaches complex legal concepts to students who often don't have much experience in law. "I found you can pretty much explain anything if you break it down into bite-sized chunks, and when you teach each piece carefully and then put it all together, most people will get it," he says.
His experience as a criminal lawyer helps, since he's often explaining things in straightforward ways to juries who, by law, have no legal training.
Bottos takes his role as an educator to heart and urges his students to view law school as a call to duty, and not an admittance to a privileged rank. "It takes a lot of hard work," says Bottos. "I'm hoping to inspire them to be better than they thought possible."