From Dean Mark Walters:

Dear students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of Queen’s Law,

I hope you are all doing well, staying healthy, and making preparations for a well-deserved holiday break. 

As the year comes to an end, and the snow begins to fly, I find myself thinking of a line from an old song: “I wish I had a river I could skate away on.” Perhaps we can all imagine skating away down a frozen river just now.

How does one bookend a year like 2020? I might characterize it as achievement through adversity. I say that in full acknowledgement of the impact the pandemic has had on all of us, as individuals, family members, students, employees, and members of the immediate and global Queen’s Law community. 

I have been amazed by the level of collaboration, ingenuity, dedication, and most importantly, compassion and care for one another during this most challenging period. From Law Students’ Society/Faculty wellness excursions to virtual alumni events, we have remained connected. And while physically distanced, I think we have grown closer as a community. As 2020 draws to a close, I wanted to share some thoughts on the year that was, and what’s to come at Queen’s Law.

Navigating ‘the great pivot’

We continue to adapt to the changing dynamics of this crisis. I commend our faculty, staff, and administrators for working swiftly to find virtual means of delivering course materials. Our professors and instructors made use of a variety of tools to support virtual, synchronous, and a-synchronous teaching, and went above and beyond to make themselves available to students during this difficult time. In addition, our faculty members have continued to advance critical research projects and make substantive contributions to contemporary legal theory and practice. 

To our students, thank you for your commitment to learning, your resiliency in navigating uncertainty, and your patience as we’ve pivoted our course delivery methods to support your health and safety. While I know it has been an incredibly demanding and stressful period, whether evident or not, you have attained and cultivated an entirely new set of skills that extend beyond your traditional legal education that will position you for success in what lies ahead. You will bring new approaches to complex problems, a greater ability to forecast and embrace innovation and disruption, and much-needed expertise in addressing the formidable challenges and opportunities of the post-pandemic world.

Amidst the challenges, 2020 has been a record year for clerkships as Queen’s Law students continue to secure coveted placements in the Supreme Court of Canada, courts of appeal, and other federal and provincial courts. Moreover, the articling placement for our graduating students, which held steady at 95 per cent for the three previous years, increased to 96.5 per cent this year. 

Advancing our commitment to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, & Indigeneity 

For Queen’s Law, 2020 has been a period of introspection as well as transformation. We continue to work towards the ideals of reconciliation and inclusivity to ensure that our law school embraces diversity and empowers individuals from culturally, racially, and socioeconomically diverse backgrounds to thrive. This includes modelling an academic environment that is a safe and equitable space, where everyone has a strong sense of belonging. In October, after an extensive consultation process, the university approved a decision to de-name the law school building. This was a decision that unified most of our present faculty, students, and staff, but really divided our alumni. I thank you all for your responses, both critical and supportive. Indeed, one of my tasks over this break is to write back to the many law school alumni who have written me, but to whom I simply have not yet found time to respond. I respect your opinions and your comments, and I value your insights, no matter which side of this contentious debate you landed.

Law schools also have a special responsibility to ensure students are equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to combat systemic barriers in the legal profession. In September 2020, we launched the Queen’s Law Anti-Racism Working Group with a mandate of increasing Black representation and addressing barriers to success. We also launched a campaign that has been getting wide support: the student-initiated Cecil Allan Fraser Bursary for Black students, named after our school’s first Black graduate, Cecil Fraser, Law’61. In 2021, we will also be progressing our Truth and Reconciliation Committee working group, which will steward the implementation of the university’s central task force recommendations and identify other opportunities to drive institutional change to create a more welcoming environment for Indigenous students, staff, and faculty.

Ann Deer, who has played an integral role in our Faculty’s commitment to attracting and supporting Indigenous law students, has accepted a promotion within the Smith School of Business. Ann has helped us to advance a variety of Indigenous initiatives and has cultivated a culture of inclusion through intentional, positive, conscious, and meaningful actions. Ann’s work will have a positive impact on our students for many years to come, and we wish her great success in her new role. We will lose no time in recruiting Ann’s replacement to continue this important work.

I am extremely pleased to announce that, in late 2020, we began the recruitment process for the David Sharpe Professorship in Indigenous Law. This is a critical juncture for the law school. We are very excited about the prospect of attracting to Queen’s a legal scholar and teacher who can take a leading role in advancing our commitments to the research and teaching of Indigenous legal studies, including the laws, legal traditions, and systems of governance of Indigenous peoples, as well as state and international laws relating to them. The Sharpe Professor of Indigenous Law will be our third named professorship – joining the Stephen Sigurdson Professor of Corporate Law and Finance, Robert Yalden, and the David Allgood Professor of Business Law, Mohamed Khimji.

Supporting innovation through online program offerings

We continue to shape the future of Queen’s Law through the delivery of innovative, skills-oriented, market-based curriculums optimized for online learning. The Certificate in Law program continues to attract a diverse range of undergraduate students from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds. Developed and taught by industry experts, it explores how the law is embedded in all areas of Canadian life from our culture and values to economies and policy formation. 

This January we welcome the inaugural class of the Graduate Diploma in Immigration and Citizenship Law, Canada’s only English-language pathway to become licensed Immigration Consultants. This program brings to bear the expertise of national and international legal academics, under the vision and leadership of Professor Sharry Aiken, an expert in immigration and refugee law, who has spent a great deal of her career advocating for human rights and social justice. 

We are also refining our programs to ensure they are providing optimal value for our students and the broader legal marketplace. To that end, we will be conducting a program review of the Graduate Diploma in Legal Services Management. We believe in the strategic aims and learning outcomes of the program, and we plan to review and re-think options to deliver the curriculum to interested students and legal practitioners. 

Providing access to justice during the pandemic

Queen’s Law Clinics, which cover five individual pro bono practice areas, continue to provide high-quality legal services to marginalized and vulnerable communities during the pandemic. Our dedicated staff and students rose to the challenge of transitioning to a virtual model to maintain effective client services. And, just as soon as public health guidelines permitted, clinic students re-engaged with clients directly – in particular going back into the prisons to serve inmates in the various penal institutions in the Kingston region. 

In addition to providing important services to the local community, the clinics provide important experiential learning opportunities for our students as they acquire valuable practice skills. To support these efforts, in early 2020, Bogoroch & Associates LLP made a generous donation of $200,000 to Queen’s Legal Aid, the largest and longest-running clinic, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. The funds will support the continued success of this important service. 

Charting the road ahead

While disruptive in multiple respects, this year has also been formative in helping us define our school’s future. We continue to advance our Strategic Framework process, which will outline how we will improve upon our contributions to legal education and legal research, and how we may better perform our responsibilities in shaping the next generation of leaders in our society. In September, our Strategic Planning Committee initiated a first round of consultations with a discussion paper, and we will be initiating a new round of engagements in early 2021, which I encourage you to join. We will be communicating the various ways to participate. 

Alumni support has been critical to our success

Throughout this challenging period we have been supported by our dedicated alumni and friends, and for this we are truly grateful. Our recently published issue of Supporting Excellence provides examples of the many ways you have been helping us in our mission to provide excellent legal education and scholarship in the service of Canadian society. 

We enter a new year with a renewed sense of optimism. As always, we are committed to delivering an unparalleled educational experience. We stand at a moment in time that may, in years to come, be considered a critical turning point, and the members of our community will play an important role in defining the next chapter. 

Back to the frozen river. I hope I can find one to skate on in the weeks to come. But, don’t worry. This will not be an effort to disconnect, but to reconnect. I am now thinking of a different old song. “You, who are on the road / Must have a code that you live by / And so, become yourself / Because the past is just a goodbye.” This seems apt right now. We must say goodbye to the past, but the code that will guide us forward on the road, or river, or whatever, actually comes from our best efforts to understand where we’ve come from, our past, and to honour the path that brought us to where we are.

On behalf of everyone at Queen’s Law, I wish you a happy, safe, and restful holiday season. 

Warm regards, 

Mark Walters