The legendary Queen’s Law spirit was abundant atop the beautiful rooftop patio of CI Financial in downtown Toronto on May 31, as more than 130 alumni and some incoming students gathered for the school’s annual reception. Friends both old and new applauded the outstanding achievements of this year’s alumni award winners and a key figure in the school’s future.

Dean Bill Flanagan was delighted to announce an important addition to the school’s business law program: “Last year we reached our $1.5-million goal for the David Allgood Professorship in Business Law,” he said. “Now we have an outstanding candidate who will be joining us in July.” 

Mohamed Khimji, the inaugural Allgood Professorship holder, addressed the crowd. “You’ve created an opportunity for me that I’m very grateful for and excited about,” he said. “The Professorship will fund a number of initiatives – both on the teaching and research side – designed to ensure that Queen’s offers the most promising route for future generations of Canada’s leading business lawyers and scholars.”

“Queen’s is already one of Canada’s best law schools,” Khimji added. “I look forward to working with all of you to make Queen’s Law even better.” 

Arguably the main event for the evening, the presentation of three of the school’s annual Alumni Awards, saw winners from three different decades – and one high-tech acceptance speech.

Brian Rose, Law’74, Senior Counsel to Bennett Jones LLP, received the H.R.S. Ryan Award of Distinction for significant contributions to the Faculty, university and legal profession. 

Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Law’10, Liberal MP for the Toronto riding of Beaches-East York, appearing from Parliament Hill via Skype, accepted the Dan Soberman Outstanding Young Alumni Award for demonstrating promising future leadership. 

Justice Harvey Brownstone, Law’80, of the Ontario Court of Justice, was presented with the Justice Thomas Cromwell Distinguished Public Service Award by Justice Cromwell, Law’76, LLD’10, himself. The award is for sustained outstanding service and significant contributions to the public. 

These three joined the already awarded Leslie O’Donoghue, QC, Law’88, Executive VP at Agrium Inc., who received the inaugural J.A. (Alec) Corry Distinguished Alumni Award in Calgary on May 2. 

During his acceptance speech, Brownstone expressed the crowd’s sentiment to the Dean. “You put Queen’s on the international stage, have done so much to re-connect alumni with the school and made us relevant. You make us all feel like family.” 

Watch for feature stories on the three Toronto award recipients starting in the week of June 20.