Nominations Open for 2008 Distinguished Service Awards If you know an Alberta lawyer who has made an outstanding contribution to his or her community, to the profession, to legal scholarship or in pro bono legal service, consider nominating him or her for a 2008 Distinguished Service Award. Presented jointly by the Law Society of Alberta Branch and Canadian Bar Association Alberta, these annual awards celebrate excellence in the legal profession. Award categories are:
- The Distinguished Service Award for Service to the Community
- The Distinguished Service Award for Service to the Profession
- The Distinguished Service Award for Legal Scholarship
- The Distinguished Service Award for Pro Bono Legal Service
Nominations should include:
- Nominee information, i.e. name, award category, firm/company name, business phone and fax, business and email addresses.
- Nominator information including name, business phone and fax, business and email addresses.
- A statement detailing why the candidate is worthy of the award.
- A curriculum vitae outlining the nominee's background, career and any present activities that qualify. them for nomination in one of the four categories.
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Express Pride in Role of Lawyers as Legislators
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 Excerpt of a speech given by the Honourable Peter Lougheed at the Law Society of Alberta's 100th Anniversary gala dinner October 4, 2007 in Calgary, Alberta
"I want to focus tonight on the role of lawyers as lawmakers. Before I do that, I want to make a preface about the Law Society of Alberta of which I am so proud to be a member. The most impressive initiative by the Law Society on this occasion is the pro bono law project that has been mentioned. In our society here in Alberta, lawyers have played such an important role as legislators in our province over its 100 year history."
"There are two areas where I want to focus my comments about the history of our Province. In 1930, there was the Natural Resources Transfers Act. Alberta and Saskatchewan, when we became Provinces in 1905, did not have the rights to our natural resources. This was a discrimination that bothered many, many of the citizens of the time."
"The second part of it was the Constitution. Again, in my time it was with Mr. Trudeau, and he was moving unilaterally with regard to it. In our judgement if Mr. Trudeau was successful in unilaterally changing the constitution without the provinces we would have had an entirely different country from that point forward. It would not have been a federal state, it would have been a unitary state. These are big events."
"There is a sense politically that lawyers should be playing a subdued position. I think we should be very proud of the role lawyers play as legislators and we shouldn't minimize it in any way. I worked with an incredibly able group of lawyers in |
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my 14 years of government; they made a huge difference with regards to this Province and the period that we were involved in."
"Let me commend the legal profession in Alberta for our history and for your commitment to professionalism; to those in general practice for their constant efforts toward fairness and justice in our society; to those practicing in criminal law for their conviction in the concept of innocence unless proven otherwise; to those working within the walls of corporations and businesses for bringing high standards of professionalism to business transactions; to those working in non-elected government positions or not for profits for holding to high standards of service; and to those at the universities teaching the next wave of practitioners for embedding in them the respect of the law that is required."
"I hope for the legal profession of Alberta the continuation of the high quality of practice in this Province; for the better public appreciation of the contribution of lawyers by the public throughout the Province; for the continuation of the effectiveness of our sustaining the discipline of our own members in the way that we do so; for better communicaiton about the ways we help the less fortunate in our communities; for the continued involvement of lawyers in the not for profit groups in our communities; for the encouragement of women and men, both of them women and men, to seek public office in our province and in our community."
"This is what I hope for in the future of our profession. I have a sense of optimism in regard to this: I sense pride in our past which has been quite a big part of this evening. I sense confidence in the future of this province. I feel very good about the future of our profession and the future of our province."
(To view the full remarks, please visit: www.lawsocietyalberta.com)
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