Canadian Bar Association Awards

At its annual meeting in Calgary, the Canadian Bar Association handed out a number of awards, in addition to the Justicia Award for Excellence in Journalism I mentioned earlier this week.

In the category for legal writing, Ari N. Kaplan and John Swan were declared co-winners of the 2007 Foundation for Legal Research's Walter Owen Book Prize, Toronto lawyer Kaplan for his book Pension Law, and Osgoode Hall Law School professor Swan for his book Canadian Contract Law.

Other awards include:

• Nicolas M. Rouleau, law clerk to Supreme Court of Canada Justice Marie Deschamps until the end of this week, Viscount Bennett Fellowship (Fellowship awarded annually to a Canadian student to encourage high standards of legal education, training and ethics)
• Donald J. Manderscheid, Q.C., 2007 CBA John Tait Award of Excellence (outstanding Canadian public sector lawyer)
• Margaret Ostrowski, Q.C., 2007 CBA Touchstone Award (promoting equality in the legal profession, the judiciary or the legal community in Canada)
• David Matas, Tarnopolsky Human Rights Award (contributions to domestic and international human rights)
• J. David O'Brien, Q.C., Robert V.A. Jones Canadian Corporate Counsel Award winner
• Justice John Gomery, head of the commission of inquiry into the federal sponsorship scandal, 2007 CBA Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Law (outstanding contribution to the law or legal scholarship in Canada)
• Lisa D. Belcourt, CBA Young Lawyers Pro Bono Award
• Tamara Kronis, CBA SOGIC Ally Award winner (contributions made in the cause of equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and two-spirited people)
• El-Farouk Khaki, CBA SOGIC Hero Award (same as above)
• Former Ontario chief justice Roy McMurtry, CBA President's Award (significant contributions to the legal profession and the association)
• Lorne Waldman, co-counsel for Maher Arar in the Arar inquiry, CBA Louis St-Laurent Award of Excellence (distinguished or exceptional service to the goals of the Canadian Bar Association)