Quicklaw Founder Hugh Lawford Passes Away

Hugh Lawford, former law professor at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and the founder of the Quicklaw database, passed away Monday.

Lawford was 76.

Simon Chester, partner at Heenan Blaikie in Toronto, wrote yesterday on Slaw.ca about Lawford's contributions to the world of law:

"We learned this morning of the death of Professor Hugh Lawford, a legend in Canadian legal information. He will be mourned by many students who studied with him at Queen’s University Law School, and his passing should be noted by every Canadian lawyer, because Hugh and his colleagues revolutionized how law is practiced. "

"QUIC/LAW which became QL Systems which became Quicklaw merged its identity into LexisNexis. But anyone who encountered Hugh from the pioneering days of the late Sixties to his retirement in 2004 will have been struck by his vision, his tenacity and his commitment to making legal information more accessible."

One indication of his immense influence is the fact that the Canadian Association of Law Libraries has named its annual Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing after Prof. Lawford.