THE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF LAW TEACHERS BULLETIN (EXTRACTS) APRIL 2001
	IN THIS ISSUE : Word from the President Executive Members 2000-2001* Annual Conference (Preliminary Program) ** The Law Forum Computer Survey $15,000 Scholarship * The list of 2000-2001 executive members has been deleted from the copy of the Bulletin which is posted on this website. The list of executive members who are now part of the committee can be consulted elsewhere on this website (See Executive Committee). **: The preliminary program has been deleted from the copy of the Bulletin which is posted on this website. The final version of the program can be consulted elsewhere on this website (see Annual Meetings).
	WORD FROM THE PRESIDENT
	Dear Law Teachers: 2001 Annual Conference The annual CALT Conference is to be held at Laval University from 27 to 29 May 2001 as part of the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. The program outline is found elsewhere in this Bulletin but I wish to note a few highlights. On Sunday, 27 May the first Law Forum will be held. This joint initiative of CALT, the Council of Canadian Law Deans (CCLD) and the Canadian Law and Society Association is an important first step to greater cooperation among law-related academic associations. I salute the planning committee on their efforts and, in particular, commend Rod MacDonald of McGill who facilitated the work of the three partners. Sunday, will also see the Legal Dimensions Initiative supported by the Law Commission of Canada. This important endeavour directly promotes and funds the research interests of law and law-related academics in Canada. I commend Nathalie Des Rosiers, Chair of the Commission, for her and the Commission's continued support. I leave the rest of the excellent and exciting program to your consideration. You will be impressed with the program from the joint session with the Canadian Industrial Relations Association, to the plenary session with William Ian Miller of Michigan on "Courage, Fear and Justice" to the excellent and comprehensive section meetings. I thank each organizer, chair and presenter for their active participation. Remember that a travel fund provided by the SSHRC pays part of the travel expenses for attendees (not other wise supported) based on the distance travelled. Another important CALT initiative is the Civil Law /Common Law Exchange for law teachers. Aline Grenon (Ottawa) is the point person for this program. Please read the note later in this Bulletin. University of Toronto First Year Law Affair The following is an extract from the letter of concern sent to Dr. Robert Birgeneau, President of the University of Toronto: The executive of the Canadian Association of Law Teachers expresses its deep distress about the University of Toronto's public handling of the recent controversy surrounding first year student grades and, in particular, its response in relation to a respected and valued member of the legal community. This excerpt is self-explanatory and we join all law teachers, students and interested others in hoping for a prompt and respectful resolution of this very unfortunate matter. John P. McEvoy President CALT
	THE LAW FORUM: WHAT IS IT?
	The Law Forum is a joint initiative of CALT, the Council of Canadian Law Deans (CCLD) and the Canadian Law and Society Association. The Law Commission of Canada is a supportive observer. We are hoping to organise an annual meeting involving many associations of a legal and scholarly nature. The numerous advantages of such a meeting are described in the letter of invitation set out below and sent out to the following associations: Association Henri-Capitant Canadian Association of Law Librairies Canadian Association of Law Teachers Canadian Environmental Law Association Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice Canadian IT Law Association Commercial and Consumer Law Workshop National Judicial Institute Osgoode Hall Law School Constitutional Cases Conference Quebec Society of Comparative Law The National Association of Women and the Law Other associations wishing to participate should contact Aline Grenon at agrenon@uottawa.ca Dear colleague, We are attaching a proposal relating to the creation of an annual Law Forum. We are sending this document to you because we wish to obtain feedback from various associations in order to determine if sufficient interest exists with respect to such a concept. During the last several years, we have noted that because of budget cuts, it has become increasingly difficult for law professors to attend conferences and meetings. Given that travel budgets are limited, law teachers can, in general, attend only one conference per year when there are many more interesting conferences. It is in this context that we thought of creating a major Law forum. Why not organise an annual meeting involving many associations of a legal and scholarly nature? All these groups could meet together at the same time and at the same location. The location could change from year to year. Each association would hold its own meeting according to its usual format but with certain events in common, for example, a banquet, reception, half-day or day plenary session. The members of the associations would be able to attend the public sessions of each association and thereby benefit from the activities of more than one law-related association. For the price of a single air fare and several nights hotel, participants at the Law Forum would have access to many different activities and benefit from interaction with a larger number of colleagues. The Law Forum would have the advantage of multiplying the number of participants as well as promoting exchanges, formal as well as informal. We hope that you will discuss the possible involvement of your association in the Law Forum. This matter will be the subject of discussion at the next Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities which will be held at Université Laval, in May 2001. Perhaps it will be possible for you to send a representative of your association to the Law Forum. If not, we would be grateful if you could let us know, if possible before May 15, 2001, whether or not you would be interested in becoming involved. Yours truly, PROPOSAL FOR A ONE-DAY LAW FORUM The Law Forum is an initiative of the Council of Canadian Law Deans, the Canadian Association of Law Teachers and the Canadian Law and Society Association, with the support of the Law Commission of Canada. The proposal has been developed by an "Exploratory Committee" comprised of representatives of the four sponsoring organizations. While in the longer term it may be that the Law Forum evolves into a larger endeavour, perhaps involving other co-partners with comparable scholarly goals, the present aim is simply to organize, during the period of the Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities at Université Laval in Quebec City on May 27, 2001, a one day session under the joint auspices of the sponsoring organizations. The immediate objectives of the Law Forum are two-fold : A. To bring together several organizations (and their membership) that have a particular interest in strengthening legal scholarship and through that, strengthen the partner organizations; B. To provide the occasion for a one-day session focused on challenging themes of current scholarly interest to all those pursuing legal and social-legal research. The projected attendees of the Law Forum would be drawn from a wide base. The aim would be to create an event that is attractive to scholars at all stages of their careers, from graduate students, those in the first years of a teaching career, through mid-career scholars, to senior scholars. Projected attendees could be as follows: Active members of the various sponsoring organizations who routinely attend annual meetings; Members of the various sponsoring organizations, who have not routinely or recently attended annual meetings; Law faculty and law and society "post-docs"; Law clerks from various courts; Graduate students. Montreal, March 2001
	CALT LAW TEACHER COMPUTER POLICIES SURVEY
	CALT representatives at 15 law faculties responded to our computer survey viz. Alberta, Manitoba, McGill, Moncton, Osgoode, Ottawa, Queens, Sherbrooke, Toronto, UBC, UQaM, UMontreal, UNB, UWO, and Windsor. Computer Equipment Acquisition Policies No faculty is reported to allocate a specific amount of money to each law teacher on an annual basis for the purchase of computer equipment. It appears that generally law faculties purchase and allocate computers to law teachers but no faculties were identified as not providing either computer equipment or funds for computer purchases. At two-thirds of faculties, law teachers receive computer equipment at the discretion of the dean's office or through application to the dean's office. In only one faculty, control of the decision whether to purchase computer equipment is external to the faculty itself -- the decision is made by the university computing centre. At four faculties, law teachers are expected to fund computer equipment purchases using either professional development funds or under research grants and contracts. Newly appointed full-time law teachers are provided with computer equipment at thirteen faculties with six faculties reporting as providing computer equipment as available within the faculty. At only one faculty is acquisition of computer equipment reported to be a matter of negotiation as a term of the new law teachers's contract of employment. Computer Support Personnel Thirteen faculties are identified as having on-site computer support personnel and two do not such personnel on site. Software Programs Policies on updating computer programs available for law teachers vary. At two-thirds of faculties, computer programs are updated automatically by computer support personnel while one other faculty is reported to provide annual or regular updating. At three faculties, updates occur when the law teacher acquires new computer equipment; and at one faculty, updating occurs only when requested by the law teacher. WordPerfect and Microsoft Word are the word processing software of choice for law teachers according to the survey. Six faculties are reported generally as users of WordPerfect and three generally as users of Microsoft Word. Law teachers at the other six faculties are identified as using a combination of both WordPerfect and Microsoft Word.
	SCHOLARSHIPS OF $15,000.00 EACH
	CALT has applied to the Department of Justice Canada for a grant allowing it to implement a common law/civil law exchange program for law teachers wanting to acquire a knowledge of both Canadian legal systems. By means of this grant, CALT would award annually scholarships worth $15,000.00 each to law teachers wishing to study the other legal system in a Canadian university of their choice, with a view to obtaining an LL.B., LL.L., LL.M. or LL.D. Basic requirements for these scholarships would be a minimum of three years of experience as a law teacher and a sufficient degree of bilingualism to be able to read and understand both French and English without difficulty. The scholarships would be awarded in two instalments: $10,000.00 at the beginning of the studies and $5,000.00 upon receiving the law degree and upon confirmation that an article on a comparative law subject has been accepted for publication in a scholarly journal. CALT's request to Justice Canada is currently being processed. If the grant is awarded, CALT will send to each Canadian law school a notice describing the application process as well as the selection criteria.