Viscount Bennett Scholarship

The Faculty of Law is proud to announce that Clayton Bangsund and Paul Chiswell have each been awarded a scholarship from the Viscount Bennett Scholarship Fund.

Clayton Bangsund earned his LL.B. from the University of Alberta in 2005, and went into private practice thereafter. He is interested in debtor-creditor law generally, with a special focus on personal property security issues. He recently wrote an article (which he hopes to have published in a law review this fall) that proposes reform to the personal property security provisions of the Bank Act (Canada). While pursuing his LL.M. at Columbia Law School, Clayton intends to undertake a comparative analysis of the U.S. and Canadian personal property security regimes. He hopes to gain a thorough understanding of the U.S. personal property security regime, and the constitutional framework in which it operates, to give him further insight into addressing personal property security issues at home in Canada.

Paul Chiswell obtained his business and law degrees with distinction at the University of Alberta and received the George Bligh O'Connor Silver Medal in Law. While in law school, Paul was an articles editor of the Alberta Law Review, as well as a member of the University's Board of Governors, Senate, Students' Council, and University Appeal Board.Paul is currently a director of the Lifesaving Society of Alberta and Northwest Territories andis interested in hockey, triathlon, and travelling. Paul summered at BD&P in 2009 and clerked at the Court of Appeal of Alberta.

Paul plans to attend Wadham College, University of Oxford to complete the one year Bachelor of Civil Law program. In addition to his studies, Paul plans to play hockey for Oxford and try his hand at rowing.

While at Oxford, Paul may have an opportunity to meet another of our graduates, Laura Hoyano (1982), who is currently the senior tutor in law at Wadham College.

The Viscount Bennett Scholarship Fund was created in 1954 by R.B. Bennett, a lawyer with the Law Society of Alberta, through his donation of 100 Royal Bank of Canada shares (then valued at $100 each). Initially, the fund provided medals to meritorious students, but over time, the value of the shares increased, and now allows the Fund's Directors to grant up to three scholarships annually.

The Right Honourable Viscount Bennett, KC, LLD, DCL, sought to encourage a high standard of legal education, training and excellence and successful applicants receive up to $20,000 towards post-graduate studies.

For more information on the Viscount Bennett Scholarship, click here.