The University of Alberta Faculty of Law would like to offer its warmest congratulations to its colleague Dr. Russell Brown on his appointment to the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, in Edmonton. The Law School's faculty, sessionals, staff, and students are absolutely delighted for Dr. Brown. He has been a wonderful teacher, scholar and colleague and the Faculty of Law has every confidence that Dr. Brown will be an outstanding judge.
Dr. Russell Brown was called to the Bar of British Columbia in 1995. He practised law in B.C. from 1995 to 2004, working initially with the law firm of Davis, now Davis LLP, and later with the law firm of Carfra and Lawton in Victoria, B.C.
Dr. Brown joined the University of Alberta's Faculty of Law in 2004. A recipient of the Faculty's Tevie H Miller Teaching Excellence Award (2007), Dr. Brown taught Tort Law, Civil Procedure, Property, and Wills. Dr. Brown supervised U of A Faculty of Law graduate students at both the LLM and PhD level. His research interests lie generally within tort law (particularly recovery for pure economic loss and factual causation) and public authority common law liability for takings, and he is the author of Pure Economic Loss in the Canadian Law of Negligence (LexisNexis, 2011). His torts scholarship has also appeared in (among other journals) the McGill Law Journal, the Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal, the Journal of International Biotechnology Law, the Dalhousie Law Journal, the University of British Columbia Law Review, and the Canadian Business Law Journal, and he has authored the sole comprehensive treatment of Canadian public authorities' common law liability for takings (in Horsman, Morley, eds., Government Liability: Law & Practice). His work in the law of takings was recognized by the Literati Network (UK)'s award for "outstanding paper" for 2010. In addition to contributing to academic conference proceedings, he has been invited to speak to lawyers, judges, legislators and policy-makers across Canada and in the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and New Zealand. He was called to the Bar of Alberta in 2008, and has appeared as counsel before the trial and appellate courts of both Alberta and British Columbia.
From 2011 to 2013, Dr. Brown acted as the Associate Dean (Graduate Studies) of the Faculty of Law, and during this time period he was also a Research Fellow of the Health Law and Science Policy Group (http://www.heals.ualberta.ca/. He is an Advisor to the Canadian Constitution Foundation (http://www.canadianconstitutionfoundation.ca/) and an Advisor to the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (http://jccf.ca/). He is a past Chair of the Health Law Institute Board (http://www.law.ualberta.ca/centres/hli/), a past member of the Board for the Canadian Forum for Civil Justice (http://cfcj-fcjc.org/), and has served as Chair of both the University Appeals Board, and the University Practice Review Board. He has also chaired or served on the executive of various subsections of the Canadian Bar Association, in addition to service on committees of the University's General Faculties Council and the Law Society of Alberta.
Before studying law, Dr. Brown worked in provincial (British Columbia) and federal governments. He was also a Legislative Intern at British Columbia's Legislative Assembly and has served on various public and private boards and advisory boards, including the Advisory Board to the Salvation Army.
"I have been a very lucky person," said Professor Russ Brown. "I have had terrific colleagues, and students, and have been fortunate to work with dedicated staff. I hope to maintain a close connection to the University of Alberta law school, and am looking forward to joining the ranks of its foot soldiers in the judiciary."
The University of Alberta Faculty of Law has contributed a number of distinguished members to the Alberta judiciary, including Justice Ellen Picard and Justice June Ross, and it is very exciting for the Faculty to see Russ Brown become a part of that illustrious tradition.
"At a personal level I would like to thank Russ Brown for his many contributions to the Faculty, and in particular his service as Associate Dean, Graduate Studies," said Philip Bryden, Dean of Law at the U of A. "Russ has done a superb job as a member of our administrative team, and I will miss his contributions to our work. I have every confidence that Russ will make an equally outstanding contribution to the work of Alberta's judiciary, and I wish him every success in his new career."