The Faculty of Law would like to congratulate its eminent alumnus Douglas R. Stollery, Q.C., ('76, LL.B.) on being named as a recipient of the 2013 Distinguished Alumni Award, the U of A Alumni Association's most prestigious award recognizing living graduates whose outstanding achievements have earned them national and/or international prominence.
Douglas Stollery, Q.C., is one of the most experienced construction lawyers in the country, and currently is the general counsel of PCL Constructors Inc. and serves as a director, corporate secretary and member of the executive committee of PCL Construction Holdings Ltd. His years of practice in this area, combined with a pioneering role in the development of public-private partnerships in Canada, would alone make him a worthy candidate for the award. But a broad range of experience and community involvement clearly make him a role model within the profession.
"Doug has had an amazing array of accomplishments, from being an incredibly successful business lawyer, both in private practice and as in-house counsel to PCL Construction, to being a champion of human rights, both as a lawyer and as a philanthropist, says Philip Bryden, Dean of the U of A Faculty of Law, and Wilbur Fee Bowker Professor of Law. "He has been active in law reform through his work as a director of the Alberta Law Reform Institute. Both through his own generosity and through his encouragement of the generosity of others, he has been an active supporter of worthy causes in the community. Doug is a great friend of the Faculty of Law and is certainly a very deserving recipient of the University of Alberta's Distinguished Alumni Award."
Graduating with an LL.B. from the Faculty of Law in 1976 and with an LL.M. from Harvard Law School in 1980, Stollery, a U of A law school silver medalist, spent a year clerking with the Honourable Mr. Justice Ronald Martland of the Supreme Court of Canada. He was admitted to the Alberta Bar in 1977, and practiced with the firm of Reynolds Mirth Richards & Farmer LLP in Edmonton for a period of almost 30 years before joining PCL Constructors Inc. as their first general counsel in 2006. Stollery's practice at Reynolds Mirth featured extensive involvement with the PCL family of companies dating back to the 1990s -- a period of notable growth for PCL -- making him the de facto general counsel for PCL well before his formal appointment to the position years later. He has been closely involved with PCL's success in the arena of public-private partnerships and alliances, as well as PCL's traditional construction activities across Canada, the United States and - more recently - Australia.
Stollery has a broad range of experience in business and construction law. He is a fellow of the Canadian College of Construction Lawyers and has appeared before all levels of the courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada. It is his work outside corporate construction matters that arguably makes Stollery one of the most unusual in-house lawyers in Canada. Few corporate counsel ever see the inside of a courtroom, yet Stollery was part of a team that argued one of the most important Charter of Rights and Freedoms cases ever brought before the Supreme Court of Canada. In 1998, he and his legal team successfully argued pro bono the case of Vriend v. Alberta, with Stollery serving as Vriend's co-counsel. They argued that Alberta's human rights legislation was unconstitutional because it did not include protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The case captured public attention because of its subject matter: gay rights, and produced a landmark Charter decision which amended the Alberta legislation to include protection on the basis of sexual orientation. It is recognized by the National Post as one of the top ten Charter decisions in the thirty year history of the Charter.
"At that point in time, I really didn't know anything about the Charter of Rights because the Charter didn't exist when I went to law school. There was a steep learning curve," Stollery said. "It was a thrilling decision. It certainly was an interesting part of my career."
In 2011, Stollery played a prominent role in assisting and representing PCL on the G20 High Level Panel on Infrastructure Investment. This panel brought together a number of world-wide high profile individuals with a diverse range of talents and expertise in the areas of private investment and infrastructure development in developing countries. The panel's mandate was to help reduce poverty in third world countries through infrastructure development.
Among Stollery's many contributions to the Faculty of Law are in his role as mentor and instructor for law students. As a sessional instructor he taught jurisprudence for over 10 years, until 1990. Stollery has also been a major force involved in fundraising at the University of Alberta, from 1995 to 1997 he was a member of the Executive Committee of the 'Law Campaign 75'; in 1998 he was a member of the Fundraising Committee for the 'Law Now Campaign'; and from 1999 to 2010 he was a member of the Fundraising Committee for the 'Human Rights Lectureship'. Stollery has also acted as a speaker at legal conferences aimed at practitioners.
"Doug Stollery was a superb law student throughout his years at Law School. As a testament to his academic ability, he worked as a summer research student for the Law Reform Institute on projects dealing with the Statute Frauds and the Rules of Court during his time at law school," says David Percy, Q.C., Borden Ladner Gervais Professor of Energy Law and Policy, U of A. "It was no surprise when he nurtured his academic skills further by obtaining a LL.M. degree from Harvard in 1980. The Faculty was fortunate that he brought his considerable learning to bear on teaching Jurisprudence for 10 years after his return from Harvard, while maintaining a busy legal practice."
Stollery has been actively involved in the Canadian Bar Association and has served as President of the Canadian Bar Association - Alberta Branch. His volunteer service on behalf of the legal profession also includes serving as a director of the Legal Education Society of Alberta and the Alberta Law Reform Institute, as co-chair of the Canadian Bar Association - Supreme Court of Canada Liaison Committee and as a member of the Federal Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee.
In addition to his many accomplishments in day-to-day professional practice it is Stollery's active and enduring community involvement that stands out. He is also actively involved as a volunteer in community organizations, having served as President of the Victoria School Foundation for the Arts, Vice-Chair of the Grant MacEwan College Board of Governors and a director of Grant MacEwan College Foundation, Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation, and the Stollery Charitable Foundation. Numerous past commitments to causes have won Stollery many accolades, including the Patricia J. Coffman Memorial Prize, the Viscount Bennett Scholarship (Law Society of Alberta), the George Bligh O'Connor Silver Medal (U of A Faculty of Law), the Eileen Nash Award (Edmonton Bar Association), Suzanne Mah Award for Leadership (Alberta Human Rights & Citizenship Commission), MacEwan University's Distinguished Citizen Award, and a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his service in the community. In May 2012, he was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement award from the Canadian General Counsel.
*When Stollery retires later this year from PCL, international development is one area in which he plans to look for volunteer opportunities. Human rights is another.
"Each of us has an obligation to help in whatever way we can," he says.
And he, for one, takes that obligation seriously.
Alumni Recognition Awards 2013
Date: Wednesday, September 25 (part of Alumni Weekend 2013)
Time: Ceremony 7:00 p.m.; Reception to follow
Venue: Winspear Centre (corner of 99 Street & 102 Avenue)
Cost: Free
Dress: Business attire
Join us for an inspirational evening as we celebrate the outstanding accomplishments of University of Alberta graduates who have brought great honour to their alma mater. Meet the award recipients at a post-ceremony reception while enjoying complimentary hors d'oeuvres and sparkling wine.
*Quote from interview with Douglas Stollery in U of A Alumni Magazine 'New Trail'. Read the rest of that interview here.