University of Alberta awards the prestigious University Cup award to Professor David Percy, Q.C., Borden Ladner Gervais Chair of Energy Law and Policy at the Faculty of Law
The University of Alberta Faculty of Law would like to congratulate its esteemed colleague, Professor David Percy, Q.C., Borden Ladner Gervais Chair of Energy Law and Policy, on being awarded the prestigious University Cup. Professor Percy is among the outstanding faculty, staff and students being honoured at the annual Celebrate! Teaching.Learning.Research event held on September 19, 2013. The University Cup is the highest honour a U of A academic can receive for top-notch research, teaching and service to the university and to the community, as well as being an outstanding post-secondary leader nationally and internationally.
"I am absolutely delighted that David Percy has been chosen to receive the University Cup this year," commented Philip Bryden, Dean of U of A Faculty of Law. "He is an extremely deserving recipient of the University's highest award for lifetime achievement by a faculty member, and is the first member of the Faculty of Law to be honoured in this way since the award was created in 1996. He joins the ranks of some truly exceptional University of Alberta faculty members, and sets a standard of excellence in teaching, research and service that is an inspiration to all of us."
As the 2013 recipient of the University Cup, Professor David Percy measures success largely by the impact that his teaching and research has on current students, past students and within the wider community. As a professor at the University of Alberta for 43 years and counting, Professor Percy's contributions as a teacher, scholar, and community member make him a truly outstanding recipient for the University Cup.
2013 University Cup Winner
"It is a wonderful recognition of Professor Percy's many contributions to the Law School's students, his colleagues, the University, and the legal community over the more than forty years he has served as a member of the Faculty of Law," commented Steven Penney, law professor at the U of A.
Professor Percy is widely recognized as an exceptional and dedicated educator. Since his initial appointment to the Faculty of Law in 1969, his teaching prowess has been recognized at the faculty, university, and national levels. He has received the Faculty's Tevie H. Miller Teaching Excellence Award, the University of Alberta's Rutherford Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the Weir Foundation's W.P.M. Kennedy Award for outstanding law teaching in Canada, and now the University Cup. His teaching and research interests are in contracts, construction law, and natural resources law including water law, and oil and gas law.
Teaching bright law students
Whether imparting fundamental principles of Contract Law to first year students or explaining recent developments in energy law to upper year students and practicing lawyers, Professor Percy's consistent focus is on engaging and inspiring his audience about the subject matter at hand. Professor Percy skillfully combines a Socratic teaching method with humour to make complex information both interesting and accessible to students.
Professor Percy is a prolific scholar whose research focuses primarily on the law relating to natural resources (including water and petroleum), contracts, and construction. In 2009, he was appointed to the Faculty's Borden Ladner Gervais Chair of Energy Law. His scholarship is regularly relied on by law students, academics, lawyers, courts, and legislators and has made significant theoretical and practical contributions nationally and internationally.
Professor Percy is a renowned expert and scholar of water regulation both in Canada and internationally. His research on Canadian water law (including The Framework of Water Rights Legislation in Canada (1987), "Water Rights in Alberta" (1977), and Resolving Water Use Conflicts: Insights from the Prairie Experience for the Mackenzie River Basin (2012)) have established him as a leading national authority. Indeed, his research was so innovative that he was asked by the Government of Alberta to work on the development of comprehensive new legislation, culminating in the passage of the Water Act which took effect in 1999.
Alberta Water Act, and water law work in Africa
Professor Percy's work in this field has also had a profound international impact. He was co-author of Promotion of Sustainable Commercial Aquaculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, Vol. 3: Legal Regulatory and Institutional Framework (2001), and wrote the framework for Namibia's Aquaculture Act of 2003 and influenced the development of legislation in several nations. His reputation as an internationally-recognized water scholar is also evidenced by his selection as the founding Chair of the University of Alberta Water Initiative. Currently, Percy is reviewing critiques of Alberta's water allocation system, including public input received through this year's provincial Water Conversation. Since 2000, Professor Percy has worked with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization on water law and aquaculture in six African countries. Professor Percy also regularly lends his expertise to governmental and international agencies. Professor Percy has also served as an expert witness in several important oil and gas court cases, chaired several symposiums and conferences on oil and gas development.
"In Academy Award terms, the University Cup is the equivalent of a "lifetime achievement award" for a University of Alberta professor," commented U of A law professor Barbara Billingsley. "I am very happy to see this year's award recognize David Percy for his outstanding reputation and his long-term contributions as a legal expert and educator within the legal profession, the university, and the community at large (both locally and internationally). He's a star!"
Professor Percy has always been a generous contributor of his time, expertise, and administrative skills for the betterment of the Faculty of Law, University of Alberta, and broader community. The Province of Alberta recognized his outstanding accomplishments and service by appointing him Queen's Counsel in 1998, and in 2005 by awarding him the Centennial Medal.
From 2002 to 2009, Professor Percy served as an Honourary Bencher of the Law Society of Alberta. He is a former President of the Canadian Association of Law Teachers. Professor Percy has also held, or continues to hold, numerous leading positions in university or law-related organizations, including: Director of the Legal Education Society of Alberta (1983-1990); Director of the Environmental Law Centre of Alberta (1981-1984); Trustee of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation (since 1988); Member of the Steering Committee of the Faculty of Science Institute for Land Use Innovation (2009-2011); and Chair of the Faculty of Law's Centenary Committee (since 2011).
Work in the community
Professor Percy is well known for his teaching talents outside of the university. He is a past-President of the Canadian Association of Law Teachers and is regularly called upon to provide continuing legal education to judges through the National Judicial Institute, and to the profession through the Canadian Bar Association, Legal Education Society of Alberta, and many other professional associations. These achievements are a testament not only to Professor Percy's knowledge of the law, but also his skill and devotion to the task of passing his expertise on to others.
"I find it very rewarding to take what I have learnt from my teaching and researching in the law school and bring this knowledge to groups in the wider community who are wrestling with the sorts of 'concrete' problems that I have been talking about in the abstract," said Professor Percy.
Undoubtedly Professor Percy's singular service achievement was his transformative seven year Deanship of the Faculty of Law. Between 2002 and 2009 he oversaw several significant initiatives, including the establishment of a joint degree between the Universities of Alberta and Colorado; creation of interdisciplinary positions in Law & History, Law & Indigenous Affairs, and Law & Sociology; renewal of faculty through several hirings; and extensive renovation and technological upgrading of the Law Centre.
Influence on students
Much of Professor Percy's success as Dean is attributable to his lengthy association with the Faculty of Law and his personal connections with students and alumni. The Faculty's robust program of class reunions and alumni groups flourished during his years as Dean largely because so many alumni recalled him as an outstanding teacher, mentor, and friend. "For me it is all about the law students. Law students are very bright, they tend not to be afraid of speaking their minds nor afraid of joining in, and so are very stimulating to teach," said Professor Percy, when asked what the teaching of law means to him. "It is very touching to meet, many years later, students I had taught who relate how their law school experience led them in directions, in their careers, that they might not have otherwise taken."
Professor Percy's colleagues and students at the Faculty of Law are delighted that Professor David Percy has been awarded the University Cup and congratulate him on this well-deserved recognition of his accomplishments.
Special memories
Be sure to check out stories appearing daily on the U of A home page Sept. 16-19 that profile some of the winners.