Long-time professor earns distinguished award for advancing commercial law

For his leading work and long career, University of Alberta Faculty of Law Professor Roderick J. Wood will be honoured with the Distinguished Service Award for Service to Legal Scholarship by the Law Society of Alberta and the Canadian Bar Association – Alberta. 

Wood is set to receive the award on February 21.  “I am deeply honoured and grateful for this recognition of my scholarly work. I have been teaching and researching in the field of commercial law since I joined the U of A Law Faculty in 1987,” says Wood.

“Professor Wood is an extremely deserving recipient of the CBA/LSA Distinguished Service Award for Legal Scholarship,” says Dean Barbara Billingsley. “His scholarship in the areas of personal property security, bankruptcy and insolvency has been making a meaningful impact on the operation and reform of the law in these and other commercial law areas for more than 30 years. We are extremely proud of his accomplishments.”

Across the globe

Wood has garnered a reputation as a strong advocate of and expert in law reform. He was a founding member of the Canadian Conference on Personal Property Security Law. He worked for four years as a legal research officer with the Saskatchewan Law Reform Commission before joining the Law Faculty. He later served as a board member on the Alberta Law Reform Institute and as Commissioner on the Law Commission of Canada. 

His work as a legal scholar and academic has had a significant impact in Alberta, Canada and across the globe. He has been cited in more than 130 judgments, including decisions of the  Supreme Court of Canada. He is the author or co-author of several books on bankruptcy and insolvency law and secured transactions law and a great many articles. Due to his expertise, he’s been a member of several Canadian delegations involved in international multilateral agreements on secured financing of high value mobile equipment. In 2016, he was voted in as a member of the International Academy of Commercial and Consumer Law.

“One immensely rewarding aspect of my scholarly work in this field is that I have had the opportunity to assist in the design of commercial law legislation on provincial, national and international levels,” Wood says. 

One of Wood’s proudest achievements began over 35 years ago, when he worked with a team of legal experts in designing the model of Personal Property Security Act used in most provinces. The new law changed the face of business finance and, he says, this model was adopted by Australia, New Zealand and many other countries. His work in this area continues with his co-authoring of a 2021 Alberta Law Reform Institute Report that forms the blueprint for the important legislative changes to this statute that come into force in 2024.

Track record

Though Wood has made a name for himself as a legal scholar, he’s also spent his career fostering future generations of commercial law lawyers and bankruptcy and insolvency lawyers. Among Wood’s other accolades are the Hon. Tevie H. Miller Teaching Excellence Award, which he received in 2004 and 2017, and the AC Rutherford Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 2005, the university’s highest teaching honour. He has also helped create innovative courses in the U of A’s Faculty of Law, such as the corporate restructuring law seminar in which students take on the role of lawyer in representing their clients in a multi-party chambers application before a commercial list judge and in negotiating a plan of arrangement.  

“During my tenure, the Faculty of Law developed a strong centre of excellence in commercial law studies,” he said. “I have been very fortunate to have been able to work with distinguished colleagues who have engaged in cutting edge research in this field. I have benefited immensely from my interactions with them.”