Scholarships & Awards

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Each year, the Faculty of Law awards more than $1.4 million to incoming and upper-year Juris Doctor students in the form of scholarships, bursaries and prizes, thanks to the generous contributions of our donors. Awards are made on a variety of criteria, including academic excellence, financial need, course performance, leadership, and community service, to name a few.

This is the list of Faculty of Law scholarships and bursaries available to JD students.

Incoming Students

All incoming first-year students are automatically considered for merit scholarships, based on their academic record prior to law school. No application is needed.

Additionally, all students who apply to the JD program are encouraged to complete the Professional Entrance & Transfer scholarship application . This application opens February 1 and closes March 31 yearly. Completing this one application allows students to be considered for University of Alberta awards, Faculty of Law specific awards, and some government funded awards.

NOTE: For all awards which have a financial-need component, it is expected that students have also applied for a Government Student Loan. Payments are not required and interest does not accrue until you graduate. Non-Alberta residents can research government student loans from their home province. A video to assist in completing an Alberta loan application is available here.

Upper-year Students

Upper-year students are automatically considered for merit scholarships, based on their academic record in first or second year of law school.

Upper-year students are also encouraged to complete the Undergraduate & Graduating Awards application . This application opens February 1 and closes March 31 yearly. Completing this one application allows students to be considered for University of Alberta awards, Faculty of Law specific awards, and some government funded awards.

Transfer Students

Transfer applicants who receive an offer of admission will be eligible to apply for bursaries in the fall when they commence attendance, and will be eligible to apply for academically and criteria based awards after completing their 2L year at the University of Alberta, Faculty of Law.

All Students

Faculty of Law Bursaries

The Faculty of Law awards back to students 20 per cent of the differential fees it collects, in the form of funding for financial assistance. These bursaries are included in the University of Alberta Supplementary Bursary application. We encourage students to apply each fall.

Emergency Bursary

Students who are in severe financial need and who have exhausted all other sources of funding can apply to be considered for a Faculty of Law Emergency Bursary. Consideration will be based on receipt of a personal statement describing financial circumstances and attaching a detailed budget. The Faculty of Law has limited emergency funding. Submit requests to Student Services, Room 128 Law Centre, Gloria Strathern ( law.awards@ualberta.ca).

Graduate Students

Apply for awards through the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research.

Featured Award Recipients

Featured award recipients

Furyal Hussain, 2023 recipient of the Lou Hyndman Edmonton Glenora Award, 2022 recipient of the Scotiabank Award for Law	Olive Bensler, 2022 recipient of the Lou Hyndman Edmonton Glenora Award	Gwyneth Pheasant-Lust, 2022 recipient of the Holocaust Remembrance Essay Award	Anita Cardinal-Stewart, 2022 recipient of the Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella Prize and 2022 recipient of the Justice Cecilia Johnstone Equality Award.
Lisa Kawasaki-Ralstin, 2021 recipient of the Family Bar Diversity and Equality Award in Law	Casey Caines, 2023 recipient of the Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella Prize, 2021 recipient of the Lou Hyndman Edmonton Glenora Award.	Devin Buffalo, 2021 recipient of the Scotiabank Program for Law Students Scholarship