Honouring the Career & Contributions of Nigel Bankes
Nigel joined the University of Calgary as a research associate at the Canadian Institute of Resources Law (CIRL) in 1981. He was appointed to the Faculty of Law in 1984 and has held the Chair in Natural Resources Law since 2008. During his career, Nigel served as Associate Dean and Director of Graduate Studies, as well as a board member of CIRL, Calgary Legal Guidance, the Alberta Law Reform Institute, the Water Initiatives Advisory Committee of the Columbia Basin Trust, and the Canadian Arctic Resources Committee.
Nigel’s scholarship has focused on issues related to the Arctic, the Columbia River Treaty, resource rights of Indigenous peoples, Canadian oil and gas law, water law, and carbon capture and storage. He has published more than 125 articles and 10 books, contributed hundreds of publicly accessible works (e.g. ABlawg posts) and served as the editor of three international journals. His widely cited and influential scholarship has been recognized by a Law Society of Alberta/CBA award, a Killam Annual Professor award (2019), and an Honorary Doctoral Degree from the University of Akureyri, Iceland, for contributions to Arctic law (2010).
Nigel helped to create and implement the LLM program specializing in natural resources, energy and environmental law and has supervised more than 36 students at the Masters or PhD level. He taught property, Aboriginal law, natural resources law, international environmental law, advanced oil and gas, energy law, the graduate seminar, and more. Nigel’s teaching has been recognized with two Howard Tidswell Teaching Excellence Awards and the Clyde O Martz Teaching Award from the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation. Nigel has also held visiting or adjunct appointments at the Universities of Tromsø (Norway), Akureyri (Iceland) and Lapland (Finland).
The Public Interest Law Clinic
One of Nigel‘s long-standing hopes during his career was that the Faculty would be able to establish a public interest law clinic at the University of Calgary. With the assistance of a generous donation from the Peacock Foundation, Nigel’s vision was realized when UCalgary Law’s Public Interest Law Clinic opened its doors on November 2, 2015. The Clinic now operates with two full-time lawyers, a student-at-law, and an annual cohort of JD students. The Clinic aims to:
- Facilitate access to justice by serving as pro bono legal counsel for public interest clients and disseminate research findings on public interest issues;
- Advocate for law reform in collaboration with other public interest lawyers in the community; and,
- Inspire a new generation of lawyers to advocate on matters such as public health, human rights, poverty, and environmental protection by providing law students with experiential learning opportunities.
An overview of the Clinic, along with a description of prior and current work, can be found here
To mark his retirement Nigel will make a donation to the Clinic to support its ongoing work. If you, too, want to facilitate access to justice for public interest issues, advocate for law reform, and inspire a new generation of public interest lawyers, join Nigel and donate today. Your contribution will be applied toward the cost of hiring an articling student for the Clinic. All donations are eligible for a charitable tax receipt.
Donations can be made electronically by completing the form below, or by cheque and mailed to:
Gift Processing and Tax Receipting
University of Calgary
OVC131, 2500 University Drive NW
Calgary, AB T2N 1N4
Cheques should be made payable to the University of Calgary and reference the Nigel Bankes Retirement clearly in the memo line.
Questions? Please contact:
Ainsley Grant
Director of Development, Faculty of Law
Email | ainsley.grant@ucalgary.ca