When three of ACCLE’s longest-serving Board members retired from the Board last year, ACCLE announced the creation of three awards in their honour – the Ferguson, Cirillo and Buhler Awards.  We are accepting applications for nominees for all three awards. The successful nominees will be announced at the 2021 Worldwide Online Conference (“Turning Challenges into Opportunities: Justice Education in the Time of Crises”) jointly held with the Global Alliance for Justice Education and International Journal of Clinical Legal.

Ferguson Award :  This award, named in honour of Doug Ferguson, founder and long-time ACCLE Board member and Director of Community Legal Services at Western Law, will be given to one or more members of a clinical project or program that promotes access to justice and clinical law within a law school setting. The award can be given to the leader of a team, or to a portion of or all its members. The award can be given to a “pop-up” clinic or a long-standing clinic. In order to quality as a “clinic”, the project must work to directly advance the interests of clients or client groups.

Applications for this award should include:

– Names of the nominee(s) and the clinic/ clinical project

– Description of project

– Summary of the project’s achievements

– 2 statements of support

Cirillo Award:  This award, named in honour of Lisa Cirillo, long-time ACCLE Board member and Director of Downtown Legal Services, will go to an individual clinician who has made a significant contribution to the life of their legal clinic.

Applications for this award should include:

– Name of the nominee

– Description of the nominee’s work

– Examples of the nominee’s work (where applicable)

– 2 statements of support

Buhler Award: This award, named in honour of Sarah Buhler, long-time ACCLE Board member and Professor at the College of Law, University of Saskatchewan, will go to a professor, clinical professor, or other individual whose work intersects academic and clinical approaches to clinical and experiential legal education.

Applications for this award should include:

– Name of the nominee

– Description of the nominee’s work

– Examples of the nominee’s work

– 2 statements of support

Self-nominations are welcome. All submissions, including those that are incomplete, will be considered. All nomination packages should be submitted as a single pdf file, addressed to Chantelle Johnson chantelle_j@classiclaw.ca, before noon on May 7 2021.

Dear ACCLE members,

The inaugural 2020 ACCLE Award recipients have been announced:

1)    The Buhler Award: Named in honour of Sarah Buhler, long-time ACCLE Board member and Professor at the College of Law University of Saskatchewan.  This award is presented to a professor whose work intersects academic and clinical approaches to clinical and experiential legal education.

The inaugural recipient of this award is Gemma Smyth– Associate Dean at the Faculty of Law, University of Windsor.  Ms. Smyth is receiving this award in recognition of her commitment to researching the practice of clinical legal education across the country, in addition to her long-time commitment to ACCLE.

2)    The Cirillo Award: Named in honour of Lisa Cirillo, long-time ACCLE Board member and Director of Downtown Legal Services in Toronto.  This award is presented to an individual clinician who has made a significant contribution to the life of their clinic.

The inaugural recipient of this award is Chantelle Johnson– Executive Director of the Community Legal Assistance Services for Saskatoon Inner City (“CLASSIC”).  Ms. Johnson is receiving this award in recognition of her tireless work both educating/mentoring law students and assisting the marginalized members of her community.

3)    The Ferguson Award: Named in honour of Doug Ferguson, founder and long-time ACCLE Board member and former Director of the Community Legal Services at Western Law.  This award is presented to member/ group involved in a clinical project or program that promotes access to justice and clinical law within a law school setting.

The inaugural recipient of this award is Kathy Ferriera– Director of the Queen’s Prison Law Clinic.  Ms. Ferreira is receiving this award in recognition of her work shaping the Correctional Law Project into a large-scale expansive operation under which students assist prisoners with issues pertaining to correctional law, administrative law and human rights law.

ACCLE is proud to recognize these members for their significant contributions to Canadian clinical legal education.  Big congratulations to all of this year’s winners!  Please consider nominating your colleagues for these awards in 2021.

Dear ACCLE Members,

In light of the ongoing pandemic, ACCLE has postponed the Annual Conference to October 27-29, 2021. The location at the Holiday Inn – Yorkdale in Toronto will remain the same.

We look forward to seeing you there!