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Home News Law Society presents Honorary LLD to Dean Ian Holloway

Law Society presents Honorary LLD to Dean Ian Holloway

June 02, 2022

At the June 13, 2022, Call to the Bar ceremony in London, the Law Society will present a degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa (LLD) to Dean Ian Holloway, a leader in legal education and naval veteran.

The Law Society awards honorary doctorates each year to distinguished individuals in recognition of outstanding achievements in the legal profession, the rule of law or the cause of justice.

Mr. Holloway has been Dean of Law at the University of Calgary since 2011. Prior to this, he served as the Dean of Law at the University of Western Ontario (2000-11), and as Associate Dean at the Australian National University. He is currently the longest-serving law dean in Canada and the second longest-serving law dean in North America.

Over the years, he has held appointments at Cambridge and the National University of Singapore. He is a graduate of Dalhousie University, the University of California at Berkeley and the Australian National University. He is also an alumnus of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is widely-published, both in Canada and around the world. In addition, he has published a book on naval history as well as many essays or other pieces in various legal and non-legal periodicals. He has been a regular contributor to Canadian Lawyer Magazine for a number of years.

Before beginning his academic career, Dean Holloway spent a number of years in private practice in Halifax with the Atlantic Canadian law firm of McInnes Cooper, where he focused on labour and employment law. He also served as the law clerk to the Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Appeal. In 2003, he was elected to membership in the American Law Institute, a distinction that is held by only a handful of Canadians. In 2004, he was appointed Queen's Counsel in Nova Scotia, and in 2020 in Alberta. In 2007, he chaired a review of legal education in Oman. In 2013-14, he served as the legal education and training team leader for the Canadian Bar Association's Futures project. In 2018, he was elected a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management, the first Canadian legal academic to be so honoured.

Dean Holloway is a member of the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society, the Law Society of Ontario, the Law Society of Alberta and the Canadian Bar Association. He is currently a Trustee of the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) Foundation and formerly served for eight years as a Trustee of the Law School Admission Council. He serves on the Board of the Sinneave Family Foundation for Autism Research. He is a former Governor of the Southern Alberta Division of the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires.

Dean Holloway spent a total of 25 years serving in the Royal Canadian and Royal Australian Navies.
He was a member of the Advisory Council to the Minister of Heritage on the Commemoration of the War of 1812, and he served as a member of the vice-regal selection committee for the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta. In 2015, he was appointed to the Security Intelligence Review Committee, and made a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada. At the beginning of the pandemic, he became a member of a Civil Justice Reform Working Group at the direct request of Alberta’s Minister of Justice.

Dean Holloway continues to make a tremendous contribution to the profession through his actions and the inspiration and insight he provides to the current generation of lawyers.

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