A timely and much appreciated $250,000 gift from law firm Cassels Brock & Blackwell allowed the Faculty to make extensive improvements to one of the most important classrooms in Flavelle House last summer. The gift demonstrated the firm's tremendous commitment to providing quality legal education, and the newly modernized room was open to students in fall, 2001. The Cassels Brock classroom, on the lower level, seats 80 students, including those with disabilities.
Thanks to the law firm's generosity, a number of major improvements were made to the room. Many of these make the space more high tech, such as a new audio-visual system, microphone, central processing unit and a wireless internet connection to each desk. Just as important, the room is now more accessible to students with disabilities, and has a more comfortable teaching space. At the same time, the gift provided for new seating and work surfaces, a new lectern, a new ceiling, improvements to lighting and the ventilation system, as well as new acoustical tiles and carpeting.
Cassels Brock, which has been a fixture in the Toronto and Canadian legal scene for 115 years, has a long history of supporting the Faculty of Law as well as the entire university. Besides its latest gift to remodel a classroom, the firm has established scholarships and prizes including the Cassels Brock & Blackwell Prize and the Centennial Entrance Scholarship, has contributed to the establishment of the Robert Law Fellowship in Legal Ethics and is a major contributor in support of the Prichard Wilson Chair in Law and Public Policy. Senior partner H. Donald Guthrie, Q.C., L.S.M. played a key role in establishing the new Cassels Brock classroom. A University of Toronto graduate, he has remained a loyal supporter of the University and its students throughout the years.
With the Cassels Brock classroom, Mr. Guthrie and his law firm are making an enduring contribution that will enhance the learning environment for generations of students.
Cassels Brock Classroom Dedication
David Peterson (left), chairman of Cassels Brock, and Noah Novogrodsky (right), adjunct professor and director, International Human Rights Program, visited the newly renovated Cassels Brock classroom in Flavelle House, at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto. Acting Dean Brian Langille stands by the high-tech screen in the background. The Cassels Brock classroom was dedicated in a ceremony on September 29, 2003.
