Friday, January 7, 2011

By Prof. Jacob Ziegel, workshop convenor

October 15 and 16, 2010 marked an important anniversary in the history of the Annual Workshop on Commercial and Consumer Law and brought together more than 100 participants, from across Canada and the US along with strong contingents from the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, for two days of intensive presentations of developments in many areas of corporate, commercial and consumer law. The Faculty of Law acted as host and lead sponsor of this year's events, which were held in the conference facility of the Munk Centre. Ten other Canadian law schools and the Chaire en gouvernance et droit des affaires of the University of Montreal also co-sponsored the 40th Workshop, as did the Hon. Hal Jackman, a long standing benefactor of University of Toronto law school activities.

Many downtown law firms were also very generous in financing the gala dinner held in the Great Hall of Hart House on the Friday evening. The dinner was organized by an immensely industrious committee chaired by Jeremy Fraiberg, LLB 1998. The Hon. Frank Iacobucci chaired the dinner and was in fine rhetorical form as he spoke in glowing terms of the next 40 years of the Workshop!

The Canadian Business Law Journal is also playing an active role in marking the 40th anniversary. A celebratory collection of 21 papers will appear as Volume 50 of the journal and is expected to be published in February 2011. Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin has kindly written a foreword to the volume. Many of the papers were discussed in condensed form at the Workshop itself and should help future legal historians track the evolution of Canada's commercial, corporate and consumer law in the last 40 years of the 20th century.