The Hon. Ritu Khullar (LLB 1991) receives Lifetime Achievement Award from Women In Law Leadership (WILL)

The Women In Law Leadership (WILL) Awards were founded in 2010 by The Counsel Network (TCN) and the Association of Women Lawyers (AWL) "to recognize the contributions of women lawyers". 

WILL Alberta Awards has named Faculty of Law alumna Justice Ritu Khullar (LLB 1991) a recipient of their Lifetime Achievement Award.

Their citation reads: 

Justice Khullar was appointed to the Court of Queen’s Bench in 2017 and to the Courts of Appeal of Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in 2018.

Born in Northern Alberta to parents who emigrated from India, Justice Khullar graduated from the University of Alberta in 1985 and received her law degree from the University of Toronto in 1991. She was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2014.

In practice, Justice Khullar spent the bulk of her career in public law litigation, including labour and employment law, human rights, privacy, administrative and constitutional law. After articling with the Alberta Court of Appeal and Queen’s Bench, she worked with a large private firm in Edmonton and spent several years at a boutique constitutional litigation firm before joining Chivers Greckol & Kanee (now Chivers Carpenter) in 1998. From 2009 until her appointment to the Bench, Justice Khullar was the firm’s managing partner. She has appeared before various tribunals and boards, all levels of court in Alberta, all levels of the Federal Court, and the Supreme Court on several occasions.

While practicing law full time, Justice Khullar taught at the University of Alberta faculty of law for 14 years and frequently spoke at academic and professional conferences on a variety of topics. She has published several academic articles related to her practice area. She also sat on several boards and commissions, including the Alberta Law Reform Institute, the Federal Advisory Committee on Judicial Appointments in Alberta, and the Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for Alberta. In addition, she was on the National Board of the Women’s Legal Education Action Fund (LEAF) and was counsel for LEAF in R v Ewanchuk and R v Shearing at the Supreme Court of Canada. Since her appointment to the courts, Justice Khullar has been involved in continuing education for judges through the National Judicial Institute.

She is married, has two wonderful children and a dog.

About Women in Law Leadership 

"Women in Law Leadership is a Canada Not-for-Profit Corporation dedicated to celebrating and advancing women in the law through recognition and education. Its roots date back to 2009 with the creation of the Women in Law Leadership Awards, co-founded by The Counsel Network and the Association of Women Lawyers. Since then, the organization has expanded the WILL Awards across the country and has created an education certification program for women lawyers."