For Immediate Release
Aug. 11, 2006
ST. JOHN’S, NFLD. – McGill University Prof. Frédéric Bachand has been awarded the 2006 Walter Owen Book Prize recognizing excellent legal writing and rewarding outstanding new contributions to Canadian legal literature for his book on L’intervention du juge canadien avant et durant un arbitrage commercial.
“Prof. Bachand’s book is a clear, coherent, and authoritative explanation of international commercial arbitration,” said Prof. Daniel Jutras, president of the jury for the 2006 Prize. “His work makes and original and valuable contribution in a difficult and important area of the law to students, scholars, lawyers, and judges.”
Bachand is particularly interested in the judicial and extrajudicial resolution of civil and commercial disputes, whether they occur in a domestic or international context. He currently teaches courses on evidence in civil matters, civil procedure, extrajudicial means of dispute resolution and NAFTA Chapter 11 arbitration. He is also the co-director, with Prof. Thomas E. Carbonneau of Penn State University, of the McGill Summer Programme in Arbitration.
In addition to having clerked for Justices Gérard V. La Forest, of the Supreme Court of Canada, and Jean-Louis Baudouin, of the Quebec Court of Appeal, he practiced for several years with the law firm of Ogilvy Renault, primarily in the field of international commercial arbitration. He is the author of numerous articles that have appeared in Canadian, American and European publications.
Bachand is a member of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Advisory Committee on Private Commercial Disputes, a member of the Case Management Committee of the Canadian Commercial Arbitration Centre, the international investment arbitration editor of the World Arbitration and Mediation Report, an editor of the Stockholm International Arbitration Review and he maintains a bilingual website on consensual arbitration in Quebec.
Bachand received his law degree from the Université de Montréal in 1994, a master’s in law from Cambridge University in 1997, and a degree from the Hague Academy of International Law in 2004. He was awarded doctorates in law from the Université de Montréal and the Université Université Panthéon-Assas in 2004.
The Walter Owen Book Prize, awarded by the Foundation for Legal Research, is designed to recognize excellent legal writing and to reward outstanding new contributions to Canadian legal literature that enhance the quality of legal research in this country. The award takes the form of a $10,000 cash prize funded by the Foundation for Legal Research. The award will be presented as part of the Canadian Bar Association’s 2006 Canadian Legal Conference in St. John’s, Nfld.
The Canadian Bar Association is dedicated to improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 36,000 lawyers, notaries, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members.
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CONTACT: Hannah Bernstein, Canadian Bar Association, Aug. 11-15, Delta St. John’s Hotel and Convention Centre, St. Mary’s Room, (709) 726-7594; E-mail: hannahb@cba.org.
