Awards & Prizes

 

Discretionary prizes

Each year discretionary prizes are awarded to deserving upper-year students. Faculty and students are invited to nominate a deserving upper year student following the below process. Before nominating please consider the criteria for each award outlined below.

Nominations for 2024 are now open! The deadline to submit nominations is March 31st.

To Nominate a deserving student:

Email law.jd.student@dal.ca with "Discretionary Award Nomination" in the subject line and include the following:

  • Your name
  • Name of the student being nominated
  • Award Name
  • Rationale and examples of how the nominee meets the award criteria

Nominations should be addressed to Chair, Discretionary Awards Advisory Group.

Discretionary prizes for 2nd and 3rd year students

Beeson, Eunice W. Award – awarded to a woman student on the basis of her academic performance, personality, character, and financial need;  

Forsyth, G O Most Deserving – awarded to a student whom faculty deems to be the most deserving in the sense of combining the qualities of scholarship, character and need.

May, Elizabeth Prize for Environmental Service (MELP Prize) - awarded to a student who has demonstrated excellence in promoting environmental awareness in areas such as but not limited to the law school, campus and community.

Proulx, Francois-Michael Memorial Award - awarded to a visiting student who has made a significant contribution in enriching the life of the Schulich School of Law.

Discretionary prizes for graduating students

Bamford, Robert E. Memorial Award – awarded to a student who best combines academic excellence with a commitment to the Law School Community; 

Burchell, Thomas Memorial Good Citizen Prize in Law (LSS Award) - awarded to a graduating student who is voted by the graduating class as most supportive of fellow students during the course of their education.  

* Non-3L students will not be considered. 

* Current LSS Committee Members (President, Vice Presidents Executive, Finance, External, Academic, and Student Life, and the 1L Executive) cannot be nominated.

 

Cox, A. William Memorial Award – awarded to a student who demonstrated scholastic merit, financial need, registered for, or participated in the Legal Aid Clinic and demonstrated a high level of community commitment and service.  Must also be from Atlantic Canada.

Dawn Russell Community Commitment Award – awarded to a graduating student who has taken an interest in public service throughout Law School and who has demonstrated intention to pursue a career path devoted to public services. 

Duckworth, Muriel Award – awarded to a woman student in graduating class based on her consciousness of women’s issues and feminism in the legal community.

Jones, David M. Memorial Award –  awarded to a student whose character has been a source of inspiration and optimism to classmates/school community

MacKenzie, Sarah MacWalker (Clinic's Discretion - Nominations will not be accepted for this prize) – awarded to a student who has completed the  Clinical Law Programme at Dalhousie Legal Aid and who has made an outstanding contribution toward the DLAS goals of education, service, community development and law reform. 

Marshall, Donald Jr. Memorial Award - awarded to graduating student who has a proven commitment to raising awareness and working for social justice and criminal law reform with respect to Aboriginal peoples

NSBS Presidents' Leadership Award - award to be given to a student who intends to article in NS and who has exemplified consistent leadership qualities

Potts, Judge Fran  Potts Award in Law - awarded during convocation to a graduating student who has achieved academic excellence and has shown a commitment to the overall spirit of Dalhousie

Read, Horace E Award – awarded to a student who has made the greatest overall contribution to scholarship and student life

Smith, G.I.  Memorial Award – awarded to a student who showed academic excellence by attaining a high scholastic average, and having demonstrated, in the opinion of Faculty, the most promise of achieving exemplary standards of professional and public service.

 

 

Academic prizes

At the end of each year the Office of the Associate Dean awards the Academic Prizes to deserving students.

Applications should be addressed to Professor Lucie Guibault, Associate Dean, Academic. Send email applications to: Associatedeanlaw@dal.ca

Applications must be received by March 31st.

Academic prizes for 1st year students

  • Borden Ladner Gervais Professional Excellence Award -  awarded  to a first year student who has achieved academic excellence and has displayed qualities that reflect the Borden Ladner Gervais core values, which include integrity, excellence, teamwork and commitment.  Interested students should provide details of how they meet the criteria for this award. In addition to academic excellence, this could include information on, for example, community contributions, participation in law journal activities and submission of articles for publication, participation in the organization of speakers and other events for law school societies. Consideration will also be given to any new initiatives developed by a student which would improve the school or the community at large. Download the Borden Ladner Gervais Award application form [PDF - 139 kB]
  • BOYNECLARKE Prize – awarded to a 1st year student from Nova Scotia who demonstrated excellence through a combination of academic achievement, participation and contribution to law school and the broader community. Download the Boyneclarke Prize application form [PDF - 57 kB]


Scholarships, Bursaries and Awards

For a full list of available awards, visit the academic calendar.