The third annual Field Law Post-Secondary Summit was held on November 29 in Edmonton, and was co-chaired by Greg Harding, QC and Derek Cranna. Brief summaries of the presentations given at the Summit are provided below, followed by a directory of the lawyers in Field Law's Post-Secondary Education Practice Group.
PRESENTATION SUMMARIES
Navigating Governance Relationships
In a discussion led by Greg Harding QC, a panel consisting of Douglas Stollery QC, Robert Teskey QC, Eric Spink QC, and Sasha van der Klein discussed how to navigate governance relationships considering the complex role that post-secondary institutions have. The goal of the session was to build tools to assist clients in navigating the relationships between post-secondary institutions and the government, the Board of Governors, the constituents of the Board, other internal relations, Board/administrative relationships, and the General Faculties Counsel/academia relationship.
Tale of the Tape: Update on Recent Labour Board Decisions
Jason Kully and Evie Thorne, lawyers in the Labour and Employment group at Field Law, discussed recent developments in labour board jurisprudence and legislative amendments.
Affinity Programs: Maximizing Revenue Sources
Dino Fidanza gave a short presentation on the important of maximizing revenue sources with affinity programs. It was reinforced that an institution's alumni are a critical component of their roots in terms of their past and future. Further, in most cases, alumni are very loyal to their institution. How do you take this to the next level?
Keynote Presentation: Hon. Marlin Schmidt, Minister of Advanced Education
Keynote lunch speaker Hon. Marlin Schmidt gave an overview of the sectors and institutions, recognizing the uniqueness of the institutions across Alberta. Minister Schmidt discussed the need to ensure government oversight and also institutional independence. There needs to be appropriate checks and balances. Governing an institution has unique considerations and this includes the unique responsibility of being on a Post-Secondary Institution's board. Because of this uniqueness, the Government took step to improve PSI Boards, and to ensure that they are fair, transparent, and open to all Albertans.
Land + Commercial Development Primer
In his presentation, Paul Girgulis of Field Law gave attendees an overview of commercial land development as it applies to public post-secondary institutions as defined in the Post-Secondary Learning Act ("PSLA"). The focus was on commercial land development with respect to "excess land" (land that is owned by an institution which is not needed for its core purposes such as classrooms, faculty and administration offices, student housing, research facilities, sporting facilities, etc.).
In-house Legal Counsel Roundtable: Everything You Always Wanted to Know but Were Afraid to Ask
In a discussion led by Derek Cranna, a panel consisting of Brad Hamdon, Amy Nixon and Michelle Plouffe discussed the inner workings of in-house counsel. The conversation ranged from how to best utilize your resources, OH&S changes, risk in the workplace and when to use outside counsel. Michelle Plouffe also provided an analysis and reflection of MacEwan's recent social engineering fraud, and they key takeaways for other institutions.
Current Litigation + Recent Case Law Round Up
Presented by Field Law lawyers Derek Cranna and Leanne Monsma, the focus of this session was to identify trends in the case law and to provide an overview of recent or pending decisions involving post-secondary institutions.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
