University of British Columbia. Faculty of Law

The University of British Columbia's Faculty of Law opened in September 1945. Prior to this, law students in British Columbia articled for three years and attended lectures given by the legal profession at the Vancouver Law School (V.L.S.) operated by the Law Society of British Columbia. After lengthy discussions a joint Law Society/UBC committee was struck in July 1945 to submit recommendations and plans for the establishment of a Faculty of Law. The University's Board of Governors and Senate approved the committee's recommendations late in August. The faculty's original staff consisted of George F. Curtis (professor and dean), Frederick Read and Alfred Watts. The Faculty was housed in converted army huts on campus and would remain there until 1952. Student enrollment increased significantly following World War II. By the early 1950s the Faculty had outgrown its accommodations and Dean Curtis began plans for a permanent Faculty of Law Building. Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent opened the new building in 1952. Curtis was succeeded in 1971 as Dean by Albert J. McClean. The Faculty continued to grow throughout the seventies, again raising the need for a larger building. In 1975 the existing building was remodelled and a new addition constructed. This new structure was completed in 1976 and named the George F. Curtis Building. In 1985 Chinese Legal Studies was added to the East Asian programme through a
joint U.B.C./Peking University exchange of legal scholars and graduate students. That same year also saw the establishment of a Cooperative Project in Law and Computers with IBM Canada.

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