Sarah Hamill, Ph.D. student

“It’s an exciting opportunity to be the first Ph.D. student in the Faculty of Law graduate program. There are a lot of advantages to getting in on the ground floor, so to speak, of a graduate program. The program was made to be challenging, but also very intellectually stimulating and I’m incredibly happy with my decision to attend the University of Alberta.

The faculty members are very supportive, friendly and approachable and I was able to quickly integrate myself within the Faculty. I am also very impressed with is how user friendly the John A. Weir Memorial Law Library is and how extensive their holdings are – I’ve been able to acquire every book that I’ve needed.”

Eric Adams, Graduate Supervisor

“One of the joys of teaching and research at the University of the Alberta Faculty of Law is the opportunity to work with graduate students. Our Ph.D. programme allows exceptional students to explore the depth and breadth of legal issues from a variety of analytic perspectives. A graduate supervisor functions as a guide in this process - challenging, interrogating, and supporting students as they develop their own expertise and work towards production of their dissertation. At the same time, a graduate supervisor works to integrate graduate students into the broader sphere of academic life, facilitating opportunities to guest lecture, and present work at conferences and seminars. At its best, the graduate school experience trains and prepares students for any career calling for advanced legal research and writing skills, including the academy.         

My own research is in two principal areas: constitutional law and legal history, and particularly the intersections between them. I remain committed to the view that the social and political institutions of law are best illuminated by historical understandings. I am currently working on a number of scholarly articles placing famous Canadian law cases in their rich historical contexts. I am also writing a book on the history of the idea of constitutional rights in Canadian constitutional thought. I am looking forward to working with Sarah as she tackles a number of unexplored areas of legal history in the Canadian West.”      

 

Eric Adams is an Assistant Professor with the Faculty of Law and received his S.J.D. from the University of Toronto.

Sarah Hamill started her PhD program in 2009. She has a broad interest in legal history and her thesis will examine the history of administrative law in Alberta by looking at the energy board and the liquor board.