Prof. Martha Jackman to Receive Law Society Medal
The Law Society of Upper Canada awards the Law Society Medal each year to selected lawyers who have made important contributions to the profession. This year, Professor Martha Jackman has been selected to receive this distinct honour.Initiated in 1985, the Law Society Medal has been awarded to more than 100 lawyers. This distinction allows the use of the designation “LSM” after the recipient’s name, and the recipient may wear the sterling silver medal on appropriate occasions. The medal is shaped in the form of a heraldic cross with the Law Society’s motto--“Let Right Prevail”--appearing in a red circle in its centre.
Prof. Jackman has made outstanding contributions in her academic career that now spans some twenty years. Her expertise lies in the area of constitutional law with particular interest in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the rights of women and other disadvantaged groups. Prof. Jackman is one of Canada’s leading scholars in poverty law; additionally, she directs the Social Rights Accountability Project (SRAP) at uOttawa as well as maintaining a busy teaching schedule, and she also works tirelessly as a pro bono litigator to advance the social equality of Canadians.According to colleague, Prof. Elizabeth Sheehy, “Martha has spoken and written with passion and steadfastness over the past twenty years, as a lawyer, academic, citizen and activist, as the situation demands. A true advocate, unafraid to speak truth to power, Martha has tirelessly fought for the right of poor people, mainly women, their children, and people with disabilities, to live without economic insecurity, to develop and to contribute to the best of their abilities, and to benefit from and participate as equal citizens in all facets of a democratic society.”
Though raised and educated in an English setting, the majority of Prof. Jackman’s teaching career has taken place in a French-speaking environment. This ability to teach and publish extensively in her second language is yet another facet of her remarkable accomplishments. Prof. Jackman teaches the French Common Law first-year Charter course (Droit constitutionnel) as well as the introductory course for the Social Justice stream (Justice sociale). Prof. Jackman is also an active supporter of minority language rights, and whole-heartedly supports the importance of French language legal education in the Common Law tradition outside of Québec.
“Prof. Jackman’s career,” according to Dean Bruce Feldthusen, “is one that permits others within the legal sphere to be proud of our profession. She is one of a small and vitally important group of Ontario lawyers who seek little for themselves but, instead, pursue justice for others.”
The Common Law Section wishes to congratulate Prof. Jackman on this well-deserved and dignified achievement.