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C O M M E N T A R Y
Interview with Donna Miller
D O N N A J . M I L L E R , Q . C . * W I T H
B R Y A N P . S C H W A R T Z * *
I.
LAW SCHOOL: 1974-77
BPS: In your humble beginnings at Robson Hall, was that still a time when
the program involved part-time work with a downtown firm or had we already
become an academic law school
DJM: We had already become an academic law school; in fact I think that
transition happened around 1970.
BPS: And Cliff Edwards, who did the transition, was your Dean
DJM: He was the Dean, he taught us Legal History and Contracts. Phil
Osborne was one of our professors; John Irvine was another, as was Trevor
Anderson. So some of the backbone of the law school was already part of the
Faculty.
BPS: Most people now might only recognize Cliff as the bronze bust in the
library. He was certainly the longest serving Dean and one who made a pivotal
transition. Is there anything that you could tell us that could put some life to the
statue What kind of a dean and classroom teacher was he
DJM: As a classroom teacher I think there were very few superior to Cliff
Edwards. He was a fantastic teacher. He seemed to know all the students’ names
right from the get-go. A classic teacher, very much focused on case law, but also
really wanting to see students acquire the art of legal thinking. I would put him as
one of our best instructors. He was a very professional person and he certainly
wanted to capture a certain kind of culture in the Law School, a culture of
professionalism. Very serious-minded and for the most part I would say there was
a strictness to him, a no-nonsense attitude.
BPS: In terms of student democracy, was there any at that point Would
students be consulted about programming or special guest lecturers, or did the
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Executive-in-Residence, Manitoba Institute for Policy Research; former Associate Deputy
Minister of Justice for Canada (2005-2010).
Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba; Co-Editor-in-Chief, Manitoba Law Journal.