For the second year in a row, a professor from York’s Osgoode Hall Law School has been awarded the David Mundell Medal for outstanding contribution to the law through legal writing by the Ontario Bar Association.
Professor Garry Watson, Q.C. left, was recognized at an awards luncheon on Feb. 3 by Ontario Attorney General and Osgoode alumnus Michael Bryant (LLB ’92) for outstanding contribution to legal scholarship, particularly his comprehensive annotated publications of the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure. Watson’s Ontario Civil Procedure and Ontario Civil Practice are a requirement for the library of any practising lawyer in Ontario and are relied upon regularly by the Supreme Court of Canada as well as appellate and trial courts across the country. Watson is intimately familiar with the Rules of Civil Procedure: he headed a committee which drafted the revised rules some years ago.
Watson was honoured last year by the American College of Trial Lawyers with the Samuel E. Gates Litigation Award, which honours a lawyer or judge who has made a significant contribution to the improvement of the litigation process.
The Mundell Medal, awarded from time to time for “distinguished contributions to letters and law”, was awarded in 2004 to Professor Emeritus Jean Castel. Previous Osgoode faculty who have received this high honour are Harry Arthurs, John McCamus, Peter Hogg and Sharon Williams.