On October 20, 2023, during the annual conference at the University of Victoria, CALE/ACEJ presented its Lifetime Achievement Award to Senator Brent Cotter. The award is for having demonstrated “sustained accomplishments in the field of legal ethics and professionalism”.

Brent is one of the best-known and best-regarded scholars of legal ethics in Canada.  Throughout his career as a law professor, Brent has taught and published in the area of legal ethics.  Indeed, he is one of very few professors who specialized in legal ethics prior to 2000.  He played a fundamental role in increasing the profile of the field in Canadian law schools and legal education and in assisting newer colleagues in developing their own expertise in the field.

Brent has been a member of CALE/ACEJ from its inception.  When it was incorporated Brent became its first Chair of the Board and he served on the board of directors until 2022.  Brent also hosted the annual conference in Saskatoon in 2013.

He is a Senator (since 2020), a King’s Counsel, a former Dean of Law at the University of Saskatchewan, a former Deputy Minister (in several portfolios) and Deputy Attorney General of Saskatchewan, and a recipient of the CBA Saskatchewan Award for Distinguished Service.

His nominators praised his willingness to assist other scholars. One noted: “I have benefitted enormously from Brent’s support and encouragement since the very start of my academic career. He is positive, cheerful, kind, helpful and supportive, to me and to others. He creates space for other scholars to succeed and helps them to achieve their potential.”

CALE/ACEJ members are fortunate to have had – and to continue to have – Brent as a colleague and friend.