On October 25, 2025, during its annual conference hosted in Winnipeg by the University of Manitoba, CALE/ACEJ presented its Lifetime Achievement Award to Malcolm Mercer and its Best Paper Award to Tayo Olarewaju.

The Lifetime Achievement Award is for having demonstrated “sustained accomplishments in the field of legal ethics and professionalism”. Malcolm Mercer is a long-time CALE/ACEJ member and has been one of its most active non-academic members. He has regularly attended and spoken at its annual conferences since 2010. He co-founded and initially co-chaired the annual CBA/FLSC/CALE Ethics Forum that brings together members of the academy, regulators and legal practitioners to discuss legal ethics matters. He has engaged frequently with academic members of CALE/ACEJ, speaking at many law school events at their request and providing comments on their draft articles and texts.

In addition to the above activities, Malcolm has been a leading figure in legal ethics and professionalism over the past twenty years. He was General Counsel at McCarthy Tetrault from 2007 to 2018 and was the first person in that role with responsibility for professional responsibility and compliance. His work with the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) includes serving as a member of its Conflicts of Interest Task Force and principal author of the Final Report, as Chair of its Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee, and as a member of the CBA Futures Project.

Malcolm has made important contributions to professional regulation. He was a Bencher of the Law Society of Ontario (LSO) from 2011 to 2018 and was its Treasurer from 2018 to 2020. He led the LSO during a particularly challenging period of governance, a time in which some Benchers openly organized into blocs around particular issues. His main work now is in the area of licensee regulation and discipline. He was a member of the Law Society Tribunal from 2011 to 2018 and is its current Chair (since 2020).

Malcolm has been a wonderful colleague and friend to many working in the area of legal ethics. Conversations with him are often high points from conferences or other events. He engages readily and offers highly thoughtful perspectives. He makes clear that he appreciates positions that differ from his own and he is keen to assist others in improving and deepening their own positions, even when contrary to his. Despite the often-challenging nature of legal ethics issues, his personal energy and enthusiasm is infectious.

The Best Paper Award is for an outstanding paper written by an emerging scholar in the field of legal ethics. The Awards Committee determined that Tayo Olarewaju’s paper, titled “Ethnic Affiliation Encounters Legal Ethics”, tackles interesting and important subject matter with skill and ambition. It examines how identity considerations shape ethical norms using Nigeria’s institutional framework and a case study as illustrative examples. The Awards Committee was excited to see this line of research and looks forward to see how it might further develop going forward.

Tayo is a PhD student at the Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia. He has research interests in law and development, international criminal law, human rights and corporate accountability. He has law and business degrees from institutions in Africa, Europe and North America.