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For a generation of Dal Law students, Fraser, who passed away in 1997, was their introduction to the realms of family and torts law. He also hired several of them as research assistants. But Fraser’s legacy of excellence in legal education extends far beyond his time at Dal, where he also served as acting dean of the law school. He became the founding dean of the University of Victoria’s law school, which is named for him and his wife, Anne. And he later served as President of the University of Calgary—which also named its law school after him.

“For those of us who were his students, Murray embodied many of the reasons why our generation was drawn to law,” recalls Mary Clancy (LLB’74). “He reminded us that our place in the world was to use our education and entry into the profession to achieve as much good as we could. In that way, he was the absolute embodiment of the Weldon Tradition.”

Celebrating a great professor

Inspired by Fraser’s and other professors’ impact on their lives, Clancy and Senator Cotter joined with alumni from their Class of 1974 to honour him and five others. During their 25th anniversary reunion celebrations, they established the Class of 1974 Schulich School of Law Bursary, an endowed fund that supports six bursaries, including one in Fraser’s name. Through steady contributions, they have built the fund to $500,000, making it the largest law class gift at the law school.

For the 50th anniversary, Senator Cotter and classmates Jim Coleman and Jim MacPherson, now a judge at the Ontario Court of Appeal, wanted to do even more. “I taught legal ethics at Dal for a long time and there is no award for the first-year course,” Senator Cotter explains. “There were also no awards in Murray’s name apart from our bursary. He was always passionate about ethics and consistently engaged us in conversations on the topic. It seemed like a great opportunity to connect the two.”

Senator Cotter, Coleman, and MacPherson reached out to several classmates and, together, they launched The Murray Fraser Memorial Award in Legal Ethics. The award will be presented annually to a first-year student who has completed the Introduction to Legal Ethics & the Regulation of the Legal Profession course at the Schulich School of Law. The recipient will be selected by course professors based on their reflection paper.

“Our class benefited from an era when law school was not particularly expensive,” the three point out.  “We saw that we could help a new generation by providing a bit more financial support in a way that not only celebrates Murray, but also helps acknowledge legal ethics as part of the core of the legal curriculum.”

Keeping ethics front and centre

Clancy agrees, adding, “If we do not push front and centre the values that he upheld and helped instill in us—the same standards this prize will epitomize—then we are failing as members of our profession and society.”

The goal now for Senator Cotter is to bring more classmates on board to endow a $50,000 award to ensure that it continues in perpetuity. “We’re really close to meeting that goal,” he says. “It’s wonderful to see how quickly people have stepped up to support this. It really speaks to his influence on us and it’s nice to continue that in our own way.”

As for what Fraser might think of the gesture, Clancy believes he would have been very modest. “I think he would have said there were so many other people we could have chosen,” she says. “But the fact that we are doing this in the name of a man who was the absolute epitome of what you want in an ethical lawyer is poetic justice.”