Contact the Law Faculty
Chris Axworthy, Q.C.
Founding Dean of Law
T: 250.852.7267
C: 250.320.6427
E: caxworthy@tru.ca
Anne Pappas, J.D.
Founding Assistant Dean
T: 250.852.7268
C: 250.320.6539
E: apappas@tru.ca
Mailing Address
Thompson Rivers University
900 McGill Road
Kamloops, BC, Canada V2C 0C8
Canadian Bar Association
Kamloops Bar Association
Founding Dean's Welcome to Canada's newest Law Faculty
Thompson Rivers University
Welcome to the website of the TRU Faculty of Law, the first new Canadian Faculty of Law in 33 years. TRU law students are a major part of a great adventure.
As we enter our second year, we have achieved much. Our Faculty continues to grow, and I am very pleased to introduce to you our latest group of professors, who, like the founding faculty last year, come from across Canada and around the world, and bring with them a remarkable breadth and depth of academic and practice experience. This September, we welcomed an additional 83 first year students to the Faculty.
We have a unique setting in the interior of British Columbia and support from the local and provincial bar and judiciary that allows us to offer students unparalleled opportunities for the study of law. Next year, we expect to move into the splendid architecture of the re-imagined Old Main building; an environment as singular and remarkable as the Faculty of Law we are creating.
Attending the Faculty of Law at TRU means living in a friendly and progressive community with access to world-class amenities – skiing, golf, lakes and mountains all within easy reach. Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Seattle are all but a short drive away, and the Okanagan and Shuswap lakes with their world class vineyards, scenery and amenities are at your doorstep Kamloops has over 2000 hours of sunshine a year and a climate that is hard to beat anywhere in Canada.
You will make life-long friends here. You will meet, and get to know, lawyers and judges from across the region and beyond. You will be part of a vibrant and growing Faculty of Law, University and community.
As a new and small Faculty, TRU will provide an educational experience with accessible professors and small classes. You will study and hone your skills in a state-of-the-art facility, with a top notch, modern law library with great faculty and staff committed to your success. You need to know and understand the Law and you need to know how, and be able, to apply it. Here you will learn both, along with an appreciation of the highest ethical standards, rightly expected of lawyers. You will begin to master the realities of practice, serving the profession of law and the interests of justice wherever you go and however you apply your skills.
Our newness permits us to do things a bit differently. We can, and will, take the best ideas from around the world and develop our own approaches to legal education. It is truly an exciting time.
From our very first day, September 6th, 2011, our principal strength and inspiration has been our students. The future Class of 2014 was accomplished academically; but students brought something more: an energy and enthusiasm for this adventurous project that has made TRU Law a truly dynamic and exciting place in which to study, teach and research. The same goes for the students in the second first year class – the Class of 2015 - who will all have the opportunity to build on these foundations.
When you graduate from TRU you will be a valuable member of the legal community wherever you choose to live and work – in Canada or elsewhere, in a large metropolitan centre or small town, in private practice, government, business or a community organization. Your skills will be in great demand.
For our incoming first-year students, welcome; for those returning, welcome back. For those of you curious about Canada’s newest Faculty of Law, I will simply say: Watch this space.
Best Regards,
Chris Axworthy, Q.C.
Founding Dean
