In 1934, the Alberta Law Quarterly was born during a period of economic duress and war. It was inspired and run by Dr. Malcolm MacIntyre but was dissolved when Dr. MacIntyre left Alberta in 1944. With its fate, it became apparent that an Alberta legal journal was necessary.
In 1954, Hugh Lawford, a student in the Faculty of Law and subsequent co-founder of QuickLaw, proposed to create the Alberta Law Review. However, the Dean of the Faculty of Law had reservations; he did not want to see the faculty giving promises it could not keep to advertisers or subscribers.
A new scheme was proposed to sustain the Alberta Law Review. The journal was to be funded independent of subscribers and advertisers. The University's Research Fund was responsible for funding the initial issues of the journal and the University's print shop was co-operative in terms of printing costs. In order to maintain its reliability and sustainability, the Alberta Law Review, unlike the Alberta Law Quarterly, needed to be run by a successive line of enthusiastic student board members.
By 1958, full responsibility of the Alberta Law Review was borne by its student members. In 1963, Dean W.F. Bowker published an encouragement to establish a Law Reform Committee in Alberta. Subsequently, the Institute of Law Research and Reform was setup.
By this time, the publication of the Alberta Law Review consisted of one issue per year plus the Petroleum Supplement. In 1967, the Alberta Law Review set its sights on new goals: two issues were to be published per year in addition to the Petroleum Supplement. Today, the Alberta Law Review publishes four issues each year, including the Petroleum Law Edition.
In 1966 and 1967, the Alberta Law Review was granted its own office space and a secretary. The Faculty also agreed to hire the Editor-in-Chief over the summer months in order to maintain journal continuity between school terms. In 1977-78, the board elected its first female Editor-in-Chief, and continued the tradition the following year.
In the early 1980s, the Alberta Law Review published numerous articles dedicated to the possibility of constitutional change and analysis of that change once it occurred. After the passing of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Alberta Law Review published numerous articles on the interpretation of this new piece of the Constitution. Nevertheless, the Alberta Law Review published topics on other emerging issues of law such as alternate dispute resolution methods, the use of new technologies in the litigation model, and the development of administrative law, civil litigation, health law, and corporate law.
By the 1990s, the Alberta Law Review had published two books. The first, published in 1978-79, was an overgrown paper on the topic of the Torrens land title system. In 1990, the second book publication titled “An Introduction to the Personal Property Security Act of Alberta” was released.
In 1998, the Alberta Law Review left its facilities in the Faculty of Law and occupied a house across the street at the University of Alberta campus. The house was named in honour of W.A. Stevenson, a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and one of the founders of the Alberta Law Review.
In the twenty-first century, continued growth and demand of the Alberta Law Review has resulted in growth of its members. Each year there are about 30 members sitting on the Alberta Law Review board as editors. Two Co-Editors-in-Chief are now elected to manage the publication of four issues per year. In 1990, Lorie Huising began working with the Alberta Law Review typesetting articles on a part-time basis; by 2000, Lorie joined the Alberta Law Review as a full-time administrator and integral part of the Alberta Law Review’s continuance.
Today, the Alberta Law Review is a sophisticated business enterprise. Subscription orders are filled from over a dozen countries, which is indicative of its international presence. It has also maintained its independence from the Faculty of Law, the Judiciary, and the Alberta Bar. It publishes on a diverse range of emerging and important legal and political topics chosen by its student members. Its journey has led it to become one of Canada’s most cited legal journals.
Here are just a few comments from patrons of the Alberta Law Review:
"For 50 years, the Alberta Law Review has remained an excellent source of information for practitioners, jurists and academics across Canada." (Prime Minister, Paul Martin)
"Serving Alberta's legal community for 50 years, the [Alberta Law Review publication] has become the most cited university journal by the Supreme Court of Canada and has brought international recognition to the legal scholarship in our province." (Premier of Alberta, Ralph Klein)
"The Law Review's pages have been a host to many of Canada's most distinguished legal academics writing on topics ranging from matters of regional interest to those with global reach...That courts across Canada so often cite the Law Review is a testament to its estimable stature..." (Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, Anne McLellan).
Reference: Alberta Law Review, 50th Anniversary Issue.