The University of Alberta Faculty of Law’s loss (for now) is the Canadian judicial system’s gain. Russ Brown, who until recently was “merely” a professor of law (and an associate dean) is now Mr. Justice Russell  Brown, a judge of the trial division of Alberta’s Queen’s Bench.

From http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/news-nouv/ja-nj/2013/doc_32849.html

The Honourable Russell S. Brown, an associate counsel with Miller Thomson LLP and associate professor of law at the University of Alberta, is appointed a judge of Her Majesty’s Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta …

Mr. Justice Brown received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of British Columbia in 1987 and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Victoria in 1994. He received a Master of Laws in 2003 and a Doctor of Juridical Science in 2006, both from the University of Toronto. He was admitted to the Bar of British Columbia in 1995 and to the Bar of Alberta in 2008.

Mr. Justice Brown has been an associate counsel with Miller Thomson LLP in Edmonton since 2008, as well as an associate professor, Faculty of Law, at the University of Alberta, since 2004. In 2011, Mr. Justice Brown was named associate dean of the Faculty of Law. He was an associate with Carfra & Lawton in Victoria, British Columbia from 1996 to 2003 and with Davis & Company in Vancouver from 1995 to 1996. His main areas of practice were commercial law, medical negligence, personal injury, trusts and estates and competition law.

Mr. Justice Brown was a representative on the Credentials and Education Committee of the Law Society of Alberta and a member of the Civil Practice Advisory Committee of the Law Society from 2010 to 2011. He has been a board member of the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice and board chairman of the Health Law Institute of the University of Alberta. He has been a presenter at numerous professional associations and is the author of several legal journal articles.

These appointments are effective immediately.

I hope that, once Justice Brown settles in, he finds time to continue teaching. Teachers with his ability to make dry law interesting are also hard to find.