Strategic Plan

We recognize that community lies at the heart of everything we do at Allard Law, and our approach to fostering trust and collegiality within our community is informed by consideration of wellness, equity, fairness, and collaboration.

We meet people where they are and ensure accessible and meaningful opportunities for all who contribute to our purpose.

Fundamentally, our view is centered on empathy and respect for individual circumstances, and it is through this lens that we communicate with each other, make decisions, set priorities, and advance collective aims.

We value the health and wellbeing of all members of our community and acknowledge the pressures that invariably come with research, studying, teaching, administration and practicing law.

We commit to the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing of our diverse community, and strive to build channels whereby our members feel supported, heard, and their needs are met.

This value is reflected through:

• Our approach to how we structure our curriculum and course loads, how we allocate work and service loads to our faculty and staff members, how we allow for flexibility and accommodations for our diverse student body, and how we commit to groups that have historically been underrepresented and overlooked;
• Our approach to how we foster collegial governance as a law school;
• Ensuring that as a community and as individuals we uphold and respect each other’s academic freedom
• Our commitment to promote mentoring and a supportive culture that upholds collaboration and reciprocity between our members, external partners, and collaborators; and
• Greater opportunities for research dissemination

We commit to advancing reconciliation and justice, recognizing the imperative to lead Indigenization and reconciliation efforts across all aspects of our law school, including curriculum, scholarship, and community engagement.

We acknowledge the legacies of oppression and systemic injustice against the Indigenous Peoples of Canada and around the globe.

We value the courage to lead compassionate inquiry, to support the underrepresented, to advocate for what is right, and to speak truth to power.

This value is reflected through:

• Our commitment to fostering a community of scholars, educators, students, and partners that question historical and current legal systems, challenge assumptions, identify gaps in the law and encourage research in such areas of the law, and advance and build upon new ideas;
• Our methods and approaches that honour people and their experiences;
• Our work that is dedicated to enhancing access to justice to fairly serve Indigenous communities; and
• A community that is entrusted to meaningfully respond to the Calls for Action set out by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights for of Indigenous Peoples, and the UBC Indigenous Strategic Plan.

We create environments in which everyone feels welcome, everyone can be their true selves, and groups that have not had a voice or people who have not felt a sense of belonging can feel connected.

We support the creation and promotion of groups to come together and collaborate, co-produce, and advance the collective vision of Allard Law.

We are committed to transforming what it means to be a law student and a practicing professional, both within and beyond the legal profession.

This value is reflected through:

• Our work in changing the legal culture for the better as we foster a community that celebrates diverse contributions and perspectives;
• Our curriculum that is shaped through a wide range of pedagogical approaches, a diversity of choices and career pathways for our students, and a commitment to a welcoming classroom and workplace environment in which a variety of views can be expressed freely and openly;
• Our research that is defined by plurality, both in terms of substance and methodology, and is meaningful to the communities we engage with;
• A diverse demographic across our student body, our faculty complement, and our staff members; and
• A commitment to good faith disagreement through a collegial, non-ablest governance style.

We recognize our responsibilities as global citizens, with a robust engagement with law and its effect on justice, development, conflicts and crises around the world.

We foster a commitment to engaging regions of the world vulnerable to instability and distress and to developing strategic and supportive relationships with institutions, academics and legal professionals around the globe.

This value is reflected through:

• Exposing students to legal systems beyond Canada and exploring the resources of international law to improve Canadian legal systems;
• Using our resources and facilities to provide opportunities for the international exchange of ideas, talents, and learning;
• Seeking to expand understanding, perspectives and agendas for change through the development of productive academic, professional and activist networks; and
• Welcoming and honouring the diversity brought to our community from the plurality of international backgrounds and experiences of our students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

We value the pursuit of new knowledge, approaches, and methods as we collectively evolve as an intellectual community.

We are driven to create new pathways forward, beyond merely identifying trends and currents in the legal world.

We are committed to being a continual leader to emerging social discourses.

This value is reflected through:

• A commitment to maintaining a curious and humble posture that enables open discourse on divergent ideas and the ability to express views safely and with respect;
• Thought leadership in scholarship and research, with an acknowledgement that the scholarship that underpins our work and activities is shaped by a wide range of views, experiences, perspectives, and individual values and a commitment to academic freedom in our approach to challenging and controversial issues;
• Innovation in legal education;
• Leadership in leveraging the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic to build a more resilient, just, and responsive law school for the future; and
• Continual encouragement of individual members of our community to be true to themselves and behave consistently, to be open and engaged especially to those who are in the minority view, and to ask controversial questions and to disagree, respectfully.