The Centre for Feminist Legal Studies (CFLS) is proud and fortunate to be able to offer awards and scholarships designated for students who are entering or studying at the Peter A. Allard School of Law.
For a full list of scholarships, prizes and bursaries offered by the Peter A. Allard School of Law please visit the student resources page or contact awards@allard.ubc.ca.
The list below is an outline of the awards offered by the CFLS, a list of recent winners, and a list of other faculty and university awards designated for woman students.
Awards Adjudicated by the CFLS
Hilda Janzen Memorial Award in Feminist Legal Studies
In honor of the late Hilda Janzen and her commitment to the advancement of women in professional fields, an award of $18,000 annually will cover the current costs of tuition and books for the recipient, as well as offset living costs for the year. This award will be the largest available for an individual J.D. student at the Allard School of Law and will be granted to a male or female student in good academic standing who has demonstrated leadership and community involvement in feminist and/or feminist legal issues, and faces challenges, financial or systemic, in accessing or continuing legal education.
Donor Sonya Wall was inspired to establish the award by the commitment shown by her aunt, the late Hilda Janzen, to the advancement of women in professional fields, and by the costs and other barriers students face in pursuing a legal education.
Susan Boyd, Professor Emerita of Law, former Chair in Feminist Legal Studies and former Director of the Centre for Feminist Legal Studies says that "this amazing new award recognizes two important facts: first, that there is an ongoing need for lawyering inspired by a feminist ethic and, second, that many students who are committed to bringing their feminist approach to law encounter barriers in the course of obtaining a law degree. Sonya's generosity ensures that the law school community will be enriched by the presence of feminist students and that their expertise will promote social justice in years to come."
The Faculty is grateful for this inspired gift and welcomes Ms. Wall to the group of generous alumni and friends who support the education of students at the Allard School of Law.
Submission: Applications for this award should be submitted through the Continuing Student Awards 2022/2023 application. Questions about this award should be directed to Aki Nishida at awards@allard.ubc.ca.
Auriol Gurner Young Memorial Award
The Auriol Gurner Young Memorial Award in Law will be granted to a student in the JD program who has made significant contributions to feminism and the law through academic achievement, volunteer work, community activism, or work with a feminist organization.
The Auriol Gurner Young Memorial Award in Law is generously endowed in memory of Auriol Gurner Young for students in the J.D. Program who have made significant contributions to feminism and the law, for instance through academic achievement, volunteer work, community activism, or work with a feminist organization.
APPLY NOW: Nominations or applications for the award must be submitted via email to awards@allard.ubc.ca. Please provide a letter explaining the candidate's contributions to feminism and law and attach the candidate's resume. Applicants for the Hilda Janzen Memorial Award who are current J.D. students will automatically be considered for this award.
Deadline: Monday, June 17, 2024
Marlee G. Kline Essay Prize
The Centre for Feminist Legal Studies will award a $250 prize to the best essay written by a J.D. student and a $250 prize to the best essay written by a graduate student attending the Peter A. Allard School of Law during the 2023-2024 academic year, addressing the themes identified in the above quotation in relation to a topic dealing with law or legal regulation.
The prize is offered in the name of Marlee Kline, a feminist professor at the Allard School of Law who died in November 2001 after a lengthy and determined struggle with leukemia.
Her work on feminist legal theory and critical race theory, child welfare law and policy, law’s continued colonialism, and restructuring of the social welfare state is internationally acclaimed.
The essay should be written for a UBC course, seminar, or directed research project and must incorporate feminist research and analysis.
Length: The essay shall be between 4,000 and 10,000 words, and shall be typewritten and double-spaced, using 12-point font.
Selection: The submissions will be reviewed by a committee of feminist law professors.
Submission: Students should send essay submissions to the Marlee Kline Essay Prize Committee, via email to awards@allard.ubc.ca by 5 p.m. on Monday, June 10, 2024.
Deadline: Monday, June 10, 2024
Previous winners
2023 SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS
Marlee Kline Essay Prize: Sarah Hlady MacDonald
Tell us about your paper.
A correlation between violence towards humans and violence towards animals has long been identified. Intimate partner violence (IPV) has a disproportionate impact on women, and the vulnerability of IPV victims is increased when a companion animal is involved. Canadian property, family, criminal, and residential tenancy laws create barriers for victims of IPV with companion animals to flee an abusive relationship. Caregivers can have intense emotional connections to their animals, which is evidenced by the reluctance of women who are victims of IPV to leave them behind when fleeing their abuser. Without accessible legal protection mechanisms capable of protecting both woman and animal, victims of violence may delay fleeing, putting both woman and animal at risk for additional abuse.
To better protect victims of IPV, Canadian law needs to re-evaluate its attitudes towards companion animals and address the shortcomings of the legal protections currently available to women experiencing IPV. In so doing, acknowledgment must be made to the impact of patriarchy on fuelling violence towards both women and animals, as well as how racism and colonial legacies make violent experiences even more prominent in minority and Indigenous communities. Women and animals, as common targets of male violence, ought to receive accessible protection, a responsibility which the law currently fails to meet.
What does feminism mean to you and how does it influence your studies?
Feminism to me means advocating for social equality and especially advocating for vulnerable members of society. In my studies, a feminist lens means being critical of the ways that the law privileges and disadvantages certain groups and how the intersectional impacts compound upon those belonging to multiple disadvantaged groups. A feminist lens has also led me to be aware of what issues are discussed in classrooms and which are not, who writes the law and who’s voices are heard in its creation, and how a law which is neutral on paper may have adverse effects on women in practice.
What does getting this award mean to you?
There have already been some changes in the law since I originally wrote this paper, changes which are in line with the recommendations included – namely, the 2023 amendments to the BC Family Law Act. These changes mean that any history or risk of family violence must be considered when making property determinations regarding a companion animal. There has also been increased movement in adding coercive control to the Criminal Code, which would give IPV victims additional legal tools to flee. I am encouraged that receiving this award represents an increased recognition of this issue in the legal field, and I aspire to see greater legal protections for women and animals to come.
Receiving this award makes me incredibly grateful for the women who were critical to the success of my paper: my course instructor Professor Debra Parkes, who encouraged me to pursue this topic and helped guide the structure of my paper; my mother, who has read every academic piece I’ve ever produced; and my best friend Emily, who was the most influential force in my decision to go to law school, and who first inspired my passion for animal rights.
Auriol Gurner Young Memorial Award: Elana Mabrito
Elana Mabrito is in her second year of the JD program. She is actively involved in facilitating arts-based workshops for teens and young adults and mentoring young queer artists in creative writing. She is grateful to live here and honoured to be the recipient of the 2023-24 Auriol Gurner Young Memorial Award.
Access to a list of previous winners is available for the following:
Other Faculty & University Awards
Faculty Women's Club Anne Wesbrook Scholarship
A scholarship of $2,000, adjudicated by the Faculty Women's Club, was established in 1919 to honour Anne Wesbrook, the wife of the first President of UBC, and a founding member and Honorary President of the Club until her death in 1957. It is awarded to a woman student who has obtained a baccalaureate degree from this university and is continuing her studies at graduate level or in the Faculties of Medicine, Dentistry or Law at this university or any other approved university; or to a woman who, after third year of university studies, is proceeding directly to a degree in Medicine, Dentistry or Law at this university or any other approved university.
Doris Curtis Memorial Scholarship
Income totalling $3,400 from a fund donated by family and friends in memory of Doris Curtis will provide scholarships for women students. Financial circumstances may be considered.
Diane Kilpatrick Memorial Scholarship
In memory of Diane Kilpatrick, LL.B. 1977, her family, friends and associates have endowed a scholarship of $1,300. It is awarded to a woman student entering second year in the Faculty of Law who has demonstrated good academic standing and an interest in helping others.
Ted Le Nobel Memorial Scholarship
A scholarship of $1,300 has been endowed in memory of Ted Le Nobel by his family. The award is made on the recommendation of the Faculty of Law, with preference given to a woman student entering the second year of the undergraduate program.
