This web site is curated by Lois Gander, Q.C., Professor Emeritus, University of Alberta.
She can be reached at lois.gander@ualberta.ca.
Lois Gander, K.C.
Early career
Professor Lois Gander, Q.C. began her public legal education (PLE) activities in 1969 as a law student at the University of Alberta. A founding member of Student Legal Services of Edmonton (SLS) she gained valuable experience working with inner city families, transient men, and inmates of provincial correctional facilities.
After graduating in 1971, Lois articled and practised law in Grande Prairie, Alberta for a year. She returned to Edmonton in 1973 to serve as the Community Advisor to SLS.
Establishing the Legal Resource Center of Alberta Ltd
While at SLS, Lois convened a group of interested community members and lawyers to discuss ways of providing more comprehensive public legal education (PLE). The group founded the Legal Resource Centre of Alberta Ltd (LRC Ltd) in 1975 and became its first board of directors.
The Legal Resource Centre and Legal Studies Program at the Faculty of Extension, University of Alberta
The board of the LRC Ltd negotiated an arrangement that led to the Faculty of Extension assuming responsibility establishing the service that came to be known variously as the Legal Resource Centre (LRC) and the Legal Studies Program (LSP). Lois led those programs from 1975 to 2007 when the Faculty’s activities were transferred to the LRC Ltd to carry on as an independent organization. Funding came chiefly from the Alberta Law Foundation but included a mix of funding from federal and provincial governments and private and public foundations.
Lois resumed her involvement with the LRC in 2013, serving as the Vice President of its board. In the course of her work, she has been involved with the Public Legal Education Network of Alberta, the Public Legal Education Association of Canada, and the Legal Education Society of Alberta.
In 2008, Lois was awarded her Queen’s Counsel designation in recognition of her work in this field.
Lois retired from her position at the Faculty of Extension in July 2019.
Current activities
Lois continues to be involved in PLE. Her current work includes co-creating knowledge about the impact of the law on victims of domestic violence. As part of this work, she is collaborating with the domestic violence service sector
- to improve the ability of landlords and property managers to prevent and respond effectively to domestic violence;
- to train front line DV service providers with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to assist their clients in navigating the legal terrain and to engage in activities to change the law, legal processes, legal practices, and legal service; and
- to catalogue the ways in which the law, legal processes, legal practices, and legal services fail to meet the needs of survivors of DV and develop strategies to improve the ability for DV survivors to get their full range of legal needs addressed.
Lois also continues her work on the theory and practice of public legal education. Her activities include providing guest lectures on the history of public legal education for law students at various law schools in the United Kingdom.
Documents of interest: Gander
* indicates refereed publication
Gander, L., Wintersteiger, L., & Mulqueen, T. (2018) Innovative pedagogy: Interrupting the game as it begins. Presentation to the workshop, Social Ontology of Law in Legal Education, Onati International Institute for the Sociology of Law, July 19 – 20, 2018.
Gander, L. (2017) Domestic Violence: Roles of Landlords and Property Managers Final Report. Edmonton: Legal Resource Centre of Alberta.
Gander, L. (2017) Improving Access to Justice: Technological Innovations, 41 (4) LawNow available at http://www.lawnow.org/category/specialreport/41-4-innovation-legal-services.
Gander, L. (2014) Impacts of Public Legal Education (Ottawa: Department of Justice Canada).
Gander, L. and Johannson, R. (2014) The Hidden Homeless: Residential Tenancies Issues of Victims of Domestic Violence (Edmonton: Legal Resource Centre of Alberta Ltd,) available at www.cplea.ca.
*Gander, L. & Rhyason, D. (2011). Community-university engagement in an electronically-defined era. In M. Bowdon & Carpenter, R., Higher Education, Emerging Technologies, and Community Partnerships: Concepts, Models, and Applications (pp. 365-373). Hersey, PA: IGI Global.
*Gander, L (2009) False dichotomies, ironies and dysfunctional distinctions presented at the symposium Promising Practices: A Comparative analysis of Innovations in Civic and Community Engagement at the annual conference of the Association for the Study of Higher Education.
*Gander, L. (2009) The Incubation Model of University-Community Relationships: A Case study in Incubating New Programs, New Knowledge, and New Fields of Practice. Canadian Journal of University Continuing Education 35 (1) Spring 25 – 44.
Gander, L. E. (2009) The not-for-profit organization as lobbyist, 33 (4) LawNow 15-17
*Gander, L. (2007 May) Innovative Models in University/Community Relationships: A Case Study presented at the annual conference of the Canadian Association of University Continuing Education held in Edmonton May 30 – Jun3 2, 2007.
Gander, L.E. (2007, July) Bill 1 Lobbyists Act: A Preliminary Assessment of its Implications for Not-for-Profit Organizations in Alberta (Edmonton: The Muttart Foundation)
Gander, L.E. (2007, March) Applications of the Internet for Public Legal Education 4th Ed. (Edmonton: Legal Studies Program, Faculty of Extension, University of Alberta)
Gander, L.E. (2005, June). Promising Practices in Public Legal Education. Presentation to the Public Legal Education Association of Canada, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Adria, M., Campbell, K., Gander, L., & Rhyason, D. (2005 June) Developing Successful Collaborative Grants: Challenges and Benefits. Presentation at the Research Refresher series, Faculty of Extension, Edmonton, Alberta.
*Gander, L., Stratton, M. & Lowe, D. (2004) “The Canadian Civil Justice System and the Public: Highlights of the Alberta Pilot” (2005) 42 (3) Alberta Law Review pp 803 – 817.
Gander, L. E. (2003, May). From Partnerships to Networks. Presentation at the Canadian Association of University Continuing Education, Calgary, Alberta.
Gander, L. E. & Lowe, D. (2003, May). Partnerships in Action: Nurturing Networks for Change. Presentation at the CUExpo, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Lowe, D. & Gander, L. E. (2003, May). Challenging Values: In Search of New Criteria. Presentation at the CUExpo, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Gander, L. E. (2003). The Changing Face of Public Legal Education in Canada. News and Views on Civil Justice Reform, issue #6.
Gander, L. E. (2002, September). Public Legal Education Needs Assessment Synthesis Project: Preliminary Findings. Presentation at the annual conference of the Public Legal Education Association of Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia.
Gander, L. E., Parish, L. & Sears, A. (2002, September). Seminar on Residential Tenancies Law. Presentation at the Alberta Provincial Judges Association, Canmore, Alberta.
Parish, L. & Gander, L. E. (2001). Reference Guide to Landlord and Tenant Law in Alberta. Edmonton, Alberta: Legal Studies Program. [Electronic version available at www.acjnet.org/docs/landten/index.html].
Gander, L. E., Ross, J., McKinnon, A., Lowe, D. (2001, April). The Canadian Civil Justice System and the Public. Paper and presentation at the Eighth International Consumer Law Conference, Auckland, New Zealand.
Gander, L.E. (2001). New Partnerships and Delivery Mechanisms. In Expanding Horizons: Rethinking Access to Justice in Canada. (pp 61 – 66). Ottawa: Department of Justice Canada. [Commissioned and presented at an invitational symposium convened by the Deputy Minister of Justice Canada.]
Gander, L.E. (2001, September). Applications of the Internet for Public Legal Education. Presentation at the annual conference of the Public Legal Education Association of Canada, Toronto, Ontario.
Gander, L.E. (2001). Applications of the Internet for Public Legal Education. Unpublished report prepared for the Department of Justice Canada.
Gander, L. E. (2000). Knowledge Management in the Public Interest: The Continuing Education Imperative. In J. Martin & K. Wright, (Eds.), Managing Knowledge: Case Studies in Innovation. Edmonton, Alberta: Spotted Cow Press [online].
Gander, L.E. (1999). The Radical Promise of Public Legal Education in Canada. Unpublished masters thesis. University of Alberta, Edmonton AB, Canada. Available at http://www.cplea.ca.