UCalgary Law Professors Awarded for Foundational Law Courses

The University of Calgary Students’ Union (SU) has announced the winners of its 2025 Teaching Excellence Awards. Driven by student nominations, the awards and honourable mentions were given to 41 instructors across the university who have made a meaningful impact on student learning. Among them were two Faculty of Law instructors who received recognition for courses that build key foundations for legal practice.

A one-of-a-kind course for Foreign Trained Lawyers

Dr. Kellinde Wrightson, Executive Director of the Foreign Trained Lawyers Program (FTLP) was nominated and awarded a Teaching Excellence Award for her Law 420 and Law 430 courses. Both courses, rooted in law foundations and professional development, were created to assist in “filling the gap” in legal education for foreign trained lawyers. 

In order to practice in Canada, foreign-trained lawyers are required to take between five and 11 doctrinal subjects, but Wrightson believes that legal education for these lawyers can and should go beyond that. This belief led to the development of Law 430. 

A unique program to UCalgary Law, Law 430 focuses on professional development with a multi-cultural lens. Designed to equip internationally trained lawyers with the practical and career-building skills necessary to compete in the articling placement marketplace, Wrightson built her course to ensure that FTLP students would have the same opportunity as Juris Doctor (JD) students in Canada. 

“I wanted to have a look at the JD curriculum, in particular the Calgary Curriculum, which is also unique in the country and created by UCalgary Law, and look at what we are giving them,” she said. “I cherry-picked the bits from what the JDs are getting to put them into 430 and it's grown in such a fabulous way.”

A collaborative approach to teaching

Upon receiving this award, Wrightson credited the success of the course to her students and Assistant Director of the FTLP Madeleine Natale, who was a guest instructor in Law 430 for the 2024-2025 academic year. 

“She’s done such a good job at engaging (the students) because she's bringing all these tools that I had no idea about until she came on board,” Wrightson said. 

Natale’s experience as a Certified Executive Coach allowed her to approach the course not only through a community-building lens but also with a strong focus on lawyer wellness, job preparation, and interviewing skills. She also played a central role in preparing students for the articling process, offering practical advice on how to navigate a system that can feel unfamiliar and inaccessible to internationally trained lawyers.

“This course lays the groundwork for everything the students need to know moving forward in their legal career,” Natale said. “I feel grateful that Kellinde was open to having me come in and share this expertise in an academic context. It showcases her willingness to be open and innovative and inclusive, which I think says a lot about who she is as a leader.”

Student-centred approach recognized

Effie Simpson, a current student in the FTLP, says she is not at all surprised by Wrightson’s receiving this award. “Dr. Wrightson fosters an environment of mutual respect and understanding.  Because she has gone through the process (of) becoming licensed in Canada as a foreign trained lawyer herself, she is able to offer her students an empathetic and insightful perspective,” she said. 

Wrightson’s award highlights both her thoughtful approach to teaching and the collaborative work behind Law 430. With a clear focus on inclusion, practical skills, and student well-being, the course is helping to set a new standard for what legal education can look like for internationally trained lawyers.

“It's so special that my students feel they're getting as much out of me as they possibly can,” Wrightson said. “It’s an absolute honour to teach them and that they feel like I’m doing a good job.”

UCalgary Law’s Honourable Mention

Dr. Elizabeth Steyn’s first-year Constitutional Law course (Law 400) also earned her an Honourable Mention in this year’s SU Teaching Excellence Awards. The course, breaking down the Constitution and the Charter of Human Rights, is critically important for JD students to understand how the law works and why it works the way it does. 

Now in her second year of teaching at UCalgary Law, Steyn feels incredibly grateful to have been nominated and to have received an Honourable Mention out of the nearly 1,000 nominations this year. “It's tremendously meaningful, specifically because it comes from the hearts of the students,” she said.

This being Steyn’s third nomination in two years, first-year student Ariana Shakeri says that Steyn’s dedication to her students is apparent in every class that she teaches. 

“It was clear that every single day her mission was to make sure we felt supported and truly learned the material,” she said. “I can only hope to emulate her intelligence, quiet confidence, and kindness as I progress through my legal career.”

This award also led Steyn to reflect on the teachers who inspired her as she worked her way through her legal education. “One doesn't just wake up one morning and become a good teacher. We get moulded by our own experiences with great and inspiring teachers, and so I've been blessed in my life to have some really extraordinary teachers,” she said.