Patrick Monahan (LLB ’80), dean of York’s Osgoode Hall Law School, is the 2007 recipient of Ontario’s prestigious David W. Mundell Medal. The medal is awarded annually to an Ontario writer on legal and professional matters who has made a distinguished contribution to law and letters.
Left: Patrick Monahan
Ontario’s Attorney General Chris Bentley will present the medal to Monahan today, at a luncheon hosted by the Ontario Bar Association’s Institute of Continuing Legal Education at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The medal, which was established in 1986 by then Ontario Attorney General Ian Scott (LLB ’59), honours the memory of the late David Walter Mundell (LLB ’53), a constitutional lawyer who worked for many years as a counsel in the Ministry of the Attorney General, and who was known for clarity, imagination and grace in both his writing and speaking.
“You are one of the most recognized constitutional scholars in Canada and your writings in constitutional law and policy in particular have been extraordinarily influential,” Bentley said in a letter advising Monahan that, on the advice of a selection committee chaired by Ontario Chief Justice Warren Winkler (LLM ’64), he had been chosen for the award. “Both bench and bar owe you much.”
"This is a great honour for Dean Monahan, for Osgoode and for York," said York President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri. "It’s always gratifying to see members of our community recognized for the excellence of their work. We are fortunate to have someone as prominent and well-respected in the legal community as Dean Monahan leading Osgoode."
A member of the Osgoode faculty since 1982, Monahan was appointed dean of the law school in 2003 for a five-year term, and was recently reappointed for a second five-year term commencing July 1.
He has written or co-written nine books, 12 monographs or reports, and 38 scholarly articles or book chapters. In addition, he has edited 11 published collections of scholarly papers. Two monographs, in particular, illustrated ground-breaking work on Quebec secession and Canada’s national health care system, which led to changes in Canadian constitutional law.
Monahan is the seventh Osgoode faculty member to receive the David W. Mundell Medal. Previous recipients are Jean-Gabriel Castel, Peter Hogg, Harry Arthurs, John McCamus, Sharon Williams (LLM ’74) and Garry Watson.