Professor Bala Puts Children’s Law on the Legal Map

Photo By Elle Morris

Professor Nick Bala, recipient of a 2006 Queen's Prize for Excellence in Research.

Professor Nicholas Bala is one of two winners of the 2006 Queen's Prize for Excellence in Research. He has also been very successful in grant competitions with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council; since 1998, Bala has garnered nearly $500 000 in SSHRC grants, more than any other Family Law scholar in Canada.

Bala's approach to the law is far from traditional. He works with members of the Queen's Department of Psychology to study the relationship between Canada's child witness laws and theories of child development. In doing so, Bala employs an interdisciplinary approach that is somewhat unique within the legal community.

Clearly, Bala has the attention of policy-makers in Ottawa, and for good reason. Due in large part to the work of his interdisciplinary team, the provisions of the Canada Evidence Act that deal with child witnesses was overhauled this year, so that the law more closely reflects what is known about child development..

"I think what makes this project significant," said Bala, "is that it went beyond what is often the core of legal scholarship, which tends to be, 'We'll sit and wait to see what the judge says, and analyze it in some kind of context.' Here we went out and tested, and disproved, some fundamental assumptions that were implicit in the old law."

These days, Canadian judges seem to be waiting to see what Bala says. To date, the Supreme Court of Canada has cited Bala's work on 23 occasions, in addition to hundreds of times by other courts. His work is quoted in law journals, as well as psychology and social work journals. He is also frequently called upon to present at continuing education programs for judges and lawyers.

A Queen's Law graduate himself ("77), Bala gives a lot of credit to the faculty and students at Queen's Law for his success, "Queen's grads are disproportionately represented in the Family Law field, and I think it reflects the commitment made at this law school since I was a student here." Particularly, Bala recalls one of his Family Law teachers, George Thomson, then a Family Court judge, for motivating him to study within that field. Since being his student, Prof. Bala and Judge Thomson have collaborated on many projects.

In his 30 years with Queen's Law, Bala has risen through the ranks to become a tenured professor. During that time, he has written influential books and articles on the topics of Young Offender legislation, issues surrounding child abuse, and the inclusion of polygamy in the Canadian Criminal Code, to name but a few.

Students and faculty alike at Queen's Law are very proud to have the sharp mind and modest character of Professor Bala at their disposal. Though he articled and went to Harvard for a LLM, Bala quickly discovered that Macdonald Hall would be his professional home. "When I graduated in 1977," Bala said, "I thought that I was leaving for good, but in turns out that I really never left!"