Queen’s Law unveils the Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP Classroom

Photo by Bernard Clark

FMC partner Tom Houston (third from right), Law '78, cuts the ribbon on the new Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP Classroom with Dean Bill Flanagan (third from left) and FMC colleagues and 2011 articling/summer students (l-r): Matthew Hibbert, Law '98; Kara Sutherland (FMC’s Director of Professional Resources); Anna Jankowska, Law '11; Douglas Stewart, Law '03; Alicia Wood, Law '11; Norm Emblem, Law '86; Ron Matheson, Law '78; Don Macintosh, Law '86; and Chelsea Ritchie, Law '13.

Students, faculty, staff and alumni gathered in Macdonald Hall on January 12 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and reception to celebrate the official opening of the new Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP Classroom. To recognize FMC’s $400,000 gift made to the Classroom Renewal Project last November, Queen’s Law named the school’s largest classroom in honour of the national firm. 

With FMC’s major donation, one of the largest in the school’s history, the Law Faculty met its $1.3-million fundraising target for the recently completed, extensive renewal of the basement lecture theatres (built in 1969) and a second-floor seminar room. The newly renovated and high-tech classrooms feature improved accessibility, ventilation, acoustics, lighting and design, and modern furniture.

“We are most grateful to Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP and to our alumni working there for their generous gift,” said Dean Bill Flanagan. “The old classrooms were in desperate need of an overhaul. The entire $1.3 million was enormously well spent and has provided us with truly state-of-the-art facilities for our students.”

Reflecting the faculty’s enthusiasm, Federal Court of Appeal Justice David Stratas, Law ’84, who also generously made a donation in support of the Classroom Renewal Project and has been teaching a class of 100 students in the new FMC Classroom this semester, spoke at the reception. “The classroom is spectacular,” he said. “The technological improvements really enhance the learning process here.”

Three FMC partners -- Tom Houston, Law ’78 (Com ’75), Ron Matheson, Law ’78 (Artsci ’75), and Peter Murphy, Law ’78 (Artsci ’75) -- led the fundraising efforts within the firm, approaching their fellow graduates working at FMC nationally. Upon receiving substantial individual gifts from alumni happy to support their alma mater, they turned to the firm for a top-up contribution. 

“The firm and the alumni it recruits recognize the importance of supporting legal education,” Houston said. “The opportunity to make this gift, and leave a lasting legacy for FMC at this law school, is something we are very happy to be able to do. I am very proud of being a Queen’s Law graduate.” 

Following the speeches, the crowd went to the downstairs foyer, where Tom Houston and his FMC colleagues joined Dean Flanagan to cut the ribbon on the new Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP Classroom. 

“It’s a vast improvement over what it was before,” commented Jessica Horwitz, Law ’12, LSS V-P (Academic). “The acoustics are much better, the technology is top-of-the-line, and it has definitely enhanced my classroom experience.” 

Justice Stratas took it well beyond the present when he observed that, “Generations of law students are going to benefit from this wonderful gift.”

For more pictures of the celebration, see the photo gallery at http://law.queensu.ca/news/archives/january2011/fmcClassroomUnveiled/photos/html