The legendary Queen’s spirit keeps growing stronger in the nation’s capital. Dozens of grads filled the reception area of McMillan LLP on Sept. 17 for the annual Ottawa alumni reception. They reconnected, met new fellow grads and caught up on the latest news from their alma mater at the office of a firm that boasts a number of lawyers from Queen’s.

“We have benefitted from the excellent education and training opportunities they received at Queen’s,” said managing partner Ron Petersen, before introducing their newest associate, Kyle Lambert, Law’12.

In addition to enjoying good company, guests were eager to hear Dean Bill Flanagan speak about the most recent developments at Queen’s Law:

• The Queen’s Law Clinics, which opened in January, marks the first presence of the school in downtown Kingston. Students in the five clinics are learning from each other as they provide a range of legal services to clients.
• The ground floor of the Lederman Law Library is undergoing a complete renovation to create a new dedicated study space for law students. The ribbon will be cut on the new Learning Commons at the end of October.
• Following one of the school’s most successful fundraising campaigns, the school is now recruiting for the David Allgood Professorship in Business Law holder as well as for three other faculty members.

Responding to the enthusiastic crowd, Flanagan reflected on how two weeks earlier he had told the new first-year class that the friends and colleagues they were meeting would remain that for the rest of their lives. “I said to them, ‘Just talk to our alumni’ – that is what Queen’s Law is about.”

This was the second consecutive year that McMillan hosted the Ottawa reception. Just 11 months ago, the Law Faculty cut the ribbon on the modernized McMillan LLP Classroom, which was made possible with the firm’s $180,000 gift. In the upcoming winter term, partner Paul Davis will return to teach Contested Transactions as yet another example of how Queen’s Law students continue to benefit from McMillan and its lawyers.