Professor R.C.B. Risk

Richard Risk, a retired professor from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, provides a comprehensive overview of his legal education and academic career spanning from the 1950s to his retirement. Born in 1936, Risk attended Victoria College and then U of T Law School when it was still located at Glendon campus, studying under foundational figures like Caesar Wright, Bora Laskin, and Albert Abel. He describes the rigorous case method approach that dominated legal education in the 1950s, where students focused intensively on reading and analyzing cases in core private law subjects.

After completing an LL.M at Harvard and articling with his father’s firm, Risk joined the U of T faculty in 1962, initially teaching property-related courses before transitioning to constitutional and administrative law. He played a key role in the 1968 curriculum committee that attempted to move legal education beyond its dominance by private law and cases, though the reforms proved largely unsuccessful. Risk’s scholarly interests evolved from property law toward legal history, particularly after spending a sabbatical with Willard Hurst at Wisconsin, leading to his influential work on 19th century Canadian legal and economic history.

The interview captures Risk’s perspective on the major transformations in legal education from the 1960s onward, including the shift from teaching-focused to research-oriented faculty roles, the expansion of curriculum options, and the gradual move away from the intensive case method that characterized earlier legal education. His observations provide valuable insight into how Canadian legal education evolved from a small, intimate program focused on training practicing lawyers to a more diverse, research-intensive academic enterprise.

This description was written by AI and may contain some inaccuracies.