Prof. Harry Arthurs

This oral history captures Harry Arthurs reflecting on his influential career spanning Canadian legal education’s transformation from the 1960s through the 1990s. Educated at University of Toronto and Harvard, Arthurs joined Osgoode Hall Law School in 1961, becoming a central figure in its revolutionary move to York University in 1969 and the broader modernization of Canadian legal education. He discusses breaking the Law Society’s curricular control, introducing clinical legal education through the Parkdale Clinic, and optionalizing law school curricula – changes that influenced legal education across Canada.

Arthurs provides insight into the development of Canadian legal literature, tracing its evolution from the 1930s pioneers like Laskin, Willis, and Finkelman through the explosion of scholarship in the 1960s as law faculties expanded and professors increasingly held graduate degrees. He discusses his collaborative approach to casebook development, his theoretical work in labour and administrative law including his influential book “Without the Law” (1985), and his preference for writing that promotes intellectual reflection over technical information. The interview concludes with his observations on the growing sophistication of Canadian legal scholarship and its increasing influence on courts and legal thinking.

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