One of the country’s top business leaders and a Canadian international business law firm have joined forces to further enhance Western University’s renowned research and teaching of corporate law.
The generous gift of $1.5 million from W. Geoff Beattie and Torys LLP has been matched by Western to create a $3-million fund to establish the W. Geoff Beattie Chair in Corporate Law and support the Torys LLP Corporate & Securities Law Forum.
“Western Law is extremely grateful for this generous gift which will allow us to recruit or retain an outstanding faculty member in the area of corporate law,” said W. Iain Scott, Western’s Faculty of Law dean. “It also sustains our extremely successful Torys LLP Corporate & Securities Law Forum, which better prepares our students for the business law field.”
Beattie, a Western Law graduate (LLB ’84), is Woodbridge Company Limited president/CEO and Thomson Reuters deputy chairman. Beattie also serves as a director of GE and RBC Financial Group.
“I am pleased and privileged to make this gift to Western. By partnering with Torys LLP, and Western Law alumni at Torys, we are able to build a cluster of business law excellence that is unmatched in Canada, and will be essential to attract top business law faculty to Western,” Beattie said.
“Great students and faculty come to where other great students and faculty are, and our hope is that the Beattie Chair and Torys Corporate Law Forum act as catalysts to build a sustained business law capability in Canada,” he added.
The Torys LLP Corporate & Securities Law Forum delivers a number of new and existing initiatives and programs, including the Torys LLP Negotiation Competition and the Torys LLP Business & Law Pre-Eminent Scholars Series.
“Lawyers play a vital role in the global economy, and Canadian corporate and securities lawyers are exceptionally well regarded around the world,” noted Les Viner, Managing Partner at Torys LLP. “Western Law is a particularly strong leader in corporate and securities law and we’re proud and delighted to support and enhance this already highly regarded program.”
MATCHING CHAIR PROGRAM
Western has set its sights on becoming a world-class leader in research with a goal of creating 100 new endowed chairs by 2020. Six chairs have been created under the program:
- Ian O. Ihnatowycz Chair in Leadership, Richard Ivey School of Business;
- Cecil and Linda Rorabeck Chair in Molecular Neuroscience and Vascular Biology, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Robarts Research Institute;
- J.C. Kennedy Chair in Orthopaedic Surgery, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry;
- Ray and Margaret Elliott Chair in Surgical Innovation, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry;
- Medical Research Chair in Pharmacogenomics, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry;
- W. Geoff Beattie Chair in Corporate Law, Faculty of Law.
