The Lawyer — Stewart Elgie had already argued three cases successfully before the Supreme Court of Canada by the time he opted to intervene in the case of Hudson v. Spraytech & ChemLawn in 2001. It was his discussion of the Precautionary Principle that led to the Court’s historic decision. A University of Ottawa Common Law professor specializing in environmental law and economics, Elgie is now the associate director of the University’s Environment Institute. He received his Master’s of Law from Harvard in 1988, and is currently completing a doctorate at Yale, focusing on environmental law and economics (climate change). His current research focuses mainly on economic approaches to environmental protection.
Prof. Elgie previously served as a professor at several Canadian law schools (Osgoode Hall, British Columbia, and Alberta). Prior to joining the University of Ottawa, he founded the Sierra Legal Defence Fund (now EcoJustice), Canada’s largest non-profit environmental law organization. Prof. Elgie was also the founding executive director of the Canadian Boreal Trust, an organization advancing conservation and sustainable management of Canada’s northern forests.
After the Hudson decision in 2001, Prof. Elgie was awarded the Law Society of Upper Canada medal for exceptional lifetime contributions to law – one of the youngest individuals ever to receive the profession’s highest honor.