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For Immediate Release
August 10, 2007

CALGARY - Ari N. Kaplan, a Toronto law practitioner and university lecturer, and John Swan, a former practitioner and current law professor, have been named co-recipients of the 2007 Walter Owen Book Prize awarded by the Foundation for Legal Research, recognizing excellent legal writing and rewarding outstanding new contributions to Canadian legal literature.

Kaplan, a partner with Toronto's Koskie Minsky LLP, was honoured for his book Pension Law, while Swan, an adjunct professor at Toronto's Osgoode Hall Law School and counsel to Toronto firm Aird & Berlis LLP, was recognized for Canadian Contract Law.

"Kaplan has methodically translated this area of law, previously perceived as being arcane, into a readily intelligible, reliable reference, and a subject having potential for informed public discourse," said David C. Day, Q.C., a member of the Book Prize selection committee. "This is an authority on a major component of retirement income." Pension Law was the first general treatise on the subject published in Canada.

"Swan has taken a refreshingly different approach compared to other existing contracts textbooks in Canada," said Timothy C. Matthews, Q.C., a member of the Book Prize Selection Committee. Using a unique structure, Canadian Contract Law provides an accessible and fresh analysis of the issues involved in contracts.

Kaplan, who is an adjunct professor of law at the University of Western Ontario, also appears regularly before the Ontario Superior Court, Divisional Court and the Financial Services Tribunal and has appeared as counsel before the Federal Court of Canada, Ontario Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Canada.

Swan has had dual careers as an academic and practitioner. He taught at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Law from 1965 to 1988, at the McGill University Faculty of Law from 1996 to 2002. Swan was a partner at Aird & Berlis from 1989 to 1997, and counsel to the firm, as well as a member of its coporate and commercial group and member of the legal education committee, since 2002. From 1997 to 2002 he served at Stikeman Elliott LLP in Montreal.

The Walter Owen Book Prize, awarded by the Foundation for Legal Research, is designed to recognize excellent legal writing and to reward outstanding new contributions to Canadian legal literature that enhance the quality of legal research in this country. The award takes the form of a $10,000 cash prize funded by the Foundation for Legal Research. The award will be presented as part of the Canadian Bar Association's 2007 Canadian Legal Conference in Calgary, Aug. 12-14. The ceremony is open to accredited journalists who have registered with the CBA Media Centre.

The Canadian Bar Association is dedicated to improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 37,000 lawyers, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members.

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CONTACT: Hannah Bernstein, Canadian Bar Association, Aug. 10-14,Telus Convention Centre, Glen 208 Room, 403-218-7856; E-mail: hannahb@cba.org.