Ian Holloway

Ian Holloway is Professor at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Law, where he also served as Dean from 2011 to 2024. An internationally recognised legal scholar and administrator, he has previously held deanships and associate deanships at other Canadian and Australian institutions, along with visiting roles at Cambridge and the National University of Singapore.

Education

• PhD – Australian National University (1999)
• LLM – University of California at Berkeley (1992)
• LLB – Dalhousie University (1985)
• BSc – Dalhousie University (1981)
• Executive education at Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, and John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Research Interests

Holloway’s scholarly work centres on Administrative Law and Legal History, with extensive publications that explore the foundations of legal reasoning, the evolution of judicial review, and the development of legal institutions in comparative contexts. He also writes on Legal Education, analysing curriculum design, transnational legal training, and the future of the legal profession in an era of technological and economic change.

Awards & Honours

• Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2013)
• Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal, Alberta (2022)
• Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Canadian Confederation (1992)
• Canadian Forces Decoration (1989)
• Fellow, College of Law Practice Management (2018)
• Elected Member, American Law Institute (2003)
• Queen’s Counsel (2004)
• LLD Honoris Causa, The Law Society of Ontario (2022)

Professional Service & Leadership

Holloway has chaired national and international reviews of legal education, including Oman’s legal education reform in 2007 and the Canadian Bar Association’s Futures project (2013-14). He has served on the boards of the NALP Foundation and the Law School Admission Council (eight years as Trustee), and as Governor of the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires. From 2015 he was appointed to the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency and sworn into the King’s Privy Council for Canada. He is admitted to the bars of Nova Scotia, Ontario and Alberta, and is a long-standing member of the Canadian Bar Association.

Additional Experience

Prior to academia, Holloway practised labour and employment law with McInnes Cooper in Halifax and clerked for the Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Appeal. He also completed 25 years of service in the Royal Canadian and Royal Australian Navies.