Posted on April 5, 2018

In another show of his magnanimous spirit, distinguished alumnus the Hon. Hal Jackman, Class of 1956, has generously donated $2.5 million to the Faculty of Law to support important research and student financial aid.

Together with a previous gift, the funds will fully endow the J.R. Kimber Chair in Investor Protection and Corporate Governance. The chair is named after J.R. Kimber, author of the foundational Report of the Attorney General’s Committee on Securities Legislation in Ontario (March 1965), which laid the foundation for Canada’s modern securities regulatory regime. A chair is an academic honour for the holder, and provides funding to support their position and research.

In addition, $1.55 million from this most recent gift will create the endowed Hon. Henry N. R. Jackman Bursary, and $150,000 will enhance the existing endowed Newton Rowell Bursary, bringing its fund total to $450,000. The University will match payouts from these funds, creating the equivalent impact of a total endowment of $4 million for student financial aid.

Kimber Chair holder Anita Ananda is working to protect Canadian consumers

Professor Anita Anand is the inaugural holder of the Kimber Chair. She is also the academic director of the Centre for the Legal Profession, and of the Program in Ethics in Law and Business.

“The creation of the Kimber Chair has been instrumental in the development of my research and professional life, and I am sincerely grateful to Hal Jackman,” says Anand. “My research generally speaks to the needs of investors or ‘consumers.’ I have come to believe that collectively, Canadian consumers are in a precarious position. Regulators, whose legal mandate is to protect consumers, are present in every jurisdiction across the country. But there are numerous contentious issues which, depending on how they are resolved, could seriously compromise consumers’ financial interests (for example, dual class share structures, embedded commissions, and fiduciary duties of investment advisers stand out as key issues).”

Adds Anand: “What’s worse is that consumers themselves, at least on the retail side, do not typically possess the technical skills to monitor and understand all of the pressing issues that they face; they simply accept the status quo by default. What should be done about this state of affairs when over 50 per cent of adult Canadians are invested in the capital markets? My research explains the problems and proposes solutions to the current crisis facing Canadian consumers.”

Anand is cross-appointed to the Rotman School of Management and the School of Public Policy, and was recently appointed to a three-year term on the Ontario Securities Commission’s Securities Advisory Committee.

“Over the past two years, I have been able to reach diverse audiences via multiple types of media by using the Kimber Chair as a platform of sorts. I have also been able to pursue more traditional academic endeavours including writing papers, book chapters and manuscripts. To hear that the J. R. Kimber Chair is now endowed is wonderful news for our law school and speaks directly to the profound generosity of a personal mentor. Thank you, Hal.”

By Lucianna Ciccocioppo