Research
The Marcel A. Desautels Centre for Private Enterprise and the Law hosts a broad range of multi-disciplinary research activities and initiatives. The Centre is linked to cutting edge scholarship in the field, nationally and internationally, through its Affiliated Researchers. Its flagship is the Review of Enterprise and Trade Law, published as an imprint of the Manitoba Law Journal. The Centre also hosts a number of distinguished Affiliated Researchers as well as supporting scholarly conferences like the Canadian Academy of Legal Studies in Business as well as promoting research by students and early career academics through travel grants.
Affiliated Researchers
Affiliated Researchers bring a breadth and depth of expertise to the Centre’s research activities and initiatives. Drawn from across Canada and around the world, Affiliated Researchers enrich the Centre’s research programming through their diverse perspectives and areas of expertise.
Research Initiatives & partnerships
In its capacity as a research organization, the Desautel Centre supports scholarly research and related activities across a variety of initiatives year to year. This flexible approach enables the Centre to rapidly respond to its stakeholders. The following detail a selection of these initiatives and partnerships that the Centre has created to support its community of researchers, students, and beyond.
Summer Research Assistants Desautels Research Seed Funds
The Desautels Research Seed Funds support scholarly research activities in the area of private and commercial enterprise and the law. University of Manitoba faculty members are eligible to apply. Funds may be used for costs related to research, such as travel to conduct research, student research assistance and access to materials held in archives. Note that funds may not be used to present at, or attend, conferences. For further details about Desautels Seed Funds, please contact Sangita Shah.
Some of our support has included the Centre’s partnership with the Banking & Finance Law Review through its Annual FinTech Issue to launch Canada’s first Law Student FinTech Writing Program.
Learn more about the Fintech Paper
Canadian Business History Association – Desautels Research Fund in Private Enterprise, History & Law
The Centre has also supported academic associations such as the Canadian Business History Association/l’Association Canadienne pour l’histoire des affaires to establish a Business History Research Fellowship for doctoral and post-doctoral scholars. The fellowship is intended to foster historical research on topics in private enterprise and law in Canada. The fellowship provides funds ($1000) to support research project development and the holder is named the Desautels Business History Research Fellow.
The Review of Enterprise and Trade Law
The Review of Enterprise and Trade Law is the sixth dimension of the Manitoba Law Journal. In 2022 the Marcel A. Desautels Centre for Private Enterprise and the Law created the Desautels Review, a new, peer-reviewed journal.
The mandate of the Desautels Review was to promote leading scholarship on the disciplines of law, business, and the humanities as they apply to family-controlled and other private enterprises. The unique mandate of focusing on private enterprises, rather than public corporations, and a multi-disciplinary approach to understanding businesses, positions this law journal as an innovative platform for critical analysis and discussion of business and law. It published its first volume in fall 2022, as the Manitoba Law Journal’s Volume 45, Issue 2. In 2023, the Asper Review of International Business and Trade Law joined the Manitoba Law Journal as its Volume 45, Issue 3. Established in 2001, the Asper Review covers legal developments within public and private law, as well as relevant topics within economics and geo-politics. It advocated for academically sound works, accessible to the general public.
Commencing in 2023 – 2024, the Desautels Review and the Asper Review merged to become The Review in Enterprise and Trade Law (TRETL).
The Adam Lezack Award in Mergers and Acquisitions
Adam Lezack, LL.B (2005) established an endowment fund to annually support a prize for students in the Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba. The purpose of the fund is to reward academic excellence and to encourage student exposure in the specialized area of Mergers and Acquisitions. The award is administered by the Desautels Centre.
CACE Bursary
The Desautels Centre is pleased to announce the CACE bursary. The Canadian Association of Counsel to Employers (CACE) has established a bursary to provide financial assistance to students in Canadian Law Schools enrolled in a labour, human rights or employment law course. CACE is a national not-for-profit corporation and an association of management-side labour and employment lawyers from across Canada. This is a $2,000 bursary awarded no later than December 31, 2024.
L. Kerry Vickar Business Law Clinic
The Desautel Centre for Private Enterprise and Trade takes a holistic approach to furthering the interests of private enterprise and trade by bringing together the rigours of academia with the practical and experiential learning of the clinical atmosphere. The L. Kerry Vicker Clinic offers students the opportunity to develop practice-based skills in an innovative, community-facing setting. The Clinic provides free business law advice to Manitoban entrepreneurs, start-ups, small business owners, and others who can’t afford legal assistance.
