The Top 25 Most Influential 2020 winner
Edmonton
Professor, University of Alberta
Following the COVID-19 outbreak, Peter Sankoff went out of his way to engage the legal community, which was forced into remote work. Even as he kept up his full-time teaching schedule through delivering online lectures, he devoted his personal time to co-ordinating webinars for lawyers and for law students. He donated the proceeds of these webinars to numerous charities, including initiatives supporting lawyers and artists. If a student could not afford the $10 fee, Sankoff and other donors would cover the amount. He also launched internship opportunities for law students who found themselves unemployed following the public health crisis. He takes his job as an educator beyond the classroom — he has coached his university’s Gale Cup moot team, which won for three straight years under his guidance. He also utilizes social media to make complex legal issues more accessible and comprehensible to the public, such as through posting Twitter threads. He co-hosts an award-winning animal law podcast called Paw and Order.
