The Dimensions of Dr. Bryan Schwartz

Dr. Bryan Schwartz, K.C. has published five new books within the past 12 months, adding to a body of 36 books (17 authored or co-authored and 19 edited or contributed to) and 300 other publications that bear his name. Each of these five new works is vastly different from the other, reflecting the different aspects of life in which he fully participates as a scholar, professor, political analyst, poet, musician, devoted family member, and spiritual person.

There are as many, if not more dimensions of Schwartz as there are of The Manitoba Law Journal, the peer-reviewed academic legal research periodical he currently co-edits with his University of Manitoba Faculty of Law colleague, Professor Darcy MacPherson. Since taking the helm 14 years ago as editor of the 139-year-old journal, Schwartz adapted the need for including different areas of legal research by creating “dimensions.” These include annual issues covering criminal law, Indigenous law, legislation and public policy, latest developments in courts and tribunals, special issues on past, present, and future aspects of the Manitoba legal profession, and most recently, international business and trade law.

This last dimension is the result of the 25-year-old Asper Review of International Business and Trade Law merging with a newly developed journal on private enterprise that stemmed from a former colleague’s project at the Faculty of Law’s Marcel A. Desautels Centre for Private Enterprise and the Law.

In total, Schwartz’s involvement with the MLJ has resulted in him being responsible for the production of over forty of the journal’s volumes.

Academic

The MLJ produces more articles every year than any other law journal in Canada (see Visualizing the Landscape of Canadian Law School Journals – Slaw). The quality of the MLJ has been recognized by the repeated funding awards it has achieved in the highly prestigious and competitive Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Aid to Scholarly Journals program.

In the 43 years that Schwartz has been on faculty at Robson Hall, a concrete edifice that houses Manitoba’s law school, he has taught many more different dimensions of legal practice ranging from Labour law to Oral History, Indigenous Peoples and the Law, to Legislative Process and International Trade, Internet, and E-Commerce law. He has practiced law at Winnipeg firm Pitblado Law for decades, and holds two graduate law degrees from Yale University.

Renaissance Scholar

Having already authored, edited or contributed to a vast body of work, the latest quintet demonstrate how Schwartz is widening the dimensions of his writings to include his Jewish roots and to incorporate all that he has studied and learned about the legislative process and the inner workings of government in Canada. Jewish Post News reporter, Myron Love describes Schwartz as “the very model of a modern-day Jewish Renaissance scholar,” being a “legal educator, passionate Zionist, and student of the Holocaust as an in-demand commentator on modern legal and constitutional issues”. Here is a look at the latest additions to Schwartz’s bibliography.

The Passover Seder: It’s About Time – 104 dimensions of Time during Passover (e-book), April, 2024

Inviting readers to re-examine Passover from a fresh perspective, Schwartz wrote in The Times of Israel, “My aspiration would be for the book, in some form or the other, to become a familiar companion to the Haggadah as we re-experience Passover every year, For some readers, it might help to make everything old seem new again.”

The book is available to read on his website The Sacred Goof, named after his second collection of musical compositions published in illustrated book form along with a studio-produced album containing twenty-four songs.

The Sacred Goof (book and CD) with Maren Amini, illustrations, 2023

Music, songwriting and humour are further dimensions of Schwartz’s creative life. The Sacred Goof, published both as a CD and lyric book illustrated by Maren Amini, is a follow-up to his first musical production Consoulation. The former, which Schwartz successfully produced as a stage musical in 2018, is about “why we need to sing,” while The Sacred Goof is about “how we can still laugh.”

Read more about Consoulation:
“Not your ordinary law professor,” April 23, 2018, UM Today News
“Consoulation: A Musical Meditation,” Bryan P. Schwartz website

Re-Enlightening Canada (book) Frontier Centre for Public Policy (November, 2023)

In Re-Enlightening Canada: A Legislative Program for Promoting Open, Democratic and Rational Policymaking, Schwartz appeals to “reasonable people across the political spectrum” to respond moderately and practically in the face of “the ideological excesses of our time” as the book description explains.

Schwartz discussed the book at an event held on November 30, 2023 at Berney Theatre at the Asper Jewish Campus with moderator, Dr. Ruth Ashrai. Watch the video titled: Bryan Schwartz – Re-Enlightening Canada on Youtube (chat starts at 09:40).

Read a review of the book by Gary Slywchuk, titled “New Book a Battle Cry Against the Silencing of Democracy,” published on West Central Crossroads, January 8, 2024. Slywchuk writes, “As we grapple with expanding government repression, identity politics, and diminishing policy effectiveness in today’s Canada, Schwartz’s work is a timely and indispensable resource. It serves as a clarion call to legislators, policymakers, and university administrators to seek common ground and nurture deeper understanding, guiding Canada toward a more prosperous and relevant future.”

Online Dispute Resolution: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic The Manitoba Law Journal Volume 46, Issue 3 (2024)

In addition to being Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Manitoba Law Journal, Schwartz co-conducted five of the six interviews published in this special issue of The Manitoba Law Journal that focusses on what legal practice looked like and how it adapted throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Together with law students participating in his scholarly publications course, Schwartz interviewed legal practitioners Kris Saxberg, Greg Evans, Cynthia Lazar, and Pamela Leech. Finally, he co-wrote for the issue, a paper examining new initiatives to enhance Online Dispute Resolution in Manitoba. The entire volume is available to read on The Manitoba Law Journal website.

Humanity in Doubt: Reflections and Essays by Philip Weiss (Second Edition) edited by Bryan Schwartz, Eliana Schwartz, and John Richthammer (2023)

Finally, Schwartz co-edited the second edition of his father-in-law Philip Weiss’s writings, Humanity in Doubt: Reflections and Essays. A survivor of the Holocaust, Weiss’s writings bear personal witness to the devastation of this terrible event. Weiss was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Winnipeg in 2003 in recognition of his contributions to Holocaust education in Manitoba. He passed away in 2008, and the second edition of his writings includes his Eulogy, delivered by Schwartz.

In addition to these five volumes, Schwartz has continued to publish a series of blogs in The Times of Israel, including the “Esther Trilogy” (“Esther? The Politics: The book explores all options…but one,” “Esther: the creator and the Creator,” and “Esther! The Musical: How the sounds match the words.” These three articles were republished in The Winnipeg Jewish Review on March 24, 2024 under the title, “Bryan Schwartz on How the Purim Story is Much too Relevant Today.” 

Learn more about Dr. Bryan Schwartz’s work:

• The Manitoba Law Journal (An Open-Access and Peer-Reviewed Journal about Law in Manitoba and Beyond.)
• Bryan P. Schwartz (The official website for Dr. Bryan P. Schwartz, K.C. scholarly activities.)
• The Sacred Goof (Listen to musical albums The Sacred Goof and Consoulation for free.) 

Story submitted by Faculty of Law.