History

The Canadian Petroleum Law Foundation (CPLF) was incorporated at the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies of the Province of Alberta on September 12, 1963 to:

  • Foster the development of and improve the law relating to or affecting every phase of the petroleum and natural gas industry
  • Raise the standards of the administration and practice of the said law
  • Encourage a better knowledge and understanding of the said law
  • Apply for and promote such legislation as may seem expedient

(excerpted from the Memorandum of Association, 1963)

The Canadian Energy Law Foundation is the new name of the Canadian Petroleum Law Foundation. At the 2010 Annual General Meeting, the membership voted to change the name of the Foundation to CELF to better identify itself both internally and externally as dealing with all aspects of energy law.

The membership of the CELF is available to any person, corporation, business association, learned or professional society, educational institution, law firm or other legal entity concerned with energy matters.

Since its inception, a major focus of the CELF has been the sponsorship and administration of the Annual Research Seminar in Oil and Gas Law (now Energy Law). The first Seminar was held in 1962 in Banff, Alberta and the seminar alternated between Banff and Jasper for some years until it finally settled into its permanent June home at the beautiful Jasper Park Lodge. Papers presented and discussed at the Seminar are peer-reviewed and published in the Alberta Law Review.

In March 2009, the board of directors of the CELF (then the CPLF) began considering an expansion for the scope of the Foundation to include practitioners and areas of interest emerging out of new energy technologies and initiatives.  In conjunction with its name change, the CELF’s expanded mandate served to better position the Foundation in continuing to occupy the important position it maintains within the Canadian Energy Bar in the face of change to the oil and gas industry and society’s use of energy resources generally.