Legal Theory Workshop

Legal Theory Workshop

Presents:

Aditi Bagchi
Fordham University

 

Friday January 20, 2023
12:30pm - 2:00pm
Falconer Hall
84 Queens Park, Solarium(FH103)

Legal Theory Workshop

Legal Theory Workshop

Presents:

Aditi Bagchi
Fordham University

Private Law and Public Discourse

Friday January 20, 2023
12:30pm - 2:00pm
Falconer Hall, 84 Queens Park
Solarium(FH103)

Legal Theory Workshop

Legal Theory Workshop

Presents:

David Plunkett
Dartmouth College

Conceptual Ethics and The Categories of “Ideal Theory” and “Non-Ideal Theory” in Political Philosophy: A Proposal for Abandonment

Megan Pfiffer

SJD Candidate
Thesis title:
Administrative Law as a Source of Rights
Office in Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Toronto, M5S 2C5
Email: megan.pfiffer@mail.utoronto.ca

Megan Pfiffer is a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Law with research interests in public law, and legal, political, and moral philosophy. She is also the managing editor of the University of Toronto Law Journal, and a co-editor of the third edition of Edward Elgar's Comparative Administrative Law. During the 2024-2025 school year, Megan is a Visiting Doctoral Researcher at New York University's School of Law. Her thesis explores the idea of justification in administrative law and will reframe contemporary debates on substantive review. Megan received her JD from Queen's University where she was awarded the Silver Medal in Law for achieving the second highest academic standing in her graduating class, as well as the Dean's Key Award for best embodying the signature values of Queen's Law. She then articled at a leading Toronto litigation boutique and clerked for Justice Rosalie Abella at the Supreme Court of Canada. Prior to joining the Faculty of Law, Megan completed the BCL at the University of Oxford with distinction. 

 

Education
BCL, University of Oxford (with distinction)
JD, Queen's University
BA (Hons), Queen's University
Awards and Distinctions
Canada Graduate Scholarship - Doctoral (CGS-D) (2023-2026)
University of Toronto Centre for Ethics - Doctoral Fellowship (2022-2023)
Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2022-2023)
The Mary And Louis Anisman Fellowship In Law And Fairness (2022-2023)
Onora O'Neill Prize in Philosophy, Law and Politics (2022)
Faculty of Law and Brasenose College Scholarship for the BCL (2021)
Medal in Law – Second Highest Standing (2019)
Dean's Key Award (2019)
Denis Marshall Contribution Award (2019)
Chief Justice McRuer Essay Prize in Constitutional Law (2019)
Christopher Riggs Administrative Law Scholarship (2019)
Queen’s Law Prize in Administrative Law (2019)
Queen’s Law Prize in Legal and Political Philosophy (2019)
Dean's Gold Scholar Award (2018)
Chief Justice McRuer Essay Prize in Constitutional Law (2018)
Queen’s Law Prize in Law and Poverty (2018)
Dean’s Silver Scholar Award (2017)
Aird & Berlis LLP Student Award for Overall Academic Achievement (2017)
R.W. Leonard Scholarship in Law (2017)
McCarthy Tétrault LLP Scholarship (2017)
David Sabbath Scholarship (2017)
Fasken Martineau DuMoulin Prize in Torts (2017)
Queen’s Law Prize in Constitutional Law (2017)
Queen’s University Entrance Scholarship in Law (2016)
Professional Affiliations
Law Society of Ontario
Selected Publications

Megan Pfiffer, "Administrative Law as a Source of Rights" (2024) Modern Law Review (forthcoming). 

Megan Pfiffer, "What's the Problem with Substantive Review?" (2024) 69:3 McGill Law Journal (forthcoming). 

Research Interests
Administrative Law
Charter of Rights
Comparative Law
Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law
Legal Theory
Moral Philosophy
Political Philosophy and Theory
Supervisor
David Dyzenhaus
Committee Members
Arthur Ripstein
Mariana Mota Prado

Dimitrios Tsilikis

SJD Candidate
Thesis title:
Justifications of Recourse Rules (working title)
Office in Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Toronto, M5S 2C5
Email: dimitrios.tsilikis@mail.utoronto.ca

 I am a third year SJD student working on Bankruptcy Law and Private Law Theory. My main project is focused on the normative foundations of personal bankruptcy law in the U.S. and Canadian legal orders. I also research on corporate bankruptcy especially in the U.S., currently working on mega-bankruptcy case-studies, the intersection of mass tort litigation and bankruptcy, and third-party releases.

 I hold an LL.M. in Legal Theory from NYU School of Law, having written a thesis on corporate asset partitioning. I studied for my LL.B. in Greece and France.

I am a lawyer in Greece and I spend some time lawyering in Greek and E.U. law, especially on restructuring consultation.

 

Education
LL.B. - National and Capodistrian University of Athens - Faculty of Law
LL.B. (Erasmus+) - Paris 1 - Panthéon-Sorbonne - École de Droit
LL.M. - New York University School of Law
S.J.D. - University of Toronto - Faculty of Law
Professional Affiliations
Athens Bar Association (Greece)
Curriculum Vitae
Research Interests
Bankruptcy/Insolvency Law
Business Corporations
Competition Law
Legal Theory
Moral Philosophy
Political Philosophy and Theory
Private Law Theory
Property Law
Supervisor
Larissa Katz
Committee Members
Edward Iacobucci
Christopher Essert
Peter Benson

Michael J. S. Beauvais

Photo of smiling man with leaves in the background
SJD Candidate
Thesis title:
Transparent Youth
Office in Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Toronto, M5S 2C5
Email: m.beauvais@mail.utoronto.ca

My dissertation develops an account of legal obligations platforms and other intermediaries have to protect young people's privacy from their parents in the digital environment. Beyond youth privacy, I am interested in how technologies and law structure and mediate interpersonal relationships. I also research and publish on the intersection of health law and privacy, where I focus on international data transfers and European data protection law in biomedical research.

My doctoral work is supported by a Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and by a fellowship at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society at the University of Toronto. I am an affiliate of the Information Law Institute at New York University School of Law.

Education
Certificate in Childhood Ethics - Views On Interdisciplinary Childhood Ethics (VOICE), McGill University
Master of Science in International Planning - University College London (UCL)
Bachelor of Civil Law & Juris Doctor - McGill University
Bachelor of Arts in Jurisprudence with Senior Status - St Edmund Hall, Oxford University
Bachelor of Arts in Urban Systems - McGill University
Selected Publications

Books

Promoting the “Human” in Law, Policy, and Medicine: Essays in Honour of Bartha Maria Knoppers (Brill Nijhoff, 2025) with E Dove and V Rahimzadeh (eds).

Book chapters

"Introduction: Honouring the Humanity of Professor Bartha Maria Knoppers" in Promoting the “Human” in Law, Policy, and Medicine: Essays in Honour of Bartha Maria Knoppers, edited by E Dove, V Rahimzadeh, and M J S Beauvais (Brill Nijhoff, 2025) with E Dove and V Rahimzadeh.

“Biomedical Research Policy: Back to the Future?” in Law and Legacy in Medical Jurisprudence: Essays in Honour of Graeme Laurie, edited by E Dove and N N Shuibhne (Cambridge University Press, 2022) with B M Knoppers and R Chadwick.

“Frontline Ethico-Legal Issues in Childhood Cancer Genetics Research” in The Hereditary Basis of Childhood Cancer, edited by D Malkin (Springer, 2021) with K Sénécal, C V Fernandez, D Sinnett, et al.

Peer-reviewed articles

“Open Data governance at the Canadian Open Neuroscience Platform (CONP): From the Walled Garden to the Arboretum” in GigaScience (2024) with A Bernier, B M Knoppers, P Bermudez, et al.

“Whither Health Research: The Missed Opportunities of the Child’s Right to Health” in The International Journal of Children’s Rights (2023) with D Patrinos, R McDougall, and B M Knoppers.

“The Canadian Open Neuroscience Platform—An open science framework for the neuroscience community” in PLOS Computational Biology (2023) with R Harding, P Bermudez, A Bernier, et al.

“Data and Tools Integration in the Canadian Open Neuroscience Platform” in Scientific Data (2023) with J-B Poline, S Das, T Glatard, et al.

“A Proposal for an International Code of Conduct for Data Sharing in Genomics” in Developing World Bioethics (2022) with A Matar, M Hansson, S Skolkenberga, et al.

“Bridging the European Data Sharing Divide in Genomic Science” in Journal of Medical Internet Research (2022) with F Molnár-Gábor, A Bernier, M P N Jimenez, et al.

“Streamlining Ethics Review for International Health Research” in Science (2022) with M A Rothstein, M H Zawati, A Thorogood, et al.

“International Coordination of Research Ethics Review: An Adequacy Model” in Philosophies (2021) with A Thorogood.

“Three Decades of Genetic Privacy: A Metaphoric Journey” in Human Molecular Genetics (2021) with B M Knoppers [invited review].

“GA4GH: International policies and standards for data sharing across genomic research and healthcare” in Cell Genomics (2021) with H L Rehm, A J H Page, L Smith, et al.

“A Marathon, Not a Sprint – Neuroimaging, Open Science and Ethics” in NeuroImage (2021) with B M Knoppers and J Illes [invited review].

“Coming Out to Play: Privacy, Data Protection, Children’s Health, and COVID-19 Research” in Frontiers in Genetics (2021) with B M Knoppers.

“Centering inclusivity in the design of online conferences—An OHBM–Open Science perspective” in GigaScience (2021) with E Levitis, C S D G van Praag, R Gau, et al.

“Parental Access to Children’s Raw Genomic Data in Canada: Legal Rights and Professional Responsibility” in Frontiers in Genetics (2021) with A Thorogood, M J Szego, K Seńécal, et al.

“COVID-19 Research: Navigating the European General Data Protection Regulation” in Journal of Medical Internet Research (2020) with R Becker, A Thorogood, and J Ordish.

“Modeling Consent in the Time of COVID-19” in Journal of Law and the Biosciences (2020) with B M Knoppers, Y Joly, M H Zawati, et al.

"When Information Is the Treatment? Precision Medicine in Healthcare” in Healthcare Management (2020) with B M Knoppers [invited review].

Other articles

"Implementing the human right to science in the context of health: introduction to the special issue" in Journal of Law and the Biosciences (2024) with B M Knoppers.

“Navigating the Ethical Maze of Genomics in Canada’s Military” in BMJ Military Health (2021) with B M Knoppers and C Boscarino.

“Basta con il biolaw: What about knowledge and trust?” in BioLaw Journal - Rivista di BioDiritto (2021) with B M Knoppers.

Reports

"Children's Data Protection" for the Human Cell Atlas (2022).

“Building the Human Cell Atlas: Issues with Tissues” for the Human Cell Atlas (2019) with E Kirby and B M Knoppers.

Policy interventions

"Submission to the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology Study of Bill C-27, The Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2022" (2023) with L R Shade. (Appeared at Committee on November 23, 2023.)

“Children’s Privacy and Video Games: Comments on Commercial Surveillance ANPR, R111004” (2022) with S Grimes, D Jayemanne, and S Giddings.

“RE: Public consultation regarding data protection and international transfers of personal data to non-EU countries” (2020) with the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health.

Opinion pieces

“The World Health Organization Needs to Craft and Adopt an International Pandemic Regulation” in The Hill Times (2022) with B M Knoppers and D Turp.

“Liberté universitaire: La loi ne peut remplacer le dialogue” in La Presse (2021).

“Pour un traité mondial sur la riposte aux pandémies” in Le Devoir (2021) with B M Knoppers and D Turp.

“Opinion: Canada’s Tax Return System Jeopardizes the Privacy of Millions of Canadians” in The Globe and Mail (2021).

“COVID-19: Who’s Afraid of Data Sharing” in Canadian Science Policy Centre (2020) with B M Knoppers.

“Qui a peur du partage des données?” in Le Devoir (2020) with B M Knoppers.

Research Interests
Charter of Rights
Comparative Law
Family Law
Health Law
Legal Theory
Privacy Law
Supervisor
Lisa Austin
Committee Members
Brenda Cossman
Sara Grimes (Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy, McGill University)
External links
ORCiD

Steve Lorteau

Steve Lorteau
SJD Candidate
Thesis title:
The Institutional Challenges of Adjudicating Climate Change Zoning
Office in Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Toronto, M5S 2C5
Email: steve.lorteau@mail.utoronto.ca

Steve is an SJD student at the University of Toronto and a Long-Term Appointment Professor at the University of Ottawa. Steve has a bijural education with degrees in common law and civil law from the University of Ottawa. During his legal studies, Steve participated and later coached in the Jessup International Law Moot Court competition for 3 years. In 2020, Steve completed a judicial clerkship at the Federal Court under Justice Peter Pamel. Following his clerkship, Steve completed his Master of Laws (LLM) thesis at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Dean Jutta Brunnée. His SJD thesis focuses the political economy of zoning reforms.

Steve's primary research interests relate to zoning law, climate litigation, wine law, and the psychology of climate change.  Steve's research on these themes has been published in Energy Policy, Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law (RECIEL), Journal of Wine Research, Jus Vini: Journal of Wine & Spirits Law and the McGill Journal of Sustainable Development Law. Since 2022, he has served as the Canadian reporter for Jus Vini annual chronicles.

Steve is also interested in the real-world implications of his research, having (co)authored five op-ed pieces for The Conversation Canada and served as an expert interviewee for Reuters and The Globe and Mail, among other outlets. Steve has also advised environmental non-governmental organizations and sitting politicians on matters of climate law.

In his spare time, Steve enjoys reading, playing board games, watching sports, cooking, and discovering new wines.

Education
University of Toronto, LL.M. (Long Thesis), 2021
University of Ottawa, J.D., 2019
University of Ottawa, LL.L. (Civil Law) 2018
University of Ottawa, B.Soc.Sc. (International Development), 2018
University of Ottawa, B.A. (Philosophy), 2015
Awards and Distinctions
SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS-D (2021-2024)
SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS-M (2020-2021)
Robert Law Fellowship in Legal Ethics (2020-2021)
Environmental Law Essay Contest Prize, Center for Environmental Law and Global Sustainability (2019)
Me Anwar Chami Scholarship for excellence in studies in international law (2018)
Second Best Oralist, Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition (2017)
Professional Affiliations
Law Society of Ontario
Earth System Governance Project Research Fellow
Global Perspectives on Corporate Climate Legal Tactics, International Expert Group Canada
Selected Publications

Peer-reviewed articles

· Steve Lorteau, Parker Muzzerall, Audrey-Ann Deneault, Emily Huddart Kennedy, Rhéa Rocque, Nicole Racine, & Jean-François Bureau, "Do climate concerns and worries predict energy preferences? A meta-analysis" (2024) 190 Energy Policy 114149

· Steve Lorteau, “The Potential of 'State-as-Polluter' Litigation” (2023) 1 Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law 259.

· Steve Lorteau, “Canada 2022: Place of Origin Descriptors, Amarone, and More Cowbell” (2023) Jus Vini: Journal of Wine & Spirits Law 117.

· Steve Lorteau, “Canada 2021: Disputed Territories, Comparative Advertising, and Trademarks” (2022) 1 Jus Vini: Journal of Wine & Spirits Law 87-102.

· Steve Lorteau, “Contractual Carbon Fees: A Proposal” (2020) 15:2 McGill Journal of Sustainable Development Law 176-201.

· Steve Lorteau, “A Purposive Approach to Wine Regulation: Royal Demaria v Lieutenant Governor in Council” (2019) 2 Jus Vini: Journal of Wine & Spirits Law 231-240.

· Steve Lorteau, “La philosophie du droit systématique de l’encyclopédiste Antoine- Gaspard Boucher d’Argis [The Systematic Jurisprudence of l’Encyclopédiste Antoine-Gaspard Boucher d’Argis]” (2019) 54 Recherches sur Diderot et sur l’Encyclopédie 147-164.

· Steve Lorteau, “A Comparative Analysis of Skin-Contact Wine Definitions in Ontario and South Africa” (2018) 29:4 Journal of Wine Research 265-277.

· Steve Lorteau, “China’s South China Sea Claims as Unprecedented – Skeptical Remarks” (2018) 55 Canadian Yearbook of International Law 1-41.

Book Chapters

· Steve Lorteau & Rakhyun E Kim, “Transnational Litigation Norms” in Daniel J. Fiorino, Todd A. Eisenstadt, & Manjyot Kaur Ahluwalia, eds, Elgar Encyclopedia of Climate Policy (Cheltenham: Elgar Publishing, 2024), pp 209–212.

· Steve Lorteau, “Regulatory Controls in the Canadian Wine Sector” in Theodore Georgopoulos, ed, Administrative controls in the wine sector (Paris: Mare & Martin, 2021), pp 341-367.

Opinion Pieces

· Parker Muzzerall, Audrey-Ann Deneault, & Steve Lorteau, "Emotions may matter more than facts in shaping individual support for renewable energy, new study shows"The Conversation Canada, 20 June 2024. https://theconversation.com/emotions-may-matter-more-than-facts-in-shapi...

· Steve Lorteau, "Fossil fuel subsidies cost Canadians a lot more money than the carbon tax" The Conversation Canada, 1 April 2024. https://theconversation.com/fossil-fuel-subsidies-cost-canadians-a-lot-m...

· Steve Lorteau & Andrew Green,"How Canadian courts are taking on climate change" The Conversation Canada, 4 January 2024. https://theconversation.com/how-canadian-courts-are-taking-on-climate-ch...

· Steve Lorteau, Audrey-Ann Deneault, Jean-François Bureau & Nicole Racine, "Educate and Empower: The 3 Es to discuss climate change with children" The Conversation Canada, 9 July 2023. https://theconversation.com/engage-educate-and-empower-the-3-es-to-discu...

· Steve Lorteau, “For Fossil-Fuel Reliant Governments, Climate Action Should Start At Home" The Conversation Canada, 19 April 2023. https://theconversation.com/for-fossil-fuel-reliant-governments-climate-...

Curriculum Vitae
Research Interests
Administrative Law
Economic Analysis of Law
Environmental Law
Feminist Analysis of Law
Intellectual Property Law
International Law
Legal Theory
Property Law
Supervisor
Andrew Green
Committee Members
Larissa Katz
Kate J. Neville, Department of Political Science
External links
Twitter
SSRN
Earth System Governance Project

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