Photo by Dewey Chang
Jim Phillips, a professor in the Faculty of Law and cross-appointed to the Department of History in the Faculty of Arts & Science, has received the Law Society Medal for significant contributions and dedication to the legal profession.
The Medal is awarded by the Law Society of Ontario (LSO), the regulatory body of Ontario’s lawyers and paralegals, enacted since 1797.
Phillips is being recognized for his contributions to Canadian legal history as a teacher, scholar and since, editor-in-chief of the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History. During his tenure as editor since 2006, Phillips has overseen the publication of more than 60 books, expanded the Society’s oral history project and public lectures.
A leading figure in the field of Canadian legal history, Phillips has made the history of law a dynamic tool for interrogating Canada’s past, present and national identity. He is a recipient of Ontario’s Mundell Medal for excellence in legal writing, was elected as an honorary fellow of the American Society for Legal History (ASLH) and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC).
"Jim has a profound passion to advance Canadian legal history and has earned recognition for his invaluable scholarly contributions to the field,” said University Professor and Dean Jutta Brunnée, James Marshall Tory Dean’s Chair. “His scholarship has not only impacted Canadian law, but also our understanding of Canadian identity. We are delighted to celebrate his well-deserved LSO Medal.”
Phillips and Faculty of Law alumni recipients will be honoured at the Law Society Awards on May 28, 2025.
LSO citation:
Professor Jim Phillips: is a member of the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto, cross-appointed to the Department of History, and a former law clerk to Madam Justice Wilson of the Supreme Court of Canada. He is an intellectual leader who helped transform the field of Canadian legal history from a peripheral sub-field of both law and history to a significant field in both disciplines.
His scholarship, especially his two – soon-to-be three – volume History of Law in Canada, written with two colleagues, has transformed the field of legal history in Canada by deepening our understanding of Canada’s legal system. That work meticulously uses the history of law to interrogate Canada’s past, present and national identity within the multi-juridical nature of our country’s legal system, based on common and civil law, as well as Indigenous legal traditions.
He has served as editor-in-chief of the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History since 2006. As editor, he has overseen the publication of more than 60 books, expanded and diversified its oral history program and led seminars for the legal profession and the public.
Professor Phillips is motivated by a deep passion to promote legal history and a selfless desire to serve the legal profession and improve the law. He has been widely recognized for his scholarly contributions to Canadian legal history including the Mundell Medal for
Excellence in Legal writing and more recently was elected as an honorary fellow of the American Society for Legal History and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Law Society announces 2025 award recipients
