Photo by Alice Xue Photography
Dear Law School Community,
A very warm welcome (back) to you all! It is wonderful to hear the ‘buzz’ return to the hallways, and I hope that all of you – JD students, graduate students, faculty and staff – share my great excitement for the year ahead. I am very much looking forward to connecting with you, and I encourage you to say hello at the upcoming Dean’s BBQ, scheduled for Thursday, September 7 (4-6pm). Or please drop by “J’s Java”, the monthly coffee hours, which kick off on Tuesday, September 26. It is always great to chat with the members of our community!
I want to begin by emphasizing that the Faculty, like the University as a whole, is built on the premise that excellence and diversity – of thinking and lived experience – go together. Excellence flourishes in an environment that embraces the broadest range of people, that enables all members of our community to participate fully and to achieve their full potential, that facilitates free expression of diverse perspectives through respectful discourse, and in which high standards are maintained for faculty, students, and staff alike. And so, we place great emphasis on working with all members of our community – faculty, students, staff, alumni and visitors – to facilitate the culture of welcome, belonging and respect that is critical to sustaining our excellence as an institution, and to underscore that it is everyone’s responsibility to do their part to these ends. Ada Maxwell-Alleyne, the Faculty’s Assistant Dean, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, supports the Faculty’s efforts to embed equity, diversity and inclusivity in our practices and processes. Do feel free to seek her out – I know that she is greatly looking forward to reconnecting with students.
The Faculty’s Academic Plan is due for renewal. We will embark on the academic planning process in September, with a view to submitting our 2023-2028 plan for University approval by the end of the academic year. I envision the academic planning cycle as an opportunity to engage all members of our community in a collaborative process of reflection on our areas of strength and on what makes our institution distinctive among Canadian and global law schools. In order to maximize opportunities for collective engagement, we will host a series of discussion sessions for faculty, students and staff. These consultations will begin in September, and I very much hope that you will participate. Stay tuned for more details!
This academic year, our Faculty’s International Human Rights Program (IHRP) is once again offering its clinic course. Under the leadership of Sandra Wisner, the IHRP is re-launching with a new vision and mission. The IHRP’s work will aim to encourage our own nation’s adherence to its international human rights commitments, while training the next generation of movement lawyers in Canada. In particular, the IHRP will pursue state accountability through the distinct areas of corporate accountability, Indigenous rights, and climate justice. Through the IHRP's renowned clinic course, student-led working groups, monthly publication and international internships, our students will gain litigation and advocacy experience as the IHRP continues to serve as the centre for international human rights work at our Faculty.
Turning to our students, the JD Class of 2026 is another exceptional and diverse cohort:
- 58% of the class is female-identifying;
- 13% of the class are LGBTQ2S+-identifying;
- 41% of the class identify as racialized; and
- 33% of the class were born outside of Canada.
I invite you to take a look at the 1L class profile. In addition to impressive academic credentials, our first-year students bring wide-ranging knowledge and life experiences to the law school. For example, our community now includes students with experience as Analytical Chemist, Stand-Up Comedian, Global Fraud Authenticator, Advisor to the Office of the Prime Minister, Social Media Producer and Theatre Director!
I would like to offer a special welcome to all Indigenous 1L and graduate students joining us from across Canada. With the assistance of Elder Constance Simmonds, the Faculty’s Elder-in-Residence, the Indigenous Initiatives Office (IIO) will provide a rich array of academic and cultural events for our entire community. Elder Constance and Julie Ann Shepard, our IIO Manager, have already welcomed most of our 1L students through the Reconciliation Reading Circles, and are busy planning for the Indigenous Law in Context intensive course (to be held at Cape Croker this weekend), Bundle Teachings, Kairos Blanket Exercises, and more. I encourage you to visit the Faculty’s beautiful Medicine Garden located just outside the Hoskins entrance, south of the library. It’s a great spot for reading and quiet reflection! The garden is the vision and work of Solomon King, Principal Mason and Founder of Stone Artisan Studios, who is from Neyaashiinigmiing. Solomon is in the process of completing ‘Phase Two’ of the garden, having just installed the Ceremonial Circle. Look out for the mural of the Seven Grandfather Teachings, which will be completed towards the end of the month.
This year's graduate students are again an outstanding group, representing a mix of legal scholars as well as legally and non-legally educated professionals in the GPLLM program. This year's cohort hail from more than 36 countries, including Armenia, Bangladesh, Colombia, Ireland, Pakistan and Turkey, among many others. Our students have been remarkably successful in winning competitive external grants, such as the prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, Trudeau Foundation, SSHRC CGS-D, the Governor General’s Gold Medal, Connaught International Scholarship, and the C. David Naylor University Fellowships. They are a highly accomplished group, who could have elected to pursue graduate studies anywhere, and we are gratified that they chose U of T. Our SJD students again had great success on the academic job market, securing a remarkable number of faculty positions. The GPLLM program continues to attract extraordinary and diverse students. This year, they come to us with experience in accounting, banking, finance, HR, education, healthcare, media, real estate, public service, and law, to name but a few. They are internationally trained lawyers, entrepreneurs, medical professionals, managing directors, vice-presidents, heads of legal and compliance, c-suite members, and much more.
Our new JD students have recently participated in orientation programs designed to familiarize them with the law school and our community. A big thank you to all the volunteers who contributed to O-Week, including especially the student coordinators, Brynne Dalmao, Hyun Tae Kim and Michelle Slipanchuk; as well as our Student Programs Manager, Sara-Marni Hubbard. Thank you also to the Graduate Program staff for enthusiastically preparing to welcome our new LLM, SJD and GPLLM students to campus and planning a series of rich orientation events, which commence today.
As you embark on the new academic year, please keep in mind that a range of mental health and wellness supports are available within our Faculty as well as the University. The Faculty’s Student Mental Health and Wellness Program Manager, Chantelle Brown-Kent, is available to assist JD students in navigating these supports, and will continue to embed wellness across our community in line with our JD Student Mental Health Strategy. In addition, we are delighted that Jessie Kussin will continue to serve as the Faculty’s on-location JD Student Mental Health Counsellor. Graduate students are able to access counseling and wellness workshops through the University’s Health and Wellness Centre.
We are delighted to continue to partner with the Rotman School of Management to give our 2L, 3L and graduate students access to Rotman’s excellent pre-MBA online courses in accounting, finance, and statistics. 1Ls are welcome to participate after final exams in April.
Turning to our faculty members, they continue to receive prestigious awards and recognitions. Professor John Borrows, Loveland Chair in Indigenous Law, was awarded the Charles Taylor Prize for Excellence in Policy Research and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Waterloo. Professor Sophia Moreau was awarded the Ludwik & Estelle Jus Memorial Human Rights Prize and Professor Jim Phillips won the Canadian Law and Society Association’s W. Wesley Pue Book Prize for A History of Law in Canada: Volume II: Law for the New Dominion, 1867-1914, which he co-authored. Professor Douglas Sanderson (Amo Binashii) and his co-author, alumnus Andrew Stobo Sniderman (JD 2014), won the Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize and the J.W. Dafoe Book Prize for Valley of the Birdtail: An Indian Reserve, a White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation. On the teaching front, the Class of 2023 honoured Professor Yasmin Dawood with the Truth and Reconciliation Teaching Award and Professor Catherine Valcke with the Mewett Teaching Award. Professor Brenda Cossman was recognized with the JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award.
We are thrilled to welcome an accomplished new colleague: Associate Professor Galit Sarfaty. As a legal scholar and anthropologist, Professor Sarfaty analyzes the ways in which law and legal institutions operate in practice, including the transnational regulation of corporate human rights compliance in global supply chains, the role of corporate actors in international lawmaking, the culture of international organizations, and the use of quantitative regulatory tools in global economic governance.
We are excited to be continuing the process of faculty renewal during the upcoming hiring cycle. The Faculty is seeking to recruit several new colleagues this year, including in the areas of business law and international law.
Let me now highlight some upcoming events to which you can look forward in the coming months.
As many of you may know, Professor Karen Knop passed away in September 2022. She was a beloved member of the Faculty and is greatly missed by our community. This Saturday, September 9, we will be hosting a conference honouring her memory and extraordinary scholarship, Private Citizen of the World, which will bring together leading international law scholars to deliver papers on 'Knopian' themes.
On May 27 of this year, our community lost another pillar of the Faculty, Professor Stephen Waddams. Professor Waddams was an internationally recognized scholar of contract law and legal history and he is widely recognized as one of Canada’s leading scholars. The Faculty will be hosting an event celebrating his remarkable contributions in February of next year.
On Thursday, September 28 we will be hosting a special documentary screening of Without Precedent: The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella. Following the screening, the Honorable Justice Abella will be joined in conversation with the filmmakers Barry Avrich (BA WDW 1985) and Mark Selby (BA Innis 2002). This is an event not to be missed!
Always a highlight of the year, the 2023 Grand Moot is scheduled for Thursday, October 5. This year’s bench comprises the Hon. Justice Nicholas Kasirer (BA UC 1991) (Supreme Court of Canada), the Hon. Jill M. Copeland (LLB 1992) (Ontario Court of Appeal), and the Hon. Justice Andrew Pinto (Ontario Superior Court of Justice). Be sure to mark this very special event in your calendars, with more details to follow in the coming weeks.
On Thursday, October 12, we will host Professor Oona A. Hathaway, Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law at Yale Law School, for the annual Cecil A. Wright Memorial Lecture. Professor Hathway will present “The Past, Present, and Future of the Global Legal Order”.
Finally, in early January, Professor Bryant Garth will be delivering the Faculty’s annual David B. Goodman Lecture. Look out for more information on this event.
I will conclude by mentioning U of T Law CONNECT, the Faculty’s exclusive digital community created for our students, faculty, and alumni with over 1,500 members (and counting!). Through Law CONNECT, you can seamlessly engage with our remarkable community of alumni and your fellow students. Sign-up at uoftlawconnect.ca.
Wishing you all a wonderful year ahead, filled with enjoyment and intellectual growth!
Jutta Brunnée, FRSC
Dean, University Professor and James Marshall Tory Dean’s Chair
Associate Member, Institut de droit international
