Photo by Alice Xue Photography
Dear Law School Community,
On August 19, I stepped into classroom J250 for the kick-off event of Orientation for our incoming 1Ls. The room was literally buzzing with excitement, and our newest JD students were chatting and connecting with each other before we even got started. It was a wonderful, energizing moment and I do hope that all of you – upper year students, graduate students, faculty, and staff – will share this sense of excitement and energy as we embark on the new academic year. A very warm welcome, and welcome back, to you all! I hope you had a great summer. I am very much looking forward to seeing you at the upcoming Dean’s BBQ, scheduled for Thursday, September 5 at 4 p.m. Also, please drop by and say hello during “J’s Java”, the monthly coffee hour socials, which kick off on Thursday, September 19. They are always a great way to catch up with members of our community!
The modern law school at the University of Toronto was founded in 1949. Building on the tradition of the academic study of law at the University of Toronto spearheaded by Professor W.P.M Kennedy, Dean Cecil “Caesar” Wright and his colleagues rejected the profession-led, apprenticeship-oriented model of legal training that prevailed in Ontario at the time and established the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto. This re-conception of legal education has proven to be the enduring key to our success and has carried our Faculty to pre-eminence among law schools in Canada and into the ranks of the very best law schools in the world.
This year, we commemorate the 75th anniversary of the modern Faculty of Law and its founding vision of academic legal education. We celebrate a distinctive scholarly ethos and approach to legal education, fuelled by rigorous, analytical, critical, cross-category and cross-disciplinary thinking, undergirded by a strong sense of community
We will kick off our celebration with a gala event on Saturday, September 14. Inspired by the tradition of Law Follies, students, alumni, professors and former deans will take to the stage, promising a night of laughter and nostalgic reflection. Following the performances, guests are invited to join us for a community-wide reception. I look forward to seeing you there. We are planning events throughout our anniversary year, culminating in our second Law in a Changing World conference (March 27-28, 2025). Current Faculty members will engage the conference theme “looking forward by looking back,” reflecting on pivotal contributions to scholarship and legal development over the last seven decades by former faculty.
It is fitting that, during the year leading up to our milestone anniversary, faculty, students, staff and alumni came together through a series of consultations to develop a dynamic new Academic Plan. Anchored in the Faculty’s founding vision, it sets priorities that will help us cement and extend U of T Law’s reach as a global leader in legal education and scholarship, positioning our students and scholars to excel in a changing world, providing impactful leadership and catalyzing positive change. I encourage you all to read through the full Academic Plan, if you have not already done so.
As the academic planning process illustrates, we work continuously to refresh our founding vision so that it can carry us to even greater heights, while ensuring that the Faculty is responsive to the needs of a diverse society and a world of fast-paced change.
Reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and ensuring equity, diversity and belonging within our community are central to our endeavours. Excellence and diversity – of thinking and lived experience – go together. Our vision of inclusive excellence therefore cuts across and informs all aspects of what we do at the Faculty – teaching, research and scholarship, clinical and experiential learning, student support and extra-curricular programming and opportunities.
Returning to our incoming 1Ls, I am delighted to extend a very warm welcome to another exceptional and diverse cohort of students, the JD Class of 2027:
- 56% of the class is female-identifying;
- 14% of the class is LGBTQ2S+-identifying;
- 50% of the class identifies as racialized; and
- 36% of the class is born outside of Canada.
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 a Disability Support Counsellor, Documentary Filmmaker, Environmental Analyst, High School Admission Counsellor, Military Intelligence Writer, Municipal Recreation Programmer, Risk Advisory Consultant, Software Developer and Symphony Orchestra Cellist!
Likewise, our incoming graduate students are again an outstanding group, comprising young legal scholars in our SJD and LLM programs, as well as legally and non-legally educated professionals in the GPLLM program. This year's students hail from more than 36 countries, including Armenia, Bangladesh, Colombia, Ireland, Pakistan and Turkey, among many others. As in past years, our students have been awarded highly competitive external grants, such as the prestigious Trudeau Foundation, SSHRC CGS Master and Doctoral Awards, Connaught International Scholarship, and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship. In addition, we have had a record number of SJD final oral examinations over the past year. We are so proud to celebrate the extraordinary accomplishments of our current and graduating doctoral students, many of whom have secured faculty positions in Canada and elsewhere. We know that this highly accomplished group could have elected to pursue graduate studies anywhere, and we are gratified that they chose to do so at U of T. We are thrilled also to welcome a remarkable GPLLM cohort. Our students come to us with experience in accounting, banking, construction, finance, education, healthcare, manufacturing, media, public service and law, to name but a few industries. Students in our Business Law and Innovation, Law, and Technology concentrations have an average of nearly 16 years of professional experience, bringing with them a new lens through which to learn about and engage with the law. Our Canadian Law concentration brings together students who have studied and practiced law in more than 26 countries. We could not be more pleased to welcome such an outstanding group across our graduate programs and look forward to seeing the many ways in which these students enrich the law school in vital ways.
Our new JD students have just completed an orientation program 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, Rebecca Dragusin, Emma Farrell and Humza Khan; and our Student Programs Manager, Sako Khederlarian. Many, many thanks also to the Graduate Program staff for enthusiastically preparing to welcome our new LLM, SJD and GPLLM students to campus and planning a rich series of orientation events, commencing today.
I would like to offer a special welcome to all Indigenous 1L and graduate students joining us this year. 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 Rama First Nation, September 12-15), Bundle Teachings, Speaker Series, and more. I encourage you to visit the Faculty’s beautiful Sacred Medicine Garden, located just outside the Hoskin 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. Last November, Solomon completed ‘Phase Two’ of the garden, which included a mural of the Seven Grandparent Teachings.
As you dive into the new academic year, remember that our Faculty and the University offer a variety of mental health and wellness supports to help you thrive. 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 to our Mindfulness Programming, look out for our upcoming Mental Health Speaker Series Event on Thursday October 17, bringing to the Faculty several legal professionals who contributed to the insightful book The Right Not to Remain Silent: The Truth About Mental Health in the Legal Profession. Furthermore, we are thrilled to welcome Liz Montgomery who will serve as our new on-location Student Mental Health Counsellor. Liz offers single session and short-term one-on-one psychotherapy and counseling on a range of issues to JD and graduate students. We would like to extend our sincere thanks and well wishes to Jessie Kussin, who has left the University to pursue a new opportunity.
Turning to our faculty members, they continue to receive prestigious awards and recognitions. Professor David Dyzenhaus received the SSHRC Impact Gold Medal, Canada’s most prestigious award for scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. Professor Mayo Moran was awarded both the Law Society Medal for outstanding service in accordance with the highest ideals of the legal profession and the Ludwik and Estelle Jus Memorial Human Rights Prize for her scholarship, personal service to others, and support of the University’s commitment to the values of human rights, equity, diversity and inclusion. Professor Arthur Ripstein received the Vivek Goel Faculty Citizenship Award, which recognizes a faculty member who has served with distinction in multiple leadership capacities in diverse spheres over many years. Professors Benjamin Alarie and Abdi Aidid received the Association of American Publisher’s Prose Award in Legal Studies and Criminology for their book The Legal Singularity: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Law Radically Better. Professor John Borrows received the Law Foundation of Ontario’s Guthrie Award, which recognizes outstanding individuals for their contributions to access to justice.
We are thrilled to welcome two accomplished new colleagues: Assistant Professor Sabine Tsuruda and Professor Simone Sepe. Professor Tsuruda joined us on July 1. She researches and teaches in work law, contract law, and legal theory. Her research focuses on workers’ expressive and associational rights, and the relationship between contract law and social equality. Professor Sepe will be joining us in January as the next Honourable Justice Frank Iacobucci Chair in Capital Markets Regulation. His scholarship focuses on theoretical and empirical problems related to corporate governance, and he has recently expanded his research interest to contract law, the theory of institutions, and political philosophy. We are also excited to be continuing the process of faculty renewal during this year’s hiring cycle, with a focus on AI and technology law.
Our remarkable staff continue to work tirelessly to foster a strong sense of community and belonging and ensure our law school thrives and flourishes. They support our students at every step of their law-school journey, prepare our graduates to become exemplary leaders, and help address inequities in the legal profession. We are delighted that their dedication and vision has garnered University-wide recognition. This past year Prasanna Balasundaram, Director of Downtown Legal Services, was honoured with both the Chancellor's Leadership Award in the category of Distinguished Leader and the Joan E. Foley Quality of Student Experience Award. Jerome Poon-Ting, our Senior Recruitment, Admissions & Diversity Officer is the 2024 recipient of the prestigious Jill Matus Excellence in Student Services Award in recognition of his contributions to advancing equity, diversity and inclusion at U of T Law.
Let me now highlight some upcoming events you can look forward to in the coming months, in addition to the 75th anniversary events I already mentioned.
On Thursday, September 26 we will be hosting a special webinar with Professor and Dean Emeritus Martin L. Friedland on his latest book: Canadian Criminal Law in Ten Cases. The event will be moderated by Dean Emeritus, the Hon. Robert James Sharpe. More information, including registration, is available, here.
Always a highlight of the year, the 2024 Grand Moot is scheduled for Tuesday, October 1. This year’s bench comprises Justice Suzanne Côté (Supreme Court of Canada), Chief Justice Michael Tulloch (Ontario Court of Appeal), and Justice Ira Parghi (Superior Court of Justice of Ontario). Be sure to mark this very special event in your calendars, with more details to follow.
On January 9, Professor Michele Goodwin will be delivering the Faculty’s annual David B. Goodman Lecture. Professor Catherine Sharkey will be delivering the annual Cecil A. Wright Memorial Lecture on April 2. Look out for more information relating to these events in the coming months.
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 1,700 members (and counting!). Through Law CONNECT, you can seamlessly engage with our remarkable community. You can 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
