Stephen Pitel
Academic Degrees:
BA (Carleton) 1989, LLB (Dalhousie) 1992, LLM (Cambridge) 1995, PhD (Cambridge) 2002, called to the Bar of Ontario 1994
| Email: | spitel@uwo.ca |
| Phone: | 519 661-2111 ext. 88433 |
| Office: | LB 30 |
Professor Pitel is one of Canada’s leading scholars of the conflict of laws, the field of law dealing with the taking of jurisdiction, the identification of the applicable law and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in civil and commercial litigation. He is also well known in the fields of tort law and legal ethics. His work has been cited by Canadian courts in several decisions. He was a member of Western’s Board of Governors from 2020 to 2024 and has been the President of the Canadian Association for Legal Ethics since 2022.
He joined the Faculty of Law in 2000 after practicing corporate and commercial litigation in Toronto and completing graduate studies at the University of Cambridge. He was promoted to Professor in 2013. He has taught intensive courses as an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto and the University of Sherbrooke.
He is the co-author of Conflict of Laws, 2d ed. (2016), Private International Law in Common Law Canada: Cases, Text and Materials, 5th ed. (2023) and Statutory Jurisdiction: An Analysis of the Court Jurisdiction and Proceedings Transfer Act (2012). He is also the editor of Litigating Conspiracy: An Analysis of Competition Class Actions (2006), co-editor of Tort Law: Challenging Orthodoxy (2013), Exploring Contract Law (2009), Emerging Issues in Tort Law (2007), Understanding Unjust Enrichment (2004) and The Joy of Torts (2003), co-author of Cases and Materials on the Law of Torts, 11th ed. (2023) and The Law of Restitution in Canada: Cases, Notes and Materials (2004) and co-general editor and co-author of Fridman's The Law of Torts in Canada, 4th ed. (2020) and Introduction to the Canadian Law of Torts, 4th ed. (2020). His articles on private international law have been published in the Canadian Bar Review, Canadian Business Law Journal, Journal of Private International Law and Advocates’ Quarterly.
He was awarded the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations Teaching Award in 2013, the Edward G. Pleva Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2012, the Bank of Nova Scotia, University of Western Ontario Alumni Association and University Students’ Council Award of Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 2008 and Western Law’s Student Legal Society Professor of the Year in 2004 and 2008. He has served as a member of the Chief Justice of Ontario’s Advisory Committee on Professionalism and as co-director of the Tort Law Research Group. From 2010 to 2014 he was a Goodmans LLP Faculty Fellow in Legal Ethics. He is a former President of the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association and won the Allan Heinicke Memorial Service Award in 2021. The Dalhousie Law Alumni Association granted him membership in the Bertha Wilson Honour Society in 2021 for “exceptional service to the legal profession and community”.
He frustrates himself playing golf and tennis and supporting sports teams from Philadelphia. He is a fan of musical theatre and classic rock, some genres of reality television and the London Knights.
Seeking graduate students in the following areas: Conflict of Laws / Private International Law; Tort Law
Research Highlights
S.G.A Pitel, M. Bailey, J. Blom, S. Ross, G. Saumier, S. Seck, J. Walker & C. Walsh, Private International Law in Common Law Canada Cases, Text and Materials, 5th ed. (Toronto: Emond Publishing, 2023)
R. Solomon, M. McInnes, E. Chamberlain & S.G.A. Pitel, Cases and Materials on the Law of Torts, 11th ed. (Toronto: Carswell, 2023)
E. Chamberlain & S.G.A. Pitel, eds., Fridman’s The Law of Torts in Canada, 4th ed. (Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 2020)
S.G.A. Pitel & N. Rafferty, Conflict of Laws, 2d ed. (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2016)
S.G.A. Pitel & Y.S. Gadsden-Chung, "Reconsidering a Lawyer's Obligation to Raise Adverse Authority" (2016) 49 U.B.C.L. Rev. 521 (to 561)
V. Black & S.G.A. Pitel, "Forum-Selection Clauses: Beyond the Contracting Parties" (2016) 12 J. Priv. Int'l L. 26
S.G.A. Pitel & J. McKie, “Solicitor-Client Privilege for Ethics Counsel: Lessons for Canada from the United States” (2013) 91 Can. Bar Rev. 313 (to 362)
S.G.A. Pitel & W. Bortolin, "Revising Canada's Ethical Rules for Judges Returning to Practice" (2012) 34 Dal. L.J. 483 (to 528)
V. Black, S.G.A. Pitel & M. Sobkin, Statutory Jurisdiction: An Analysis of the Court Jurisdiction and Proceedings Transfer Act (Toronto: Carswell 2012)
S.G.A. Pitel & A. Valentine, “The Evolution of the Extra-territorial Mareva Injunction in Canada: Three Issues” (2006) 2 J.P.I.L. 339 (to 396)
