2023 News

Professor Valerie Oosterveld appointed special adviser to International Criminal Court prosecutor

November 27, 2023 - Renowned legal scholar Valerie Oosterveld will advise on strategies and policies concerning crimes against humanity.

Western Law student takes control of his story

November 17, 2023 - After severe childhood injury, Mason Bruner charts new course with donor help.

Finding harmony: Mark and Randy McAuley create balance with a mix of music and law

November 14, 2023 - In this article from the 2023 edition of the Western Law Alumni Magazine, Mark (JD '18) and Randy (JD'15) McAuley share how they create balance with a mix of music and law.

Inspiring Minds: PhD Candidate Chukwuka Achu

November 10, 2023 - Inspiring Minds seeks to broaden awareness and impact of graduate student research, while enhancing transferable skills. Students were challenged to describe their research, scholarship or creative activity in 150 or fewer words to share with our community. This edition features Law PhD Candidate Chukwuka Achu who specializes in examining policies needed to reduce the impacts of climate change and achieve the UN SDG goals.

Pamela Glatt, JD ’16, director of education for Innocence Canada provides introduction to wrongful convictions

November 07, 2023 - When Pamela Glatt (JD ’16) was a student at Western Law, a volunteer project for Innocence Canada through her role with Pro Bono Students Canada catalyzed her interest in wrongful convictions. Today, she serves as director of education for Innocence Canada, a non-profit organization dedicated to identifying, advocating for, and exonerating individuals convicted of crimes that they did not commit. Glatt returned to Western Law on October 26 to speak to criminal law students as part of her cross-country law school tour educating students about the work of Innocence Canada.

Sunil Gurmukh appointed Assistant Dean, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Decolonization

November 06, 2023 - Sunil Gurmukh has been appointed as assistant professor and the assistant dean of equity, diversity, inclusion and decolonization (EDID) at Western Law. He is teaching courses on racial profiling in policing and hate speech. He is also leading the Hidden Racial Profiling Project and conducting research into hate crimes. He previously served as a visiting lecturer and adjunct professor at Western Law.

Gregory Keating shares reflections on reasonableness and risk

November 02, 2023 - Gregory Keating, the William T. Dalessi Professor Law and Philosophy at USC Gould School of Law, delivered the first Tort Law Research Group Public Lecture of the 2023-2024 academic year on September 28, 2023. Professor Keating’s talk, “Reflections on Reasonableness and Risk,” summarized the main arguments of his recently published monograph Reasonableness and Risk: Right and Responsibility in the Law of Torts (Oxford University Press, 2022).

Bridging the gap: 1L student Anna Wang aims to support immigrant families navigating legal challenges

October 24, 2023 - Meet 1L student Anna Wang. Anna's experience as a first-generation immigrant, international student, mother and parent coach gave her clarity on her goals to help other families and immigrants in need of support through a career in law.

A new future for B.C. mineral claims

October 17, 2023 - In a collaborative OPED for Canada's National Observer, Professor Sara Ghebremusse, Cassels Chair in Mining Law and Finance, comments on a recent court decision on British Columbia's free-entry mining system that marks an important step towards recognizing Indigenous rights and title in the province.

Are We Dating The Same Guy? Online groups toe the line between protecting women and defaming men

October 06, 2023 - Can women be sued in defamation when they use social media to warn other women about men on dating apps with harmful dating behaviour? Dean Erika Chamberlain and Professor of Health Studies, Treena Orchard, explore this issue in the Conversation.

PhD candidate Joel Welch explores science fiction’s influence on emerging technology regulation

October 06, 2023 - PhD Candidate Joel Welch uses science fiction as a tool to explore the consequences and implications of emerging technologies and how legal policymakers should respond, using imagination, exploration, and sometimes, speculation. He argues that science fiction is an important tool available to policy makers that provides a common language to discuss issues and allows for an examination of potential problems before they arise. In August, Welch had the opportunity to combine his passions for law, AI and Star Trek when he took to the stage to present on these topics at the 2023 Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas.

Blog: Gendered Crime as a Central Focus in the ICC’s Al-Hassan Case

September 22, 2023 - Professor Valerie Oosterveld and 3L student, Nicole Dotson co-authored a blog post for The Armed Groups and International Law blog on Gendered Crime as a Central Focus in the ICC’s Al-Hassan Case. The article discusses why the case of Prosecutor v Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mahomed Ag Mahmoud at the International Criminal Court (ICC) is precedent-setting for the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor.

Professor Martin Petrin speaks at NUS Law as distinguished visitor

September 21, 2023 - Professor Martin Petrin was recently chosen as the National University of Singapore Law's Kwa Geok Choo Distinguished Visitor. In August 2023, he delivered a lecture titled “Impact of AI and New Technologies on Corporate Governance and Regulation” at the Wee Chong Jin Moot Court located at the university's Bukit Timah Campus.

Incoming Western Law students take pledge of professionalism at Induction Ceremony

September 06, 2023 - Kicking off a week of orientation programming for the Class of 2026, Western Law welcomed 190 incoming JD students at the Induction Ceremony on September 5, 2023. The annual ceremony, held at Western’s Great Hall, welcomes students to the legal profession and introduces the privileges and duties of being a lawyer.

Blog: Sport Solution Clinic identifies gaps in the safe sport system for provincial-level athletes

August 31, 2023 - Amanda Fowler and Safiya Nanji of Western Law's Sport Solution Clinic share insights on gaps in the safe sport system for provincial-level athletes.

Tenth biennial Obligations conference explores private law and the state

August 15, 2023 - Leading legal scholars, judges and practitioners from around the world gathered at the picturesque Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in July for the tenth biennial Conference on the Law of Obligations (Obligations X). The conference was hosted by Western Law and co-convened by Professors Jason Neyers, Zoë Sinel and Joanna Langille along with Obligations founder Professor Andrew Robertson of Melbourne Law School.

The Visionary: Louis Frapporti LL.B. '90

August 11, 2023 - Louis Frapporti LL.B. '90 shares how his role as managing partner at Gowling WLG fostered his affinity for community engagement that led him to chair the bid for Hamilton to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games. Read his profile from the 2022 issue of the Western Law Alumni Magazine.

Could space (the final frontier) hold climate solutions for planet Earth?

August 11, 2023 - Could extracting resources from other celestial bodies help to solve our climate crisis? Visiting Professor Elizabeth Steyn tells the Weather Network that mining operations in space may have benefits but we should temper our expectations.

Recognizing the Complexity of Gender in the Crime Against Humanity of Persecution

July 24, 2023 - Professor Valerie Oosterveld writes for Just Security about how the International Criminal Court Prosecutor's Policy on Gender Persecution helps unpack the many ways that gender is used in persecutory targeting.

The Connector: Alexa Abiscott LL.B. '03

July 21, 2023 - Alexa Abiscott LL.B. '03 is a founding member and President of Women General Counsel Canada. Read her profile from the 2022 issue of the Western Law Alumni Magazine.

Class of 2023 called to "leave tracks" at Convocation Awards Ceremony

June 30, 2023 - The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg once compelled law graduates to "leave tracks" and "repair the tears in their communities". Keynote speaker at the 2023 Western Law Awards Ceremony, Yola S. Ventresca, LLB’05, Managing Partner at Lerners LLP, urged our newest JDs to heed this call as they head into their next chapter.

Ten Western Law students secure prestigious judicial clerkships

June 22, 2023 - Keeping pace with a new record set last year, 10 Western Law students have been selected for judicial clerkships. After graduating, Western Law students will be working with judges at the top courts in the country, including the Supreme Court of Canada, the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Alberta Court of Appeal, the Federal Court of Appeal and the Tax Court.

Welcoming Professor Sara Ghebremusse, Cassels Chair in Mining Law and Finance

June 05, 2023 - Western Law is pleased to announce the appointment of Sara Ghebremusse, PhD, as assistant professor and Cassels Chair in Mining Law and Finance. Ghebremusse has been an assistant professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada since July 2018. She has degrees from the University of Alberta, Carleton University, the University of Ottawa, the University of Toronto, and York University.

AthletesCAN, Western Law announce 2023-25 Sport Solution Program Managers

May 26, 2023 - AthletesCAN, the association of Canada’s national team athletes and the Faculty of Law at Western University are pleased to announce the appointment of Anthony Crudo, Hannah Herrington and Dylan Romero-Marshall as new Program Managers with Sport Solution. Crudo, Herrington and Romero-Marshall – who are all entering their second year at Western Law in London, Ont. – began their respective terms on May 1 and will be with the program for the next two years.

Remembering former professor, Justice Horace Krever

May 11, 2023 - We send condolences to the family of former Western Law professor, Justice Horace Krever who passed on April 30, 2023. Justice Krever joined the Faculty of Law in 1969 teaching courses including Criminal Law and Evidence until 1974. He was also a special lecturer in Legal Medicine for Western’s then Faculty of Medicine.

Professor Wade Wright named 2023-2025 Faculty Scholar

May 10, 2023 - Professor Wade Wright, a leading scholar of Canadian constitutional law, has been named a Western University Faculty Scholar for 2023 to 2025. The Faculty Scholar Award recognizes significant recent scholarly achievements in teaching or research. The recipients have an international presence in their discipline and are considered all-round scholars.

Inspiring Minds: PhD Candidate Carol Dyck

May 02, 2023 - Inspiring Minds seeks to broaden awareness and impact of graduate student research, while enhancing transferable skills. Students were challenged to describe their research, scholarship or creative activity in 150 or fewer words to share with our community. In this edition, Law PhD Candidate Carol Dyck shares about her research entitled Deep Seabed Mining versus Marine Conservation: Closing High Seas Governance Gaps in the Arctic Ocean.

Police violations of Charter rights highlight the need for accountability and transparency

May 01, 2023 - Visiting lecturer, Sunil Gurmukh, shares how the data that Western Law's Hidden Racial Profiling Project has uncovered regarding police violations of Charter rights highlights the need for police services across the country to be accountable and transparent.

Professor Oosterveld and CPIJ team honored with Governor General's Award for Innovation

May 01, 2023 - The Canadian Partnership for International Justice (CPIJ), which includes Western Law professor Valerie Oosterveld as a founding member, was named a recipient of the eighth annual Governor General’s Innovation Awards (GGIA). These awards recognize and celebrate exceptional and transformational Canadian innovations that create a positive impact in Canada and inspire the next generation of innovators.

Professor Ryan Liss receives Western Law's Teaching Excellence Award

April 20, 2023 - Enthusiastic, engaging, approachable, and caring. These are all descriptors that students used in their evaluations of Professor Ryan Liss. For his demonstrated excellence in teaching and mentorship over the past three years, Liss was awarded Western Law’s Teaching Award of Excellence.

Western announces 2022-23 teaching award recipients

April 20, 2023 - Professor Joanna Langille was among recipients of Western's 2022-2023 teaching awards

‘I want to be a part of that future’: United Nations trip life-changing for students

April 19, 2023 - Twenty-one students from Western Law visited the UN’s New York headquarters in March

Aileen Kavanagh examines “Underuse of the Override” at 2023 Coxford Lecture

April 18, 2023 - Professor Aileen Kavanagh – Chair of Constitutional Governance at Trinity College Dublin and Director of TriCON, the Trinity Centre for Constitutional Governance – joined Western Law to present the 2023 Coxford Lecture on March 27. Kavanagh explored the ability of legislatures to override court decisions on rights as a defining feature of the New Commonwealth Model of Constitutionalism in the United Kingdom and Canada. She explained that while section 33 of the Charter in Canada and section 19 of the UK Human Rights Act grant legislatures similar override powers under “strictly confined conditions,” the provisions have been rarely used.

Virtual tool developed by Osgoode Hall and Western professors expands experiential learning

April 13, 2023 - An audio-visual technology used for piloting in a contract law course called Teaching and Learning Law in the Metaverse anticipates potential responses to questions and pushes students to come up with questions themselves, providing automatic feedback. Stephanie Ben-Ishai, Osgoode Hall law professor at York University developed the technology in partnership with Western University law professor David Sandomierski (whose Ph.D. thesis topic was on teaching contract law) and a team of software developers.

Michael Coyle earns Deans Research Fellowship for project on The Recognition of Indigenous Laws and its Implication for Canadian Federalism

April 11, 2023 - Professor Michael Coyle has been selected as the recipient of the 2023 Dean’s Research fellowship for his project entitled The Recognition of Indigenous Laws and its Implications for Canadian Federalism: Mapping the Options for Respectful Co-existence. The project will build upon his recent research on legal pluralism and the recognition of Indigenous laws. Grounded in the belief that formal recognition of Indigenous legal orders is crucial to reconciliation, Coyle’s research will propose a menu of possible models for the co-existence of Indigenous and state laws.

Hewat Family establishes continuing award for Indigenous law students

March 28, 2023 - Indigenous law students who have demonstrated a contribution to their community, and an interest in continuing to support Indigenous communities in future, will be eligible to receive a new continuing award established by two Western Law alumni.

Free legal info on sexual assault now available to Western University students

March 28, 2023 - Students at Western University now have access to free legal information surrounding sexual assault thanks to the launch of a new pilot program entirely run by volunteers. Operating out of Western’s Community Legal Services office, the Legal Information for Sexual Assault (LISA) program is accepting both in-person and virtual appointments from now until the end of the April.

Student researchers propose policy framework for asteroid mining on project Khepri

March 23, 2023 - In the summer of 2022, Western Law students Aaron Groh and Brieanna Miklaucic, under the supervision of Professors Valerie Oosterveld and Elizabeth Steyn, joined the effort to help address the policy and legal components of asteroid mining as part of a team of researchers on a multi-stakeholder, multi-university project titled Khepri.

Western Law launches summer program to prepare law students for employment

March 13, 2023 - Western Law has launched a program that will connect all incoming law students with work placements after their first year of studies, providing them with a head start in legal employment and exposure to different types of legal work. The Summer After 1L Employment Program (SA1L) program will start in Western Law's 2023-2024 academic year.

Professor Randal Graham explores current law and politics through speculative satire in Nether Regions

March 02, 2023 - With the September 2022 release of Nether Regions, professor Randal Graham has closed the chapter on his Beforelife trilogy. At least for now. Graham’s novels (a blend of sci-fi, fantasy, and humour) explore legal topics, including ethics and statutory interpretation, through a richly constructed fictional universe set in the afterlife.

First-year Western Law students to get work placements before second year

March 01, 2023 - Western Law is launching the Summer After 1L Employment Program (SA1L), connecting all doctor of jurisprudence (JD) students with work placements after their first year of studies. The program will also allow students to rank their preferences in terms of placement and choose from a variety of employer options.

Western researchers call for better physician licensing system to address medical care in Space

March 01, 2023 - With an exponential increase in Space travel in recent years, one of the many questions facing the global community is around what rules and laws govern Space. Now, a team of researchers at Western University are focusing in on one crucial piece of the puzzle: who can practise medicine in the final frontier? The researchers say it’s a fair assumption that a licensed medical doctor on Earth should be able to transfer their licence into Space on a crewed mission. But it’s actually not so simple, according to Western Law professor Valerie Oosterveld.

Western Law’s SA1L Program to help 1L students chart their professional courses

February 28, 2023 - Beginning in the 2023-24 academic year, Western Law will launch the Summer After 1L Program (SA1L), connecting all incoming JD students with law-related paid summer placements after their first year of studies. Through this optional program, all interested students will be eligible for a minimum of 10 weeks of meaningful legal experience in summer 2024.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: Reflecting on a year of war and atrocities

February 23, 2023 - Western professors Marta Dyczok and Valerie Oosterveld to host international conference on the ongoing conflict

Western Law students take home the trophy as first Canadian team in the Hague Inter-University Law Debate Tournament

February 13, 2023 - In June 2022, Western Law Students Justine Dryburgh, Meghan Hawa, and Dylan Parobec, with the support of their coach, Professor Valerie Oosterveld, took home the trophy in the Hague Inter-University Law Debate Tournament.

Michael St. Patrick Baxter (LL.B. '79) to share his journey from Windsor to Washington

February 09, 2023 - Join the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and the Faculty of Law on March 16, 2022 at 12:30 p.m. in the Moot Court Room of the Law Building to welcome Michael St. Patrick Baxter, where he will share his experience as a law student and the lessons he has learned during his legal practice.

Leading Human Rights Lawyer Sunil Gurmukh (LL.B. ’08) appointed Visiting Lecturer

February 02, 2023 - Western Law is pleased to announce that Sunil Gurmukh has joined us as a Visiting Lecturer. Gurmukh has been leading the Hidden Racial Profiling Project at Western Law since 2020 and was a member of the faculty’s Anti-Racism Working Group (ARWG).

Expert insight: Extended copyright benefits the corporate few, not the public

January 25, 2023 - Who benefits from Canada’s recent extension of copyright? Dead authors? Students? Marginalized writers? If you answered no to all of these, you’d be correct. Lisa Macklem, PhD Candidate, Law shares why better protections for users’ rights are needed to ensure the public retains access to Canadian culture and heritage so Canadian creativity and innovation can continue to thrive.

Winter term dispatch: News and opportunities for the new year

January 19, 2023 - As we welcome back students to campus for the winter term, we’re sharing a roundup of recent faculty news, including the appointment of our Acting Dean, new intensive education offerings, and upcoming events in our Distinguished Speakers Series.

Former Ontario deputy premier is Western Law’s Distinguished Leader in Residence

January 16, 2023 - Christine Elliott, former Ontario deputy premier and Western alum is joining the university as Distinguished Leader in Residence at Western Law.

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