Legal Research @ UBC : Legal Research @ UBC faculty members of national and international recognition.
Emphasizing the rule of law: providing economic & personal security in our increasingly complex society.
Recognition of the rapidly changing practice environment.
Emphasis on emerging fields of specialization and legal change responsive to changing social needs.
research that makes a difference - changing the course of academic debate to offering real-life solutions to war torn countries.
Faculty engaged with academics, practitioners, and policy-makers across the globe Dean Bobinski
Slide2 :
39 full-time, tenured or tenure-track faculty members (2003-2004) plus 5 other full-time law teachers
629 LL.B. students (pursuing a post-graduate professional law degree)
Approximately 15 LL.M. students + 4 to 8 Ph.D. students admitted each year.
Slide3 : Faculty commitment to:
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Asian Legal Studies
Feminist Legal Studies (Centre & Chair in Feminist Legal Studies)
First Nations Legal Studies
Immigration and Refugee Law (CRC)
Legal History (Nemetz Chair in Legal History)
Natural Resources and Environmental Law.
Slide4 : Affiliation with key research groups located at the school and at UBC:
B.C. Law Institute
the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy
The Institute for Asian Research
The Centre for Research in Women’s Studies & Gender Relations
the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies
Law&society@UBC
Slide5 : Emphasis on developing strength in emerging fields of specialization, such as:
e-commerce
intellectual property
aboriginal rights
international human rights
international trade
Slide6 :
Aggregate Research Data
2001-2003
25 books & 59 book chapters:
2001-02 = 6 books by 6 faculty members; 16 chapters by 7 professors;
2002-03 = 19 books by 13 faculty members; 43 chapters by 20 faculty members
87 articles in peer reviewed journals:
2001-02 = 40 articles by 20 faculty members
2002-03 = 47 articles by 20 faculty members (16 of which were the same across years)]
75 "other" publications.
2001-02 = 30 publications by 14 faculty members;
2002-03 = 45 publications by 16 faculty members (11 of which were the same across years)]
37 faculty sponsored conferences or colloquia at Curtis Law Building or other UBC locations
Numerous conference presentations:
2001-02
21 conferences by 11 professors, plus
4 Corporate Law Conference participants, and
3 Law & Society participants;
2002-03
16 conferences by 10 profs, plus
8 faculty participants in the joint Canada-USA Law & Society Conference
71 externally-funded research projects:
2001-02: 32 projects by 15 faculty members (plus 2 CURA co-investigators)
2002-03: 39 projects by 16 individuals (plus 7 co-investigators on two different projects - CURA + IAR)
Slide7 : Funded Research 2003-2004
12 individuals
8 research projects
funded from 5 SSHRCC programs
Major Collaborative Research Initiative on comparative dispute resolution in China, Japan, and Canada.
to investigate dispute resolution, in and out of the courts, in the areas of international trade and human rights.
particular focus on how forces of globalization affect the transmission of legal norms across cultures.
Principal Investigator: Dr. Pitman Potter
Other researchers: Dr. Lilijiana Biukovic, Professor Bill Black, Professor Phil Bryden, Professor Michelle LeBaron, Professor Bob Paterson, Dr. Janis Sarra, Ms. Sharon Sutherland.
project runs until 2008 (renewable).
Community-University Research Alliance program:
The alterative dispute resolution (funding renewed in 2003) - Sharon Sutherland in collaboration with Michelle LeBaron, Director of the Dispute Resolution Program following Professor Hogarth’s retirement.
Professor Margot Young is involved in two CURA projects:
“The Social Rights Accountability Project” investigates the prospects for realizing social justice for low income and other disadvantaged groups through social-rights based participation in the social, legal and political settings. (team includes academics and community organizations from across Canada.)
a project examining the impacts of reforms to provincial public services on economic security – assessing alternative models for governance and delivery of public programmes, with the aim of finding ways to better meet people’s needs while incorporating democratic principles.
Dr. Ruth Buchanan is part of The Initiative on the New Economy, investigating the social and legal effects of outsourcing work. Funded
under SSHRC’s special program on understanding the dynamics of globalization, the project includes regional case studies across Canada.
Standard Research Grants
Dr. Buchanan: the place of law in globalization. - a focus on law’s social dimension: its role in the constitution of just societies, and in the protection of marginalized groups.
Susan B. Boyd, Chair in Feminist Legal Studies: the reform of Canadian child custody law - assessing which factors have had the greatest weight in the recent process of reforming laws related to children whose parents divorce or separate.
Therese F Casgrain Fellowship
Claire Young, Associate Dean Academic, holds the prestigious SSHRC administered Fellowship - awarded once every two years to support research on women and social change in Canada - to research the funding of social program’s through the tax system. She considers how this growing public policy trend impacts women, with particular reference to tax subsidies for retirement savings.
Individual Faculty Research Profiles: : Individual Faculty Research Profiles:
Slide9 : Natasha Affolder
LLB (Alberta), BCL (Oxford), D.Phil. (Law) (Oxford) Research Fields: Sustainable Development Law, Environmental Law (Canadian and International), International Business Law, International Law, Natural Resources.
Representative Publications:
Awarding Compound Interest in International Arbitration, 12 The American Review of International Arbitration 45 (2001).
Mediation and UPL: Do Mediators Have a Well-Founded Fear of Prosecution? (with David Hoffman) ABA Dispute Resolution Magazine 20 (2001).
Tadic, The Anonymous Witness and the Sources of International Procedural Law, 19 Michigan Journal of International Law 445 (1997).
The UN and the Private Sector: The Ultimate Public/ Private Distinction?, presented at the Academic Council on the UN System, Promoting Economic and Social Development: Role and Impact of the United Nations (Turin, Italy: June 1996), published in Conference Proceedings 1996.
Current Research: Emerging Industry-Government-NGO Collaborative Efforts to Define Best Practices and Acceptable Standards for Large Projects; Project- Specific Environmental Contracts; Sustainable Tourism and Law.
Slide10 : Tae-Ung Baik
Assistant Professor, LL.B. (Seoul National University); LL.M. (Notre Dame); J.S.D. Candidate (Notre Dame) Research Fields: Human Rights; Korean Law; International Law; Constitutional Law
Representative Publications:
The Invisible Exodus: North Koreans in the People's Republic of China, Human Rights Watch, November 2002 Vol. 14, No. 8 (C) (2002) (coauthored with Pokempner and Jendrzejczyk)
A War Crime against an Ally’s Civilians: The No Gun Ri Massacre, Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy Vol.15, Issue No.2 (2001)
The Dream Of The Korean Socialist Movement, Friend-of-Labor Publishing Company (1992)
Current Research: Regional Human Rights System in Asia
Justice Incomplete: the Remedy for the Incident of Jeju April Third to be presented at a conference hosted by The Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University on May 27, 2004
This article deals with the remedies given to the victims of the Jeju April Third a massacre that happened in 1947-1954 in Jeju Island, South Korea. It was when Korea was about to be divided into South and North, and a separated rightist regime was being established in South Korea supported by the US Army Military Government. The incident started with a mass uprising led by domestic communist groups protesting against the general election in South Korea. However, tens of thousand innocent people in Jeju were subsequently killed by the police or military forces. Although the South Korean government has been reluctant to acknowledge the issue for decades, the victims are now being given remedies. The most dramatic change was the official apology from the government given by the current president Roh Moo-Hyun last December, 2003 in Jeju.
This article focuses on the issue of transitional justice, defined as "the principles and mechanisms which can guarantee justice during a transition from a authoritarian regime to democratic rule." Dealing with the past raises a hard question of transitional justice: a question of choice between to "forgive and forget" and to "prosecute and punish." The dialectics between truth and reconciliation comes into play at this stage. In this work I explore the current stage of Korean transitional justice and some key issues that recur whenever they deal with past atrocities.
Joel Bakan : Joel Bakan The Corporation
A major documentary movie and book
Exploring the dominant legal institution of our time
Filmmakers (from left to right) director Mark Achbar, writer Joel Bakan, and director Jennifer Abbott consider the strange construction that is the corporation
Slide12 : Ljiljana Biukovic
LL.B. (Belgrade); LL.M. (CEU-Hungary); LL.M. (UBC); Ph.D. (UBC). Research Fields: European Union Law; International Trade Law and Dispute Resolution Mechanisms; International Organization; Cyberspace law and electronic commerce; Harmonization of commercial laws in Europe.
Representative Publications:
“International Commercial Arbitration in Cyberspace: Recent Developments” (2002) 22:3 Northwestern Journal of International Law 311
“NAFTA Arbitration Awards in British Columbia Courts: The Metalclad Case” (2002) 60:2 The Advocate 259
“Unification of Cyber-jurisdiction Rules: Just How Close are the EU and US?" (2002) 19:2 Telematics and Informatics 139
“Impact of the Adoption of the Model Law in Canada: Creating a New Environment for International Arbitration” (1998) 30 Canadian Business Law Journal 376
Current Research: Asia-Pacific Cross-Cultural Dispute Resolution Project; European Union Enlargement
Recent Graduate Supervisions/ Examination: Kerstin Saarkoppel M.A. in European Studies (2003); Natalia Amigo LL.M. (expected 2004); Marta Sawitzki LL.M. (expected 2004); Andrew Burton LL.M. (expected 2004); Lutz Riede LL.M. (expected 2004); Matthew Au Ph.D. (In progress); Yanyan Liu LL.M. (expected 2004)
Research Awards/ Honours: SSRCH – MCRI 2003-2008
Service: BC Arbitration and Mediation Institute Trustee; Editorial Board of CLE (2 editions on Commercial Arbitration)
Slide13 : Ljiljana Biukovic
LL.B. (Belgrade); LL.M. (CEU-Hungary); LL.M. (UBC); Ph.D. (UBC).
“Asia-Pacific Cross-Cultural Dispute Resolution Project”
Collaborators/ Research Team (if any): Professor Pitman Potter (principal investigator), Michelle LeBaron, Bill Black, Yoshitaka Wada, Xia Yong (co-investigators)
Funding Source(s) (if applicable): SSRCH
Research Problem: selective adaptability of WTO dispute resolution norms in Canada, China and Japan and practice issues in transparency, subsidies, anti-dumping, IP and national treatment.
Research Method: Comparative empirical research on dispute resolution based on the analysis of laws, regulations and informal procedures and practices in international trade. Selective adaptation is a process by which international norms are received and assimilated in different countries and across different cultures. The project focuses on international trade norms and practices underpinning WTO structure.
Deliverables and projected completion dates: 2008
Slide14 : Joost Blom
B.A. (Brit. Col.), LL.B. (Brit. Col.), B.C.L. (Oxon.), LL.M. (Harv.), Q.C. Research Fields: conflict of laws (private international law), torts, contracts.
Representative Publications:
“Public Policy in Private International Law and its Evolution in Time” (2003), 50 Neth. Int’l L. Rev. 373-400
“Tort, Contract and the Allocation of Risk” (2002), 17 S.C.L.R. (2d) 289-314. Reprinted in S. Beaulac, S.G.A. Pitel and J.L. Schultz, eds., The Joy of Torts (Markham, Ont.: LexisNexis Butterworths, 2003) 289-314
”Private International Law in a Globalizing Age: The Quiet Canadian Revolution” (2002), 4 Yearb. Priv. Int’l L. 83-115 [pub. by Kluwer Law International & Swiss Institute of Comparative Law].
Current Research: co-authoring a book on economic torts.
Recent Graduate Supervisions/ Examination: Principal supervisor for John Fairlie (LL.M. 2003; topic: duty of care in tortious misrepresentation); Miriam Starkl-Moser (LL.M. 2002; topic: Internet and human rights); Lenka Radkova (LL.M. 2001; topic: moral rights – the right to paternity and integrity in the information society).
Research Awards/ Honours: Membre titulaire, International Academy of Comparative Law
Service: Assistant Editor, Canadian Bar Review, 1986-93; Assistant to the Editor, Canadian Yearbook of International Law, 1993-2001; Member, Editorial Board, Canadian Yearbook of International Law, 2001-date; Associate Dean, Faculty of Law, 1982-85; Dean, Faculty of Law, 1997-2003; Bencher, Law Society of British Columbia, 2004-date.
Slide15 : Joost Blom
B.A. (Brit. Col.), LL.B. (Brit. Col.), B.C.L. (Oxon.), LL.M. (Harv.), Q.C. Economic Torts
Collaborators/ Research Team: Co-author with Prof. Peter Burns
Funding Source: President’s Office funding for research while I was Dean (still being drawn down)
Research Problem: To produce a modern statement of the Canadian law relating to tort liability for intentionally or unintentionally causing pure economic loss to another.
Research Method: Library research.
Deliverables and projected completion dates: Expected to complete September 2005.
Slide16 : Professor Susan B. Boyd
Chair in Feminist Legal Studies; B.A. (History) (Bishop’s); LL.B. (McGill); D.E.I. (Amsterdam); LL.M. Distinction (London); Law Society of Upper Canada. Research Fields: family law and gender relations, child custody law, feminist legal theory, sexuality and family law.
Representative Publications:
Child Custody, Law, and Women’s Work (Oxford University Press, 2003)
Challenging the Public/Private Divide: Feminism, Law, and Public Policy (University of Toronto Press, 1997)
“Family Law in Changing Societies”, in Austin Sarat, ed., the Blackwell Companion to Law and Society, in press.
Current Research: (Re)forming child custody law in Canada, 1998-2003 (SSHRC SRG); “Feminism, law & social change in Canada, 1967-97: (re)action and resistance” (SSHRC Strategic Grant, with 4 others)
21st Century Graduate Supervisions/ Examination: Fiona Kelly (LL.M. and Ph.D. Law Supervisor); Emma Cunliffe (LL.M. Supervisor); Louise Falconer (LL.M. co-Supervisor); Toni Johnson (LL.M. co-Supervisor); Lori Lothian (LL.M. Supervisor); Dawna Tong (Ph.D. Sociology, Examiner); Helena Kajlich (M.A. Polit.Science, Examiner).
Research Awards/ Honours: Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies Distinguished UBC Scholar in Residence 2004; UBC Scholar Award, UBC Centre for Research on Women’s Studies and Gender Relations 2003; Class of ’68 Award 2000.
Service: (Director, Centre for Feminist Legal Studies; Co-Secretary, Appointments Committee; past Co-Editor, Canadian Journal of Women and the Law; Ad Hoc Committee on Custody and Access; cited by Supreme Court of Canada in Young v. Young; testimony to Special Joint Parliamentary Committee on Child Custody and Access; Presentation to All Party Women’s Caucus, Centre Block, Parliament Hill, 2002; Participant, Adult Relationships Study Panel, Law Commission of Canada, Ottawa, 1999.)
Slide17 : Professor Susan B. Boyd
Chair in Feminist Legal Studies; B.A. (History) (Bishop’s); LL.B. (McGill); D.E.I. (Amsterdam); LL.M. Distinction (London); Law Society of Upper Canada. (Re)forming Child Custody Law in Canada, 1998-2003
Collaborators/ Research Team (if any): Co-Investigator Dr. Dorothy Chunn (SFU Criminology)
Funding Source: SSHRC Standard Research Grant
Research Problem: Which factors, or combinations of factors, have carried the greater weight in the recent process of reforming Canadian laws related to children whose parents are divorcing or separating? Factors considered include (a) legislative changes to child support law; (b) lobbying by women’s groups for greater attention to gendered caregiving patterns in heterosexual families and to the consequences of spousal abuse in child custody law; (c) lobbying by fathers’ rights groups for the introduction of legal presumptions in favour of joint custody or shared parenting; (d) media attention to the so-called ‘gender wars’ over children and, in particular, to the arguments of fathers’ rights advocates; (e) law reform developments in other countries, notably England, Australia, and some states of the United States; and (f) social science studies of the consequences of divorce for children. In addition to tracking the influences on law reform and the results of the law reform process, it will be possible to assess to what extent any imbalance between the impact of the voices of women’s groups and men’s groups is manifested in the law reform process. The project also will determine and analyze the reactions of women’s and men’s groups to the reforms and the process.
Research Methods: (1) documentary analysis of governmental committee submissions, hearings and reports, governmental responses, and parliamentary debates; (2) quantitative and qualitative media analyses of how issues related to parenting and child custody and access law have been (re)presented over time in English-language, Canadian newspapers (e.g. quality, popular) from three cities (Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto); and (3) semi-structured interviews of one to one and a half hours with representative members of fathers’ rights advocates and women’s rights advocates, mainly in British Columbia and Ontario.
Deliverables and projected completion dates: Conference papers/presentations (ongoing); refereed articles (ongoing), a book (2005).
Slide18 : Christine Boyle
LL.B. Queens University Belfast 1971; LL.M. Queens University Kingston Research Fields: Criminal law, with a particular focus on violence against women, The law of evidence, Human rights/equality
Representative Publications:
"Sexual Assault in Abusive Relationships:Common Sense About Sexual History" (1996), 19 Dalhousie Law Journal 223.
"To Serve the Cause of Justice: Disciplining Fact Determination" (2001), The Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice 55 (with Marilyn MacCrimmon).
"The Anti-Discrimination Norm in Human Rights and Charter Law: Nixon v.Vancouver Rape Relief", forthcoming, University of British Columbia Law Review.
Current Research: "The Drawing of Inferences in Fact Determination"
Christine Boyle LL.B. Queens University Belfast 1971; LL.M. Queens University Kingston : Christine Boyle LL.B. Queens University Belfast 1971; LL.M. Queens University Kingston "The Drawing of Inferences in Fact Determination"
Research Problem: The process of fact determination involves the drawing of inferences. This process, which affects both determinations of relevance and probative value in fact finding contexts, must be fair and egalitarian. Yet it is relatively unexamined in Canadian jurisprudence. For instance, is poverty relevant to motive to commit profit-oriented crime? Is knowledge of the privilege against self-incrimination relevant to the credibility of an accused who testified in a previous case? What may be inferred from the silence of suspects? Is the fact that a sexual assault complainant did not write that she was sexually assaulted in her diary relevant to credibility? How should fact finders deal with information from which conflicting inferences may be drawn? This project examines such issues with a view to providing guidance on a fair and egalitarian inference-drawing process for fact finders.
Slide20 : Kim Brooks
B.A. (English/Economics) (U of T); LL.B. (U.B.C.); LL.M. (Osgoode) Research Fields: tax law and policy
Representative Publications:
“Delimiting the Concept of Income: The Taxation of In-Kind Benefits” (2004) vol. 49, no. 2 McGill Law Journal (forthcoming).
“Learning to Live with an Imperfect Tax: A Defence of the Corporate Tax” (2003) vol. 36, no. 3 University of British Columbia Law Review 621 – 672.
“Tax Stories: An In-Depth Look at Ten Leading Federal Income Tax Cases” (2003) vol. 28, no. 2 Queen’s Law Journal 705 – 721.
Current Research: Justifications for and Sustainability of the Corporate Tax
Recent Graduate Supervisions/ Examination: Jalia Kangrave, LL.M. (expected 2004)
Service: National Association of Women and the Law (co-chair); Canadian Journal of Women and the Law (managing editor); Canadian Association of Law Teachers (treasurer); Canada Tax Service (contributor); Valuation Law Review (editorial board)
Slide21 : Kim Brooks
B.A. (English/Economics) (U of T); LL.B. (U.B.C.); LL.M. (Osgoode) Globalization and the Corporate Tax: Competition, Coordination or Harmonization
One of the most urgent questions being debated among legal and other scholars in many areas of law and political economy over the past decade is whether nation states will be able to maintain the capacity to impose regulatory frameworks on the economic lives of their citizens in the face of the pressures created by “globalization”. Scholars have raised concerns that left unchecked, globalization will lead to a “race to the bottom.” The predicted result is that the allocation and distribution of economic resources will be determined only by the free play of market forces.
In this project I explore whether corporate taxes are diminishing in the face of increased globalization. Corporate taxes present an ideal topic for an empirical look at the effects of globalization, given that in many ways the corporate tax is the regulatory framework most exposed to the forces of globalization. The corollary to the empirical question, of course, assuming that I discover some decline in corporate taxes, is an analysis of whether or not governments might be justified in taking steps to counter-act the effects of globalization, and if they are justified in intervening, what kinds of steps might be advisable.
Presumably whatever conclusions I draw from this research might be of interest to corporate tax lawyers and scholars, but I also hope that the analysis has a broader significance. By exploring how the forces of globalization are affecting the regulatory framework inherent in the corporate tax, I plan to draw some more general conclusions about the survival of national sovereignty.
Slide22 : Ruth M. Buchanan
A.B. (Princeton, 1985) LLB (U Victoria, 1988) LLM (U. Wisconsin-Madison 1993) SJD (U Wisconsin-Madison, 2000) Admitted to B.C. Bar, 1989. Research Fields: globalization and law, law and development, international economic law, social and legal theory, sociology of law, information technologies and the international organization of work
Representative Publications:
“Collaboration, Cosmopolitanism, Complicity” with Sundhya Pahuja (2002) 71 Nordic Journal of International Law 297-324.
“Lives on the Line: Low Wage Work in the Tele-Service Economy,” in Laboring Below the Line: The New Ethnography of Poverty, Low Wage Work, and Survival in the Global Economy, Frank Munger, ed. Russell Sage, 2002. (pp 45-72):
"Border Crossings: NAFTA, Regulatory Restructuring and the Politics of Place" (1995) 2 Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies 371-393.
Current Research: global governance and the social; cosmopolitan legality and global civil society; NGO’s and the World Trade Organization.
Recent Graduate Supervisions: since 1997, has been involved in the supervisory committees of 2 MA’s, 13 LLM’s, 5 PhDs, 1 Post-doctoral Fellow
Research Awards/ Honours: UBC Killam Faculty Fellowship 2003, UBC Law Faculty Class of 1968 Award, 2003; Visiting Research Scholar, Birkbeck College Faculty of Law, University of London, Jan-March 2003; Early Career Scholar, Peter Wall Institute 2001-2002; UBC Scholar, UBC Center for Women’s Studies and Gender Relations, 2000-2001.
Service: Book Review Editor, Canadian Journal of Women and Law, 1997-2002; Board of Trustees, U.S. Law and Society Association 2002-2005; Board Member, Canadian Law and Society Association, 1997-2000 ; Reviewer, SSHRC; Center for Women’s Studies and Faculty Relations, Faculty Advisory Committee, 2001-2002; Co-chair, Green College Law and Society Lecture Series, 2003/04.
Slide23 : Ruth M. Buchanan
A.B. (Princeton, 1985) LLB (U Victoria, 1988) LLM (U. Wisconsin-Madison 1993) SJD (U Wisconsin-Madison, 2000) Admitted to B.C. Bar, 1989.
Project #1: “Emergence Canada” (Details at: http://www.chs.ubc.ca/emergence/)
Research Team: Penny Gurstein, UBC SCARP (Principle Investigator), Ursula Huws, Analytica-UK-Collaborator.
Funding Source: SSHRC/INE
Research Problem: To map transnational outsourcing of work, facilitated by information and telecommunications technologies. Part of a global network of researchers.
Research Method: Qualitiative, Interviews with firms at both source and destination points.
Deliverables and projected completion dates: Funded May 2003; Project to be Completed December 2006.
Project #2: “Between the Lines: Social Protection and the Limits of Law in the Context of Globalization”
Collaborator: S. Pahuja, University of Melbourne, Faculty of Law
Funding Source: SSRHC
Research Problem: To consider the transformation of law’s capacity in relation to the social; in the interaction between domestic and transnational regulatory regimes.
Research Method: A series of case studies of issues and institutions that reveal these intertwined processes of legal and social transformation; case studies include recent challenges to the World Trade Organization by social policy oriented NGO’s and the effect of the NAFTA on the enforcement of labor rights in North America.
Deliverables and projected completion: Funded May 2001; Completion by May 2005. In press: “Global Civil Society and Cosmopolitan Legality at the WTO: Perpetual Peace or Perpetual Process?” Leiden Journal of International Law (2004). Monograph in progress: Cosmopolitan Legality: Global Law and the Question of the Social
Slide24 : Gordon Christie
B.A. (Princeton); LL.B. (U.Vic); Ph.D. (philosophy) (University of California, Santa Barbara) Research Fields: Aboriginal Law, Torts, Jurisprudence.
Representative Publications:
Law, Legal Theory and Aboriginal Peoples, 2 Indigenous Law Journal 70 (2003).
Judicial Justification of a Recent Development in Aboriginal Law, 17(2) Canadian Journal of Law & Society (2002).
The Court’s Exercise of Plenary Power: Rewriting the Two-Row Wampum, 16 Supreme Court Law Review (2nd series) (2002).
Justifying Principles of Treaty Interpretation, 26(1) Queen’s Law Journal 143 (2000).
Delgamuukw and the Protection of Aboriginal Land Interests, 32(1) Ottawa Law Review 85 (2000).
Aboriginal Culture, Aboriginal Rights, and Protection, 36 Osgoode Hall Law Journal 3 (1998).
Current Research: Indigenous Legal Theory and Indigenous Legal Traditions (especially in relation to the legal and constitutional framework of Canada)
Slide25 : Gordon Christie
B.A. (Princeton); LL.B. (U.Vic); Ph.D. (philosophy) (University of California, Santa Barbara) Looking for a Meeting Place: Indigenous Legal Traditions in Canada’s Constitutional Structure
Collaborator(s): This project is part of a larger research endeavour funded by the Law Commission of Canada and the Indigenous Bar Association
Funding Source: Law Commission of Canada and the Indigenous Bar Association
Research Problem: The work takes place under the supposition that it might be possible to accommodate Indigenous legal traditions within Canada’s current constitutional and legal framework, with the bulk of the work being an investigation into how this might play out. The task is to work from the two ends of the problem inward, from the direction of Indigenous legal traditions toward a situation in which they are re-infused into the day-to-day lives of contemporary Aboriginal nations, and from a conceptualization of the current constitutional landscape to a situation within which Indigenous legal traditions are living elements of this landscape. The end result of this investigation will be some sense of whether in working from these two directions toward one another a common ground may be reached – that is, whether the original supposition is valid.
Research Methodology: The research will be primarily of an analytic nature, but based on an extensive literature review of both (a) other analyses that have looked at issues wrapped up in this sort of problem, and (b) empirical research that has looked into the present state of Indigenous legal traditions in Aboriginal nations across Canada. It will be necessary to get a sense of the extent to which Indigenous legal traditions already operate within Aboriginal nations across Canada, just as it will be necessary to canvass the work that others have put into thinking about how Indigenous legal traditions could come to animate the lives of Aboriginal peoples.
Slide26 : Catherine Dauvergne
BA (Carleton), MA (Political Theory, Carleton) LLB (UBC) PhD (Australian National University), Canada Research Chair in Migration Law Research Fields: immigration law, refugee law, citizenship law, legal theory, globalization
Representative Publications:
Humanitarianism, Identity and Nation, forthcoming, UBC Press, 2005
Jurisprudence for an Interconnected Globe, editor, Ashgate Press, 2003
‘Sovereignty, Migration and the Rule of Law in Global Times’ (2004) Modern Law Review, forthcoming
‘Burdened by Proof: How the Australian Refugee Review Tribunal has Failed Lesbians and Gay Men’ (2003) Federal Law Review co-authored with Jenni Millbank
Current Research: three on-going projects: 1. Globalization and Illegal Migration; 2. The Refugee Claims of Lesbians and Gay Men; 3. Women Asylum Seekers and Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
Recent Graduate Supervisions/ Examination: presently supervising 2 LLMs and on 2 PhD committee
Research Awards/ Honours: 2003-04 Early Career Scholar at the Peter Wall Institute of Advanced Study, headed a research team which won the 2000 Vice Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence at the University of Sydney
Service: Chair of the Faculty of Law Research Committee, member of the Faculty Advisory Committee for the Independent Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate Program, member of the Migration and Mobility working group
Slide27 : Catherine Dauvergne
BA (Carleton), MA (Political Theory, Carleton) LLB (UBC) PhD (Australian National University), Canada Research Chair in Migration Law Globalization and Illegal Migration
Funding Source(s): Canada Research Chairs Program
Research Problem: To examine the interrelationships of globalizing forces and the worldwide crack down on extra-legal migration
Research Method: Analysis of theoretical accounts of globalization and new laws from selected jurisdictions around the world
Deliverables: a book manuscript by the close of 2006 comtriibuting original empirical analysis of migration law phenomenon; helping to re-position law within theoretical accounts of globalization; 2 workshops.
Understanding Gender in the Canadian Asylum Process
Research Team: Leonora Angeles, SCARP & Women’s Studies / Gender Relations, UBC, & 5 graduate and law students
Funding Source: Status of Women Canada
Research Problem: To find out how procedural changes in Canada’s refugee process affect women and men differentially
Research Method: Our primary method is structured and open-ended interviews with approximately 100 refugee claimants, lawyers, and community activists in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. As a secondary part of our work, we are reviewing how well the new process conforms to Canadian and international standards of gender equity.
Deliverables : Final report to be delivered to Status of Women Canada in March 2005.
Refugee Claims of Lesbians & Gay Men
Research Team: Jenni Millbank, University of Sydney (and UBC Law LLM alumnus)
Funding Source(s): Law Foundation of NSW; U. Sydney, CRC Program; application to the Australian Res. Council pending
Research Problem: To find out how the refugee claims of lesbians, gay men, and other sexualized minorities are treated in major refugee receiving nations around the world
Research Method: Building a database of 1500-2000 decisions, subjecting it to quantitative and qualitative analysis
Deliverables:: 3 co-authored pieces already published, work to date has also led to supporting intervenor arguments in the Australian High Court in 2003 in the case of Appellant S395. This was the first case in our database to reach a final level appellate court. With reference to our work, the HCA granted the applicants a right to a new hearing.
Slide28 : Ronald B. Davis
LL.B. (Toronto); S.J.D. (Toronto) Research Fields: Pension and Trust Law; Corporate Law; Insolvency Law.
Representative Publications:
“Restructuring Proceedings and Pension Deficits: A Question of Risk and Reward” Annual Review of Insolvency Law 2003 29-65
“Investor Control of Multi-national Corporations: A Market for Corporate Governance Based on Justice and Fairness?”, Chapter 5, 131-155, in Janis Sarra, ed., Corporate Governance in Global Capital Markets (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2003)
“The Bonding Effects of Directors’ Statutory Wage Liability: An Interactive Corporate Governance Explanation”, (2002) 24 Law & Policy 405-435
Director and Officer Liability in Corporate Insolvency, (with Janis P. Sarra) (Markham & Vancouver: Butterworths Canada Inc., 2002)
Current Research: “A Duty to Warn: Bad Assets and Fiduciary Duty”; “Can Independent Directors Protect Minority Shareholders, and From What: An Analysis of the Hollinger Story”
Recent Graduate Supervisions/ Examination: LL.M Supervisor, William Todd; Ph.D. Committee Member, Micheal Ilg
Research Awards/ Honours: SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship (2001-2003); W.P.M. Kennedy Silver Medallist, University of Toronto (1990).
Service: Member, Editorial Board, Annual Review of Insolvency Law; Co-counsel Bathgate v. National Hockey League Pension Society (1994) 110 D.L.R. (4th) 609 (Ont. C.A.); Markle v. City of Toronto (2003) 63 0.R. 321 (Ont. C.A.)
Slide29 : Ronald B. Davis
LL.B. (Toronto) S.J.D. (Toronto) Project Title: “A Duty to Warn: Bad Assets and Fiduciary Duty”
Funding Source(s): Faculty of Law Research Grant (application submitted)
Research Problem: The project will address whether or not the present abysmal performance of pension plans can justify a claim of breach of fiduciary duty by plan administrators with respect to their choice of equities as a major investment of the pension funds. Scholars have recognized a serious mis-match between pension plan liabilities and equities as assets, the question is why pension plan administrators continued to increase the proportion of equities in their plan’s portfolio throughout the 1990’s. If one plausible explanation for doing so involves a conflict of interest, then the issue of a potential breach of fiduciary duty becomes more immediate.
Research Method: Legal research into the developing law concerning the content and scope of fiduciary duty in order to analyse the impact of these developments on the problem. It will also require research into economic and legal literature concerning pension liabilities and asset mixes in order to determine the knowledge available on this issue for the plan administrators and their professional advisors. Comparative law research will also be conducted on similar issues under U.S. law.
Deliverables and projected completion dates: A scholarly paper of publishable quality that will be of interest to scholars, employers, employees, retired plan members and policy makers in the pension law field.
Research completed: August 2004
Writing completed: October 2004
Editing and Proofreading: November 2004
Slide30 : Elizabeth Edinger
B.A. (UBC) 1964; LL.B. (UBC) 1967; B.C.L. (Oxford) 1977; Associate Professor Research Fields: Conflict of Laws, Constitutional Law and Creditors Remedies.
Service: Associate Dean, 1988-92, 1997-2003
Slide31 : Robin Elliot
B.Sc. (Hon.) (UBC); LL.B. (UBC); LL.M. (University of London); Associate Dean; Administration and Finance
Research Fields: Canadian Constitutional Law, Civil Liberties, Comparative Constitutional Law, Human Rights, Constitutional Theory.
Representative Publications:
“References, Structural Argumentation and the Organizing Principles of Canada’s Constitution”, (2001), 80 Can. Bar Rev., 67-142.
“Developments in Constitutional Law: The 1989-90 Term”, (1992) 2 Supreme Court Law Review, (2d) 83-173.
Weiler, J. and Elliot, R.M. (eds.), Litigating the Values of a Nation: The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Carswell, Toronto, Ontario, 1986, 426 pages.
Current Research: Study of Supreme Court of Canada’s approach to the Fundamental Freedoms category of the Charter.
Recent Graduate Supervisions/ Examination: David Hosking, LL.M (1992); Russell Binch, LL.M (2001); Carolin Bayer, LL.M (2001); Norma Oshynko, LL.M (2001); Michelle Good (2004, projected); John Soroski, Ph.D., Political Science (member of committee).
Research Awards/ Honours: Killam Research Prize 1988.
Service: Appointments Committee: (Member) 1997-98, (Chair) 1998-2000, (Co-Chair) 2000-02; Curriculum Committee: 2000-01; TAG Council: 1998-2002
Robin Elliot B.Sc. (Hon.) (UBC); LL.B. (UBC); LL.M. (University of London); Associate Dean; Administration and Finance : Robin Elliot B.Sc. (Hon.) (UBC); LL.B. (UBC); LL.M. (University of London); Associate Dean; Administration and Finance
"The Doctrine of Federal Paramountcy under Canada's Constitution"
Research Problem: to clarify the Supreme Court of Canada's current understanding of the nature and scope of the federal paramountcy doctrine, and to subject that understanding to critical scrutiny.
Research Method: a combination of doctrinal, analytical and theoretical.
Deliverables: completion summer 2005.
Slide33 : Isabel Grant
B.A. (Toronto), LL.B. (Dalhousie), LL.M. (Yale) Research Fields: criminal law, mental health law
Representative Publications:
“Canada’s Criminal Harassment Provisions: A Review of the First 10 Years” (2003) 29 Queen's L.J. 175-239 (with Natasha Bone and Kathy Grant).
"Disability and Performance Standards under the Ontario Human Rights Code" (2002) 1 Journal of Law and Equality, pp.205-246 (with Judith Mosoff)
“Punishing our Most Serious Crime: Rethinking the Sentencing Regime for Murder” (2001) Osgoode Hall L.J. 655-701.
“Anaphylaxis in Schools: A Legal Analysis" (2000) 10 Education and Law J. pp. 383-425.
“Exigent Circumstances: The Relevance of Repeated Abuse to the Defence of Duress" (1997) 2 Canadian Criminal Law Review pp. 331-370.
Current Research: “The Regulation of Suicide through Criminal law” and “Consent, Women with Disabilities and Canada’s Sexual Assault Provisions” (with Janine Benedet, Osgoode Hall Law School)
Recent Graduate Supervisions/ Examination: Joanne Klineberg (LL.M); Jeremy Rigg (LL.M)
Research Awards/ Honours: Killam Research Fellowship, Jan.-June 1997; Class of 1968, Research Prize (with J. Mosoff); Killam Research Fellowship Jan.-June 2000 (awarded in separate competition)
Service: Editorial Board, Criminal Law Forum; Editorial Board, International Journal of Criminal Law Education 2003; Chair, Mental Health Act Review Panel; Pro bono work on various cases for C.L.A.S. including Blackmun, Davidson, Fenton, O’Connor, Kliman, Beese, Winko (B.C. C.A.) 1991-96; Pro bono consultation on factum for Supreme Court of Canada factum in Winko v. B.C. and Beese v. B.C., 1997-98; Member of Working Committee for intervention at the Supreme Court of Canada in Gibbs v. Battleford Cooperative, Council for Canadians with Disabilities, 1996-1997; Member of Working Committee on the Impact of Legal Aid Cuts in B.C. for women(West Coast Leaf, 2002-present); Member of Working Committee on Impact of Cuts to Welfare and Disability in B.C. (West Coast Leaf, 2002-03)
Slide34 :
Douglas Harris
BA (History) UBC 1990; LLB Toronto 1993; LLM UBC 1998; PhD Osgoode Hall expected 2004 Research Fields: Legal History, Fisheries Law, First Nations Law, Property Law, Law and Geography.
Representative Publications:
‘Indian Reserves, Aboriginal Fisheries, and Anglo-Canadian Law, 1876-1882’ in J. McLaren et al eds. Despotic Dominion: Property Rights in British Settler Societies (Vancouver: UBC Press, forthcoming 2004)
‘Indigenous Territoriality in Canadian Law’ in A. Walkem et al eds., Box of Treasures or Empty Box?: Twenty Years of Section 35 (Penticton, B.C.” Theytus Books, 2003)
Fish, Law, and Colonialism: The Legal Capture of Salmon in British Columbia (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001)
Current Research: The Historical and Legal Geography of Aboriginal Fishing Rights in British Columbia
Recent Graduate Supervisions/ Examination: PhD committee member: S. McGilligan (in progress); D. Schrieber 2003. LLM Supervisor: C. Chow (in progress); Karen Gee (in progress).
Research Awards/ Honours: Early Career Scholar, Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Study, 2003/04; Certificate of Honour for Historical Writing, BC Historical Federation, 2001
Service: Law Faculty Appointments Committee, 2003/04; UBC Faculty of Law Dean Selection Committee, 2002/03
Slide35 : Douglas Harris
BA (History) UBC 1990; LLB Toronto 1993; LLM UBC 1998; PhD Osgoode Hall expected 2004 The Legal Geography of Aboriginal Fishing Rights in British Columbia
Funding Source(s) (if applicable): Coasts Under Stress (funded by SSHRC and NSERC); Law Foundation of British Columbia UBC Faculty of Law Endowment; York University
Research Problem: To describe and map the state regulation of the Aboriginal fisheries in late nineteenth and early twentieth century British Columbia, and in the context of this legal/historical work, to understand and critique the evolution and treatment of Aboriginal fishing rights in Canadian courts.
Research Method: Extensive analysis of historical documents including government records, legal records, private papers, and newspapers, and of recent decisions involving Aboriginal fishing rights in Canadian courts.
Deliverables and projected completion dates: PhD thesis expected Spring 2004
Slide36 : Name: Shi-Ling Hsu
B.S.E.E. (Columbia); J.D. (Columbia.); M.S. (Ecology, University of California, Davis); Ph.D. (Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis). Research Fields: Environmental Law, Comparative and International Environmental Law, Law and Economics, Property.
Representative Publications:
Fairness Versus Efficiency in Environmental Law, __ Ecology L. Q.___ (forthcoming in 2004).
Book Review: Environmental Law and Policy, by James Salzman and Barton H. Thompson, Jr., 49 Ecological Economics 492 (2004).
A Two-Dimensional Framework of Property Rights Regimes. 36 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 813 (2003).
A Game-Theoretic Approach to Regulatory Negotiation and a Framework for Empirical Analysis. 26 Harv. Envtl. L. Rev. 33 (2002).
A Defense of Cost-Benefit Analysis for Natural Resource Policy. 32 Envtl. L. Rep. 10239 (February 2002) (with John Loomis).
R educing Emissions from the Electricity Generating Industry: Can We Finally Do It? 14 Tulane Envtl. L. J. 427 (2001).
The Potential and Pitfalls of Habitat Conservation Planning Under the Endangered Species Act. 29 Envtl. L. Rep. 10592 (Oct 1999).
The External Damage Costs of Direct Noise From Motor Vehicles. 1 J. Transportation and Statistics 1 (Jan 1999).
Ecosystem Management and the 1996 Sustainable Fisheries Act. 24 Ecology L. Q. 799 (1997) (with J. Wilen).
Current Research: Overcapitalization and Environmental Law and Policy; Cost-Benefit Analysis in Environmental Policymaking.
Recent Graduate Supervisions: “Designation of Critical Habitat on Department of Defense Installations – A Changing Landscape,” by David Kendrick (LLM, George Washington).
Slide37 : Michelle LeBaron
LL.B. (University of British Columbia) 1980; Droit Civil Exchange Program (Universite de Sherbrooke) 1980; M.A., Instructional Psychology, (Simon Fraser University) 1990; B.A., Communication and Psychology (Chapman University, Orange, California) 1977. Research Fields: conflict resolution and law; gender, law and conflict; cross-cultural conflict resolution; the scholarship of teaching and learning
Representative Publications:
Learning New Dances: Finding Effective Ways of Address Intercultural Disputes, 2004. (In Catherine Bell and David Kahane (Eds.) Intercultural Dispute Resolution in Aboriginal Contexts: Canadian and International Perspectives. Vancouver, British Columbia: University of British Columbia Press)
Bridging Cultural Conflicts: A New Approach for a Changing World, 2003. (Jossey Bass, San Francisco)
Bridging Troubled Waters: Conflict Resolution from the Heart, 2002. (Jossey Bass, San Francisco)
Culture and Conflict: A Literature Review and Bibliography, 2001. (Victoria, British Columbia: University of Victoria Institute for Dispute Resolution)
LeBaron, Michelle and Zena D. Zumeta. (2003). Windows on Diversity: Lawyers, Culture and Mediation Practice. Conflict Resolution Quarterly.
Current Research: Cross-cultural Dispute Resolution in Canada, China and Japan; Creative Approaches to Cross-cultural Community Conflicts
Recent Graduate Supervisions/ Examination: Amr Abdalla, PhD (2001); Berenike Carstarphen, PhD (2003); Jo Golden, PhD (2004, projected)
Research Awards/ Honours: Celebration of Learning grant. George Mason University. 1999. Virginia COOL (Campus Outreach Opportunity League) fellowship in service learning, Richmond, Virginia. 1998 ‑ 1999. Readership in Women's Studies, George Mason University. 1995 ‑ 1996
Service: Board of Directors member, Institute for Multitrack Diplomacy, Washington, DC 1993 –2003; Public Conversations Project, Watertown, MA, International Advisory Board member, 1996 - present
Slide38 : Michelle LeBaron
LL.B. (University of British Columbia) 1980; Droit Civil Exchange Program (Universite de Sherbrooke) 1980; M.A., Instructional Psychology, (Simon Fraser University) 1990; B.A., Communication and Psychology (Chapman University, Orange, California) 1977.
“Asia Pacific Program on Cross-Cultural and Comparative Research on Dispute Resolution”
Collaborators/ Research Team: Pitman Potter, PI; Michelle LeBaron collaborator and Chair, Cross-cultural dispute resolution team
Funding Source(s): SSHRC, Major collaborative research initiative
Research Problem: Investigates the comparative resolution of human rights and trade disputes in Japan, China and Canada
Research Method: data collection via literature search, survey research and focus group interviews
Deliverables and projected completion dates: project runs from 2003-2008, with deliverables including books, monographs and several collaborative conferences
Slide39 :
Bruce MacDougall
B.A.(Hons.) (Acadia); B.A., B.C.L., M.A. (Oxon.); LL.B.(Dalhousie); Member of the BC Bar
Research Fields: law of obligations, secured transactions, sexuality law
Representative Publications:
Queer Judgments: Homosexuality, Expression and the Courts in Canada, Univ. Toronto Press, 2000
Current Research: “The Legally Queer Child” - Examining the invisibility of the queer child in legal issues, even those (such as school curriculum) where children are squarely implicated.
Service: Faculty Advisor of UBC Law Review; Law Representative on UBC Senior Appointments Committee
Slide40 : June McCue
B.A. (Hons) Carleton University, LL.B. University of Ottawa, LL.M. UBC Research Fields: Indigenous Law and Theory, Decolonization, International, Critical Race Theory, Property
Representative Publications:
“Box of Treasures or Empty Box?” in Box of Treasures or Empty Box?: Twenty Years of Section 35 (Penticton: Theytus Books Ltd., 2003)
“The Duty to Consult and Accommodate: Our We Making Our Own Decisions?” (forthcoming)
“Indigenous Truthing: Reflections on the 2001 World Conference Against Racism” (forthcoming)
Current Research: Centre for International Indigenous Legal Studies “Community Legal Needs Assessment”; First Nations Culture Repatriation Project
Recent Graduate Supervisions/ Examination: Victoria Kingi (LL.M. candidate), Mark Stevenson (LL.M. candidate), Dalee Sambo Dorough (Ph.D.), Tuma Young (Ph.D. candidate), Joanna Roberts (LL.M. candidate), Lynda Crompton (LL.M. candidate)
Service: First Nations Law Committee, UBC (Chair); Centre for International Indigenous Legal Studies, UBC; Curriculum Committee, UBC; Equity Committee, UBC; Dean’s Advisory Committee, UBC; Admissions Committee, UBC; First Nations House of Learning Advisory Council, UBC; UBC Indigenous Academic Caucus.
EAGLE-Environmental-Aboriginal Guardianship through Law and Education, Chair
Hereditary Chief Advisor to Nedo’ats
Slide41 : June McCue
B.A. (Hons) Carleton University, LL.B. University of Ottawa, LL.M. UBC “Center for International Indigenous Legal Studies: Community Legal Needs Assessment”
Collaborators/ Research Team (if any): June McCue, Principal Investigator, First Nations Legal Studies and CIILS staff, indigenous law students, and Indigenous CLNA participants
Funding Source(s) (if applicable): Law Foundation of B.C., Legal Services Society of B.C., UBC Faculty of Law
Research Problem: Identify the legal needs of Indigenous Peoples in B.C. for the purpose of CIILS research and education program development and First Nations Legal Studies curriculum development.
Research Method: Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to identify legal needs of Indigenous Peoples. Specific methods included focus groups and individual surveys. Indigenous Research Ethics were developed based on participant feedback to guide CIILS in the reporting stages. Indigenous participants have joint copyright to the qualitative portions of the CLNA.
Deliverables and projected completion dates: CIILS and FNLS staff were able to identify legal needs at individual, organizational, and nation levels for Indigenous Peoples throughout B.C. Dominant legal needs include: Aboriginal Family and Child Welfare, Criminal Justice, Governance, Indigenous Law, Economic/Business Law, Residential School Litigation, Indigenous Rights, Conflict Resolution, Land Claims and Treaty Negotiations.
Completion date: Summer 2004
Slide42 : Judith Mosoff
B.A. (University of Toronto); M.A. (Psychology) (York.); LL.M. (University of British Columbia Research Fields: disability; human rights and equality,
Representative Publications:
“Disability and Performance Standards under the Ontario Human Rights Code” (2002) 1 (2), Journal of Law and Equality, pp.205-246 (Co-author Isabel Grant); "Is the Human Rights Paradigm ‘Able’ to Include Disability: Who’s In? Who Wins? What? Why?" (2000) 26 (1) Queens Law Journal pp. 225-276
“‘Excessive Demand’ on the