Osgoode Hall Law School Announces New Faculty Appointments, Visiting Fellowships and Artists In Residence

Publication Date

16-6-2015

Document Type

News Article

Abstract

TORONTO, June 16, 2015 – Osgoode Hall Law School at York University has announced a number of new faculty appointments, visiting fellowships and artists in residence that build on its commitment to experiential education, research intensification, innovation and community engagement.

“Osgoode’s new faculty appointments bring expertise, energy and leadership to the Law School,” said Osgoode Dean Lorne Sossin. “They are diverse and outstanding scholars who will advance Osgoode’s commitment to the highest standards in teaching, research and public service.”

Deborah McGregor, PhD (Toronto), is Anishinaabe from Whitefish River First Nation, Ontario. Her research focus is on indigenous knowledge in relation to environmental governance. McGregor will start at Osgoode on July 1 and will be co-appointed with York’s Faculty of Environmental Studies. Also joining the Osgoode full-time faculty on July 1 is Lisa Dufraimont, JD (Toronto), LLM, JSD (Yale), a leading scholar on criminal justice and evidence law, who comes to Osgoode from the Faculty of Law at Queen’s University. A third faculty appointment, Palma Paciocco, is currently an SJD candidate and a SSHRC doctoral fellow at Harvard Law School and will begin at Osgoode on July 1, 2016.

With these new faculty appointments, Osgoode’s faculty will achieve gender parity for the first time in the Law School’s 125-year history.

The upcoming 2015-16 academic year will mark the fourth successful year of Osgoode’s McMurtry Visiting Clinical Fellowship program. The Law School welcomes the arrival of three outstanding lawyers as McMurtry Fellows: Mary Eberts, Joanna Radbord ‘97 and Roger Rowe ’87. “We can look forward to a remarkable year ahead in which the McMurtry Fellows will be providing mentorship to students engaged in experiential and clinical programs,” Sossin said.

He also advised that documentary filmmakers Kami Chisholm and Nadine Valcin will be the Osgoode Artists in Residence for the 2015-16 academic year. Osgoode’s Artist in Residence program brings together artistic creativity with the exploration of justice and the law. Under this innovative program, the Law School annually brings in an artist or artists from across diverse media and artistic disciplines to work on projects focused on interpreting legal history, examining law's realities today, and imagining law's future, whether in Canada or elsewhere in the world.

Chisholm is a filmmaker, community educator, and activist, and Valcin is an award-winning bilingual producer, writer and director. While in residency at Osgoode, Chisholm will collaborate with Osgoode students on a feature length documentary film, Citizen. Meanwhile, Valcin will work with students to integrate research on the history of slavery in Canada into an original and compelling interactive documentary experience.

The Law School is also delighted to welcome David Lepofsky ’79 back to Osgoode as a Visiting Professor starting January 1, 2016. A strong advocate for the rights of persons with disabilities, Lepofsky will help further enhance Osgoode’s legal education program in areas such as public interest lawyering, legal ethics, pro bono lawyering, and the role of the lawyer in law reform and community organizing/advocacy. He will play a key role in developing the relationship between Osgoode’s Public Interest Program (OPIR) and its courses and initiatives in legal professionalism.

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York University is helping to shape the global thinkers and thinking that will define tomorrow. York U’s unwavering commitment to excellence reflects a rich diversity of perspectives and a strong sense of social responsibility that sets us apart. A York U degree empowers graduates to thrive in the world and achieve their life goals through a rigorous academic foundation balanced by real-world experiential education. As a globally recognized research centre, York U is fully engaged in the critical discussions that lead to innovative solutions to the most pressing local and global social challenges. York U’s 11 faculties and 27 research centres are thinking bigger, broader and more globally, partnering with 288 leading universities worldwide. York U’s community is strong − 55,000 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, and more than 275,000 alumni.

Media Contact:

Virginia Corner, Communications Manager, Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, 416-736-5820, vcorner@osgoode.yorku.ca

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