Faculty

A member of Osgoode’s faculty since 1982, Professor Allan Hutchinson served as Associate Dean from 1994 to 1996 and later, in 2003, he was named Associate Dean (Research, Graduate Studies and External Relations). Professor Hutchinson is a legal theorist with an international reputation for his original and provocative writings. He was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 2004 and named a Distinguished Research Professor by York University in 2006.  His research interests are law and politics; legal theory; the legal profession; constitutional law; torts; jurisprudence; civil procedure; and racism and law. As well as publishing in most of the common-law world’s leading law journals, he has written or edited many books. Much of his work has been devoted to examining the failure of law to live up to its democratic promise. His latest publications are Evolution and the Common Law (Cambridge University Press, 2005) and The Companies We Keep: Corporate Governance for a Democratic Society (Irwin Law, 2006). In 2007, he received the University-wide Teaching Award and was a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School.

Caroline Mandell, B.A. (Hon.), J.D., M.A. (Toronto), was called to the bar of Ontario in 2005. From 2007-2017, Caroline was legal counsel at the Court of Appeal for Ontario, where she assisted the judges of the court with complex appeals in all areas of the law. Caroline has particular expertise in public law and the Charter and worked on several high-profile constitutional appeals (civil and criminal).

Caroline was also the Court’s liaison for mental health appeals, including appeals from the Ontario Review Board and the Consent and Capacity Board. Caroline is an adjunct professor of Legal Research and Writing at U of T’s Faculty of Law and works with students and lawyers at all levels as a private legal writing coach.

Dan Priel joined Osgoode’s full-time faculty in 2011.  Prior to that, he was a Visiting Professor at Osgoode during the 2010-11 academic year and an Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick in the UK. From 2005 to 2007, he was Oscar M. Ruebhausen Fellow-in-Law at Yale Law School, and before that a postgraduate student at the University of Oxford, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation. He served as law clerk in the Israeli Supreme Court, and was co-editor-in-chief of the student-edited law journal at the Hebrew University Law Faculty. His current research interests include legal theory, private law (especially tort law and restitution), and he is also interested in legal history and in the application of the social sciences, in particular psychology, to legal research. His published work appeared in Law and Philosophy, Legal Theory, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, and Texas Law Review.

David Goodis is Assistant Commissioner (Policy & Corporate Services) with the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. David is a graduate of Western University’s law school and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1988. David has represented the IPC in hearings before the Divisional Court, the Ontario Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada.

David recently co-authored the 2017-2018 Annotated Ontario Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Acts, and teaches Canadian administrative law to foreign-trained lawyers at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law.

W. David Rankin is a partner of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in the Litigation Department. He carries on a general commercial litigation practice, with a focus on appellate litigation, administrative and constitutional litigation, and class actions.

David has appeared as counsel before the Supreme Court of Canada on ten separate occasions. He has also appeared as counsel in the Federal Court of Appeal, the British Columbia Court of Appeal, the New Brunswick Court of Appeal, the Federal Court of Canada, and the superior courts of various provinces. David is a co-author of Sopinka and Gelowitz on the Conduct of an Appeal, 4th Edition, a leading resource for litigators and judges on appellate practice and procedure.

David received his J.D. (Hons.) from the University of Toronto in 2010 (Silver Medal), and is called to the Bars of Alberta (2011) and Ontario (2013). Before joining Osler, David served as a law clerk to The Honourable Mr. Justice Morris J. Fish of the Supreme Court of Canada.

Emanuel Tucsa is a scholar of the legal profession. His work focuses on legal ethics in Canada and the United States. He earned his PhD and LLM in legal ethics from Osgoode Hall Law School, writing about the role of lawyers in knowledge production and applying his model to the problem of client perjury. Emanuel’s research and teaching emphasize professional formation and skills development. He is a member of the Canadian Association for Legal Ethics and has given numerous presentations about legal ethics and legal education at Canadian and international conferences. In addition to his research and teaching on the legal profession, Emanuel has published in the field of jurisprudence.

Emanuel has also taught contract law, legal research, and the sociology of law in undergraduate and college programs in the legal field at York University, Wilfred Laurier University, and Seneca College. He has been nominated for awards for his teaching, both at Osgoode and at the undergraduate level.

Faisal Bhabha is an Associate Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Canada. He has researched and published in the areas of constitutional law, multiculturalism, law and religion, disability rights, national security and access to justice. He teaches constitutional law, human rights, legal ethics, and appellate advocacy. Previously, he sat as Vice-chair of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (2008-2011). He maintains a varied public and private law practice, appearing before administrative boards and tribunals and at all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada. He advises and represents a variety of individuals and public interest organizations in matters pertaining to constitutional law and human rights. He has appeared as an expert witness before Canadian parliamentary committees and served as a member of the Equity Advisory Group of the Law Society of Ontario. He has lived and worked in the Middle East and South Africa, and has lectured and taught in many countries. He is currently a senior editor with the International Review of Human Rights Law.

Ghislaine Lanteigne completed her Ph.D. in family law at University College London, UK, in December 2015. Her research focused on the best interests of the child in family relocation using a socio-legal and comparative approach to analyse law and professional practices in England and Wales, and in Canada. She has published on family law in European legal journals and presented findings from her Ph.D. research at international conferences. She was Assistant Professor at the Universite de Moncton, New Brunswick in 2005-2008 (Constitutional Law, Family Law, Public International Law, Private International Law, and ADR). in 2008-2010, she worked as a lawyer in Toronto mainly in international and Ontario business law. She has been teaching Public and Constitutional Law at Osgoode Professional Development since 2017.

Prior to specializing and working in law, Ghislaine worked as a researcher mainly for the Canadian Government in socio-economic policies. She has managerial experience having established and coordinated a French language Training Program for the Prince Edward Island Government. She also worked teaching French at a university level (the University of Victoria, Royal Roads Military College, and the Open University, UK). For the University of Birmingham, UK, she acted as a researcher developing a curriculum for an MA distance course in translation.

MA Sociology (Aix-Marseille), MA Translation Studies – Linguistics (Birmingham), LLB Hons (Coventry), LLB Canadian equivalence (Moncton), LLM (London School of Economics), Ph.D. (University College London). Admitted to the Law Societies of Ontario, New Brunswick, and England and Wales.

Irina Ceric has been a faculty member in the Criminology Department of Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, BC since 2015 and holds a PhD from Osgoode Hall Law School. Before shifting into academia, she practiced criminal defence, constitutional, and clinical law in Toronto and Vancouver. Irina also has extensive experience in community legal education and non-profit governance. Her recent scholarly and activist work has focused on the intersections of law and social movements, particularly issues such state repression, injunctions, and activist legal defence. Irina is a member of the Law Society of BC and the New York State Bar.

Jeff Haylock holds an Hons.B.A. in history and linguistics from Trinity College, University of Toronto, an M.Phil. in linguistics from Queens’ College, University of Cambridge, an LL.B. from Dalhousie University and an LL.M. from Queens’ College, University of Cambridge. He has published articles in the fields of legal history, private international law and administrative law. After finishing his legal education he completed clerkships with the Hon.

Justice Eleanor Dawson of the Federal Court of Appeal and the Hon. Justice Thomas Cromwell of the Supreme Court of Canada. He currently practises corporate/commercial, civil and regulatory litigation at Polley Faith LLP in Toronto.

Jennifer Micallef practices in all areas of Labour and Administrative Law. She joined Ryder Wright Blair & Holmes LLP in 2016, after spending six years practising a mix of labour and criminal law, specializing in defending union members charged with criminal offences in the workplace.

As a result of this experience, she is adept at managing the repercussions that can follow workplace criminal charges, including terminations, suspensions, and professional discipline. Throughout her career, she has assisted in representing clients in Injunction Proceedings, Judicial Reviews, and Appeals, including in matters before the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.

Keith Taller is a graduate of York University’s Departments of Psychology and Political Science and Osgoode Hall Law School. He articled at the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, where he practiced for a further two years as Counsel at the seconded legal services branch of the Family Responsibility Office. There he gained experience litigating numerous contested proceedings at the Ontario Court of Justice, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Family Court of the Superior Court of Justice, and the Ontario Court of Appeal.

Following this, he carried his advocacy experience into the private sector, where he practiced civil litigation for several years. He also worked for the City Solicitor’s Office at the City of Hamilton, where he advised and represented the City in civil litigation, public health, and bylaw enforcement matters.

Keith is currently employed in the Policy, Research, and External Relations Division of Legal Aid Ontario, a publicly funded non-profit corporation which provides legal services to low-income individuals. He is currently completing the Master of Public Administration Program at Queen’s University. He has taught in the LL.M. program’s Civil Litigation and Administrative Law, Business Associations, and Advanced Contracts classes since 2016.

Laleh Hedayati is an associate at Rachlin & Wolfson LLP in Toronto. She received her B.A. (Honours) from the University of Toronto, LL.B degree from the University of Leicester, United Kingdom, and her LL.M from De Montfort University, United Kingdom.

She practices civil litigation with a focus on insurance defence as well as plaintiff personal injury.

Having volunteered extensively at various organizations, Laleh is passionate about advocating, the legal profession, and combining legal practice with academia. Laleh is an instructor of law courses at Osgoode Hall Law School – Professional Development, an instructor with the Osgoode Hall Law School Intensive Trial Advocacy Workshop – Professional Development, an instructor with the Lincoln Alexander School of Law – Toronto Metropolitan University (the former Ryerson University), and a mentor and assessor with the Law Practice Program at Toronto Metropolitan University (the former Ryerson University).

Laleh is a member of the Canadian and Ontario Bar Association, Trial Lawyers Association, and Canadian Defence Lawyers.

Larissa Katz holds the Canada Research Chair in Private Law Theory. Prior to joining the Faculty of Law in 2013, Professor Katz clerked for the late Justice Charles D. Gonthier at the Supreme Court of Canada, worked in litigation at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP (NY) and taught at Queen’s University, Faculty of Law.

Professor Katz writes about moral, political and social issues relating to private law generally and property law in particular. Her work has been published in journals such as Theoretical Inquiries in Law, Yale Law Journal, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Legal Theory, Jurisprudence, University of Toronto Law Journal, McGill Law Journal and the Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence. Her work is included in anthologies such as The Philosophical Foundations of Property Law (Oxford University Press) and The Cambridge Companion to Law and Philosophy (Cambridge U. Press, forthcoming)

Professor Katz has been a visiting fellow at the John Fleming Centre for the Advancement of Legal Research at the Australian National University, a Visiting Professor at Sciences Po (Paris) and an HLA Hart Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Center for Ethics & Philosophy of Law, Oxford University. Professor Katz actively works on issues in law and policy in Canada and the United States. She has presented to and consulted for the Department of Justice and Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development on aboriginal title and the idea of property in law. Professor Katz serves as a member of the International Advisory Panel for the American Law Institute’s project on the Restatement of the Law (Fourth), Property.

Malcolm Thorburn is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, the University of Toronto where he teaches criminal law and evidence law. He holds degrees in philosophy from the University of Toronto and the University of Pennsylvania and degrees in law from the University of Toronto and Columbia Law School. He served as Law Clerk to Mr. Justice Louis LeBel at the Supreme Court of Canada in 2000-2001. He has held visiting fellowships at the Australian National University (2008), Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (2011), the French National Centre for Criminology (CESDIP) in Paris, France (2011) and Magdalen College, Oxford (2011-2012). Until 2012, he held the Canada Research Chair in Crime, Security, and Constitutionalism at Queen’s University.

His writing focuses on theoretical issues in and around criminal justice and constitutional theory. His work has appeared in such publications as the Yale Law Journal, the Boston University Law Review, the University of Toronto Law Journal, and many book collections. He is the editor of two books: The Philosophical Foundations of Constitutional Law (Oxford University Press, 2016) (with David Dyzenhaus) and The Dignity of Law (LexisNexis, 2015) (with Dwight Newman).

He is the book review editor of the University of Toronto Law Journal, an associate editor of New Criminal Law Review and a member of the editorial boards of Law and Philosophy and Criminal Law and Philosophy.

Morvarid Shojaei is an Assistant Crown Attorney at Ministry of the Attorney General. Previously, Morvarid worked at the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, as A/Deputy Director and Crown Counsel, where she focused on administrative law, police oversight and disciplinary proceedings. She is also experienced in policy development and transition planning.

Before being called to the bar, Morvarid worked and volunteered for several government and public agencies, including the Government of Canada and the City of Toronto.

Morvarid obtained her LLB from Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran and completed her MA in Criminology and Sociolegal studies from the University of Toronto and her LLM from Osgoode Professional Development. Morvarid was called to the bar in 2017 and is a member of the Law Society of Ontario.

Naomi Bussin is a lawyer and mediator with over 25 years’ experience in the public and administrative law sectors. Naomi has worked for the Law Society of Ontario since 2002, currently as Director, Intake & Resolution. In these positions, she has worked on many aspects of professional regulation, including complaints handling, investigations, prosecutions and regulatory policy development.

Naomi graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1991 and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1993. She obtained an LLM in Alternative Dispute Resolution in 1999. Prior to joining the Law Society, Naomi was a full-time mediator for a number of years at the Financial Services Commission of Ontario, and a policy advisor with the Ontario government, working on a project to improve dispute resolution systems at Ontario’s agencies, boards, and tribunals.

Naomi also enjoys food and reading cookbooks, which she reviews as a regular columnist for Tonic Magazine and guests on the Tonic talk show.

Natalija Popovic is Senior Enforcement Counsel for the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, IIROC, the national regulator of its member firms and investment advisors. Educated at U of T and Western, she has over 20 years of experience predominantly in the area of professional discipline and securities regulation.

Previously, Ms. Popovic practiced commercial litigation in downtown Toronto, including professional discipline for the accounting profession. In addition to Ontario, Ms. Popovic was also called to the bar in Bermuda in 1999, where she worked in institutional compliance at the Bank of Butterfield. She has a background as policy counsel at The Toronto Stock Exchange and Market Regulation Services Inc.

Ms. Popovic is an instructor with the Osgoode Hall Canadian Common Law Program. She is also an adjunct professor with the U of T Global Professional LLM program. She has held roles as an instructor at the U of T Internationally Trained Lawyers Program, at the bar admission course, as a moot court judge, and with the inaugural Ryerson University Law Practice Program.

Nicole Chrolavicius is counsel to Pooranlaw. She is an experienced litigation lawyer specializing in human rights, employment, and administrative law. She has acted for clients across various contexts including before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the Ontario Superior Court and the Divisional Court (Ontario).

Nicole completed her LL.B. at the University of Western Ontario where she was named Valedictorian and graduated with distinction in 2000. She was the recipient of numerous academic awards including an award for the highest standing in the first year of the LL.B. program and a Faculty Association scholarship in law. After graduation, Nicole clerked for the Honourable Mr. Justice Major of the Supreme Court of Canada. Following the clerkship, Nicole took a position as a general litigation lawyer in a large Canadian law firm. She left to pursue graduate studies abroad and obtained her B.C.L. degree from Oxford University in 2004 with a specialization in human rights and legal philosophy. In London, England from 2004 – 2006, she ran the charity arm of one of the U.K.’s leading human rights organizations, providing free legal advice to members of the public and winning an award for coordinating the Pro Bono Activity of the Year.

She also co-authored a book on privacy law in the U.K. entitled Blackstone’s Guide to the Identity Cards Act 2006, published by Oxford University Press.

B.A. (Toronto), LLB (Windsor)

M. Sandy Di Martino studied French Language and Linguistics and Italian Studies (with a focus on Language and Linguistics and Renaissance Literature) at the University of Toronto and received her Bachelor of Arts (with High Distinction) degree in 1995. Ms. Di Martino received her LL.B in 2001 from the University of Windsor. She articled with Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP in Toronto (now Dentons Canada LLP) and was called to the Ontario Bar in 2002.

Ms. Di Martino practised Civil Litigation at Fraser Milner Casgrain LLO in Toronto from 2002 to 2006. Her practice was focused in the areas of professional negligence and construction litigation in addition to general civil litigation. She also participated in mentoring students, articling students, and first-year associates.

Ms. Di Martino then decided to pursue her passion for criminal law and she began that pursuit as an Assistant Crown Attorney (Criminal Law Division) from January 2007 to December 2008 in Brampton and Halton Regions. She conducted numerous bail hearings, assisted in plea court, and conducted trials mainly at the Ontario Court of Justice level with some experience at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

Ms. Di Martino then returned to private practice for approximately eight months (from January 2009 to August 2009) where she practiced civil litigation at Theall Group LLP. Her practice during that period of time was focused in the areas of product liability, trade-marks litigation, insurance coverage, regulatory matters, and construction law.

Ms. Di Martino then decided to return to her passion for criminal law and she started her own criminal defence practice in September 2009 (M. Sandy Di Martino, Barrister, and Solicitor). Approximately half of her practice is focused on prosecution work as Per Diem Crown Counsel (Criminal Law Division) primarily in the Central West Region (namely, Guelph and Peel Regions), including bail hearings (both adult and youth), trials, plea and set date court. She is also a Member of the Criminal Duty Counsel Panel in Peel, York, and Toronto Regions since 2009. Sandy maintains a limited defence practice as she is pursuing her second passion for teaching in the area of criminal law. She has taught the Criminal Law Course as a Sessional Instructor in the Summer 2017 and 2018 Terms at Osgoode Hall Law School as part of the Canadian Common Law Program, Osgoode Professional Development. She has also taught The Legal Profession in the Winter 2018 Term as a Sessional Instructor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Windsor. She will be returning to teach The Legal Profession and Criminal Law in the Winter 2019 Term at the Faculty of Law at the University of Windsor. She is also working on an advanced criminal law course (“Social Issues in Criminal Justice”) to be offered to upper-year law students at the Faculty of Law at the University of Windsor in the Fall 2019 Term. Given the vast experience over the years, she has developed an appreciation for both perspectives in a courtroom, defence and Crown.

Sharon Wang joined the Law Library in 2006 as a Reference Librarian and became an adjunct faculty of the law school since 2008.

Prior to joining Osgoode, she worked at McGill University libraries’ Government Document Department, spent one summer at the Library of Parliament, and held various part-time positions at McGill Law Library. Read her full bio here.

Shelley Kierstead’s research interests lie in the areas of family law, access to justice, and dispute resolution.  She has also conducted research in the conflict of laws area, completing a Master of Laws degree focusing on this topic at the University of Toronto 1993.  Professor Kierstead first taught Legal Research and Writing (LRW) at Osgoode in 1993, and became Director of the LRW program at Osgoode in 2002. In 2005, she completed a doctoral dissertation in the family law area and obtained a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Osgoode Hall Law School.  Since 1997, Professor Kierstead has also coordinated a parent education program for separating parents entitled the “Parent Information Program.” This program is an initiative of Osgoode’s Centre for Public Law and Public Policy.

Stephanie Ben-Ishai is a Distinguished Research Professor and Full Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, where she engages in research and teaching on bankruptcy, contract, commercial law, and financial crises. She has authored or co-authored nine books and more than 50 refereed articles, including seminal and innovative texts on bankruptcy and contract law. She holds her LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School, and her LLM from Harvard Law School, where she studied as a Fulbright Scholar and SSHRC Doctoral Scholar as well as receiving the American Bankruptcy Institute Medal of Excellence on graduation.

Professor Ben-Ishai has been nationally and internationally recognized as an expert in each of her research areas. She has been consulted by private actors, governments and self-regulatory institutions, and served as a Scholar in Residence with the Law Commission of Ontario. Her work has been cited by every level of Canadian court and she has given expert testimony to Canadian and American courts. Professor Ben-Ishai’s research has been consistently funded by research grants, including four major Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) grants as Principal Investigator; other significant grants have been provided by the Law Foundation of Ontario, the Law Commission of Canada, Industry Canada, and the Schulich School of Business National Research Program in Financial Services and Public Policy.

An active participant in domestic and international professional committees, research networks and law reform efforts, Professor Ben-Ishai also serves as Co-Founder and Editor of the Insolvency Institute of Canada Law Journal, established in 2011. To date, she has held visiting professorships at eight law schools in four countries, and has served as an INSOL International Scholar, Distinguished Fulbright Fellow, Sprout Fellow in Canadian Studies and the Thomas Feeney Visiting Professor of Business Law. Her research contributions have been presented at conferences around the world to lay audiences, lawyers, judges and academic colleagues from a wide range of academic disciplines.

Professor Ben-Ishai has taught courses across the private law curriculum in multiple formats (online, video conference, seminar, lecture and small group) of varying lengths and intensity across Canada, in the United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand at the undergraduate law and social science and graduate levels. She also serves as the Academic Director of the Osgoode Business Clinic, which provides legal advice to small businesses which might not otherwise be able to afford legal services.

At Osgoode, Professor Ben-Ishai has held a number of senior administrative responsibilities, including as Director of the graduate programs in Bankruptcy and Banking and Finance Law. She has chaired almost every major Law School committee, including, most recently, the Faculty Recruitment Committee and Faculty Council, served on the University Senate and as a Director of Parkdale Community Legal Services.

Professor Ben-Ishai has supervised graduate level research in bankruptcy, banking, contracts, corporate/commercial law, and financial regulation. She is willing to read novel proposals in this area from strong students interested in working with her.

Trevor Guy is a lawyer with a long-standing interest in administrative law. After graduating from Osgoode Hall and his call to the bar in 2006, he started practicing administrative and commercial law litigation at a national full-service firm. Eventually, his interest in administrative law took him to the Ontario public service, first to the Ministry of Citizenship, Immigration and International Trade, then to Tribunals Ontario, where he advises the cluster’s tribunals on a wide range of substantive and procedural matters, and acts on the litigation arising from the tribunals’ decisions. He has taught administrative law as part of Osgoode’s Professional Development LLM program since 2020.