Welcome to YFile’s 2023 New Faces feature issue

September 14, 2023

In this special issue, YFile introduces new faculty members joining the York University community and highlights those with new appointments.

This fall, York welcomes new faculty members in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design; the Faculty of Education; the Faculty of Health; the Lassonde School of Engineering; the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies; the Faculty of Science; the Schulich School of Business; and Glendon College.

Liberal Arts & Professional Studies welcomes 34 new faculty members

Faculty of Health professors bring new perspectives on well-being

New Faculty of Science members to further York’s scientific innovation, impact

AMPD professors to shape the future of art

Schulich welcomes four new faculty members

New Lassonde faculty to advance cybersecurity, artificial intelligence

Faculty of Education’s new faces to shape future of teaching, learning

Glendon welcomes faculty member focused on translation studies

Government invests more than $15.5 million in York-led research projects

August 30, 2023

light bulb in front of colorful background

More than 30 projects led by York University researchers in the social sciences and humanities were awarded a combined total of $15,541,343 in federal funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Grants, Partnership Development Grants and Insight Grants.

The funding, announced on Aug. 29 by the Randy Boissonnault, minister of employment, workforce development and official languages, on behalf of the François-Philippe Champagne, minister of innovation, science and industry, goes towards 33 projects, ranging from research on migrant labour and gender inequality in retirement to heritage design in Canada.

“This week’s funding announcement highlights the council’s faith in the high calibre of our researchers’ work, ranging from Indigenous circumpolar cultural sovereignty, ecological footprint, to renewable greener transition and policy gaps in international mobility, in collaboration with other local and international subject experts,” says Amir Asif, vice-president research and innovation at York. “I thank SHHRC for their support and I commend York’s research community for their ongoing commitment to creating positive change, both locally and globally.”

The new round of grants will support 605 social sciences and humanities research projects across Canada. Learn more about the York-led projects below.

Partnership Grants

SSHRC Partnership Grants support teams of researchers from post-secondary institutions working in new and existing formal partnerships with public, private or not-for-profit organizations. Through collaboration, sharing of intellectual leadership and resources by cash or in-kind contributions, the grants support work for four to seven years to advance research, training and knowledge mobilization in the social sciences and humanities.

Four York-led projects received a combined total of almost $10 million ($9,978,586) in funding.

Peter Victor, Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change
The International Ecological Footprint Learning Lab: Training, research and novel applications
$2,486,161

Richard Saunders, Department of Politics, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
African Extractivism and the Green Transition
$2,498,948

Leah Vosko, Department of Politics, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Liberating Migrant Labour?: International Mobility Programs in Settler-Colonial Contexts
$2,499,975

Anna Hudson, Department of Visual Art & Art History, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design
Curating Indigenous Circumpolar Cultural Sovereignty: advancing Inuit and Sami homelands, food, art, archives and worldviews
$2,493,502

To learn more about the York-led projects, click here.

To view all Partnership Grant recipients, click here.

Partnership Development Grants

Partnership Development Grants support teams of researchers from post-secondary institutions working in a formal partnership with public, private or not-for-profit organizations for one to three years. The grants support research development, existing and new partnerships, knowledge mobilization, and related activities in the social sciences and humanities.

Eight York-led projects received a combined total of more than $1.5 million ($1,514,498) in funding.

Anna Agathangelou, Department of Politics, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Building an International Partnership to Research and Address Reparative Justice in Post-Conflict Situations: Canada, Africa and Europe
$176,127

Thi Viet Nga Dao, Department of Social Science, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Slow violence and water (in)justice: Feminist political ecologies of intergenerational struggles in the Mekong region
$199,689

Anne MacLennan, Department of Communication & Media Studies, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Interrogating Canadian Identities/ L’identités canadiennes – une interrogation (ICI)
$173,836

Jan Hadlaw, Department of Design, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design
The xDX Project: Documenting, Linking, and Interpreting Canada’s Design Heritage
$193,400

Christopher Kyriakides, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Refuge, Racisms, and Resistances: A Co-Created Analysis of the Experiences of Syrian and Ethiopian Refugees in Canada
$196,426

To learn more about this project, click here.

Abigail Shabtay, Department of Humanities, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Strengthening Participatory Drama-Based Research in Institutional, Community, and Educational Contexts
$199,341

Susan Winton, Faculty of Education
The Public Education Exchange
$175,679

Debra Pepler, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health
Walking the Prevention Pathway for Indigenous Communities’ Journey of Change
$200,000

To view all Partnership Development Grant recipients, click here.

Insight Grants

Insight Grants are awarded to emerging and established scholars in the social sciences and humanities to work on research projects of two to five years.

21 York-led projects received a combined total of more than $4 million ($4,048,259) in funding.

Tasso Adamopoulos, Department of Economics, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Inequality and Productivity in Developing Countries
$125,669

Kee-hong Bae, Department of Finance, Schulich School of Business
Incentive-focused corporate culture
$74,440

Anh Nguyen, School of Administrative Studies, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Labour force aging and business vibrancy: Evidence and solutions for businesses and workers in Canada and around the world
$193,356

Thanujeni (Jeni) Pathman, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health
How accurate is memory for time across childhood and adolescence? Theoretical and practical implications for forensic settings
$240,030

Alexandra Rutherford, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health
Intersecting difference: Gender, race and sexuality in 20th century U.S. psychology
$134,090

Robert Savage, Faculty of Education
Tackling two of the most important unresolved tasks in reading intervention
$278,472

Marlis Schweitzer, Department of Theatre, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design
Decoding the Lecture on Heads: Performing Objects and Satire on the 18th-Century Stage
$99,923

Simon Adam, School of Nursing, Faculty of Health
Entangled identities: Exploring neurodiversity through social media expression
$103,553

Kean Birch, Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change
Digital Data Value Paradox: An Empirical Investigation of Personal Data Valuation
$328,946

Antony Chum, School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health
Social and policy determinants of self harm across gender identities in Canada
$328,104

Julia M. Creet, Department of English, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Digital Afterlives
$283,757

Robert Cribbie, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health
Extensions of Negligible Effect Statistical Testing
$251,006

Ganaele Langlois, Department of Communication & Media Studies, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
The Art of Necessity: Making Sustainable and Just Worlds through Local Textiles
$228,206

Brenda Longfellow, Department of Cinema & Media Arts, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design
Abolition Feminism: Collaborating Across Communities
$352,679

Kinnon MacKinnon, School of Social Work, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Detransition: Examining pathways and care needs
$112,113

Jonathan Nitzan, Department of Politics, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
The capital-as-power fractal: toward a general theory of the capitalist mode of power
$111,766

Yuval Deutsch, Schulich School of Business
Social capital, corporate social responsibility and corporate irresponsibility
$133,799

Caitlin Fisher, Department of Cinema & Media Studies, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design
Mobilizing the arts for global health: a virtual museum of antimicrobial resistance
$236,457

Kamila Kolpashnikova, Department of Design, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design
Gender Inequality in Retirement: Understanding Social Organization in Domestic Tasks
$88,145

Palma Paciocco, Osgoode Hall Law School
The Gatekeeper and The Timekeeper: Regulating Expert Evidence and Trial Delay in Criminal Courts
$51,777

Yan Shvartzshnaider, Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Lassonde School of Engineering
Virtual Classrooms Privacy
$291,971

To view all Insight Grant recipients, click here.

OsgoodePD expands construction, infrastructure offerings with two new programs

August 23, 2023

A modern bridge lit up at night with a cityscape behind it

In response to a growing demand for construction-related legal education, Osgoode Professional Development (OsgoodePD) is launching a new Certificate in Public-Private Partnership (P3) Law and Practice in Canada next month, with a new Professional LLM program in Construction Law set to launch in September 2024.

For more than a decade, OsgoodePD’s popular Certificate in Construction Law has offered professionals in the industry intensive, practical education on the legal issues impacting construction. Meanwhile, elective courses in construction law have been available to Professional LLM students in Osgoode’s Energy & Infrastructure Law and Business Law programs. Andrea Lee, a co-founding program director of the new Professional LLM in Construction Law alongside Osgoode Professor and Chartered Arbitrator Janet Walker, has witnessed an increased demand for legal expertise in her construction niche, in both her private practice and her role as an OsgoodePD instructor. She says the new LLM program will help relieve some of that pressure.

“There is certainly an appetite for more construction law courses, so it’s great that Osgoode is taking things to the next level,” Lee says. While lawyers who deal regularly with construction law issues or advise industry professionals are obvious candidates for the new program, Lee says it is also likely to appeal to lawyers looking to gain insight into construction law to complement their existing practice, or even transition into this area on a full-time basis.

Chris Bennett, one of three Chairs of OsgoodePD’s new Certificate in Public-Private Partnership (P3) Law and Practice in Canada, shares a similar sentiment regarding the new certificate program. The coming-of-age process for P3 projects has proven turbulent, he says, with many private-sector players struggling to get projects done within the rigid structure and risk-transfer profile of a traditional P3 model.

While traditional P3s continue to be used, the risk is too much for many, says Bennett, leaving public owners with a dwindling number of private-sector partners willing to bid on them. As a result, he says the public sector is increasingly open to new methods for delivering large and complex infrastructure projects, with innovative models emerging to reflect the changing market conditions.

“We’re entering a very evolutionary phase of P3, where different types of partnership are available, so we’re reassessing what risk allocation looks like, and testing new models,” Bennett says, adding that this makes the timing perfect for the launch of Osgoode’s new certificate.

“It’s all about keeping Canada on the leading edge of infrastructure globally,” says Bennett.

OsgoodePD’s Certificate in Public-Private Partnership (P3) Law and Practice in Canada is an open-enrolment course, accepting registrations now. Applications for Osgoode’s LLM in Construction Law open Oct. 1. Fill out this form to receive program updates.

To view additional construction and infrastructure offerings, visit the OsgoodePD website.

Osgoode student earns scholarship for disability advocacy

August 18, 2023

Third-year Osgoode Hall Law School student Angela Dittrich was awarded a Legal Leaders for Diversity Trust Fund Scholarship in recognition of both her academic excellence and her work to improve accessibility to legal education. The fund, created through donations from general counsel and law firm managing partners across Canada, was established in 2015 to promote equal access and diversity in law schools.

As an advocate for people with disabilities, Dittrich has always understood that there is strength in numbers. That’s why she is actively campaigning to create the first national organization representing law students with disabilities. Her brainchild, the Canadian Coalition for Law Students with Disabilities, has so far brought together students from all 23 law schools across Canada.

“My disability advocacy work has been the most challenging and fulfilling work I have done during my law school career,” she said. “While some progress has been made, there is still a long way to go to tackle the many challenges and inequities that disabled law students and lawyers continue to face across the country.”

Dittrich, a native of Hamilton, Ont., and an active leader with the Disability Collective of Osgoode (DisCO), has been diagnosed as neurodivergent and has had a variety of neurological, chronic pain, cardiac and connective tissue disorders since early childhood.

Being a law student ith disabilities poses numerous challenges and barriers, she said. But the most frustrating challenge, she noted, is that many of these barriers could easily be eliminated through the development of equitable policies, more thoughtful planning approaches and a system that prioritizes the creation of a more diverse, inclusive profession.

It was in her role as DisCO’s outreach co-ordinator last year that Dittrich said she saw the need for a national organization to advocate for law students with disabilities. The idea took shape during discussions with disability advocates from local law schools about advocacy strategies for COVID-19-related accommodations.

“I realized that our advocacy efforts would be amplified if we were working collectively, and began to build this network alongside other disability advocates at Canadian law schools,” she said. “The coalition is still in its early stages of formation, and I hope for it to be fully established within the Fall 2023 term.”

This year, her third year in the combined Juris Doctor/Master in Environmental Studies program, Dittrich will serve as co-president of DisCO. She said she plans to build on the organization’s work in creating an important sense of community and engaging with the law school’s administration to implement key equitable policy measures.

Osgoode prof co-edits book celebrating work of legal philosopher John Gardner

August 16, 2023

Osgoode Hall Law School Professor François Tanguay-Renaud has co-edited the first book celebrating the contributions to legal thought of John Gardner, a former professor of jurisprudence at the University of Oxford, who succeeded renowned legal philosophers H. L. A. Hart and Ronald Dworkin. Gardner was a giant of legal philosophy in his own right, who died after a fight with cancer in 2019.

From Morality to Law and Back Again: A Liber Amicorum for John Gardner was also edited by Michelle Madden Dempsey, a law professor at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. The edited collection features essays by 16 leading legal academics who benefited from Gardner’s guidance or were once his graduate students, including Tanguay-Renaud and Madden Dempsey themselves. It includes contributions from legal scholars from Canada, the U.S., Mexico, the U.K., Israel and Hong Kong, and is available for pre-order now from Oxford University Press.

The term “liber amicorum” from the title is Latin for “book of friends” – and that captured the spirit of the project, said Tanguay-Renaud. Unlike some prominent legal thinkers, he noted, “John was someone who really invested a lot of time and effort in his students. His incisive thought and extraordinary generosity really impacted a lot of people.”

Tanguay-Renaud described the volume as a handbook or guide to the many issues of legal philosophy that Gardner explored, and an attempt to spark new discussions.

His own chapter, titled “State Crimes,” draws on Gardner’s scholarship to examine whether legal norms should be developed that criminalize some instances of state wrongdoing. “The chapter argues that they may be, both conceptually and legitimately, at both the levels of international and domestic law,” he explained. “In the process, the essay makes the case for the introduction of more overtly punitive remedies in the public law context, such as under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”

Tanguay-Renaud, a former lecturer in law at Oxford, said the title of the book captures one key organizing thought underlying Gardner’s thinking: that the law often tracks moral norms that apply to all of us and often derives its justification from them. But the law also refines, reshapes and adds to morality.

Gardner applied this insight not only to general legal philosophy, but also to the study of specific fields of the law such as tort law, contract law, discrimination law, criminal law and public law, said Tanguay-Renaud. Many of Gardner’s insights are collected in the numerous books he published over the years, including Law as a Leap of Faith: Essays on Law in General (2012), From Personal Life to Private Law (2019) and Offences and Defences: Selected Essays in the Philosophy of Criminal Law (2007).

”In many ways, John’s work showcases the practical value of legal philosophy for both lawyers and ordinary citizens,” said Tanguay-Renaud, who regularly teaches courses on criminal law, criminal procedure, emergency law, foundations of Canadian law, the philosophical foundations of criminal law, jurisprudence and the rule of law.

“John’s work really gives us a window into a certain perspective of what the foundations of the law are,” he said. “I think it’s important for lawyers and judges to sometimes take a deep breath and ponder the underlying rationales for the doctrines they’re applying and the larger social enterprise they are engaged in. It allows them to be more deliberate professional actors and to help guide the evolution of the legal systems within which they act in sounder ways.”

The image of Justitia on the cover of the book, Tanguay-Renaud explained, is taken from a gargoyle at Oxford’s All Soul’s College that was sculpted in Gardner’s memory. A guitar is hidden in the hair of the gargoyle because the prominent legal philosopher was also an avid musician and an all-around lover of life.

Tanguay-Renaud added that the book underlines Osgoode’s strength in legal philosophy, which is also reflected in the work of Osgoode professors such as Allan Hutchinson, Emily Kidd-White, Jennifer Nadler and Dan Priel.

Four York researchers receive grants for knowledge mobilization projects

August 11, 2023

Aspire lightbulb idea innovation research

Four York University researchers have been awarded 2023 Connection Grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for various knowledge mobilization projects, ranging in topic from local Indigenous history education to youth affected by conflict in Africa to corporate social responsibility and sustainability.

Connection Grants support events, workshops and outreach activities that often lead to longer-term research projects and enable scholarly exchanges with academic and non-academic partners, and collaboration between the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.

The York recipients for this latest round of funding include Jennifer Bonnell, Alan Corbiere and Annie Bunting, professors in the Faculty of Liberal & Professional Studies, and Barnali Choudhury, a professor at Osgoode Hall Law School.

“York University is a national leader in knowledge mobilization efforts and these successful grant recipients exemplify our research community’s exceptional talents in this area,” said Amir Asif, vice-president research and innovation at York. “With SSHRC’s support, our faculty members can more broadly engage, collaborate and share their work with the public. Congratulations to Dr. Bonnell, Dr. Corbiere, Dr. Bunting and Dr. Choudhury as they apply their research in ways that create lasting positive change.”

Bonnell and Corbiere’s project, “Changing the Narrative: Connecting Indigenous and Settler Histories at Black Creek Pioneer Village,” received $43,911. The project brings together a team from York, the University of Toronto and Black Creek Pioneer Village, a history museum, to mobilize SSHRC-funded research to support the development of a permanent exhibition and associated programming on the Indigenous history of the northern Greater Toronto Area and its interconnections with settler history at Black Creek Pioneer Village.

Bunting’s project, “Youth and Gender Violence – Health and Gender Justice,” received $25,000. Bunting and her team will organize virtual workshops with youth and young adult survivors of violence in several African countries in crises (Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia), researchers, filmmakers and practitioners working with youth to develop a research program that focuses on intergenerational trauma and psycho-social needs of youth affected by conflict.

Choudhury’s project, “Sustainability impacts of Canadian companies,” received $17,776. The grant will support a conference that will bring together scholars from around the world to collaborate on ways to better address Canadian corporations’ impacts on sustainability issues. The conference will look to develop legislation and other regulatory vehicles to address corporate responsibility and feature a keynote speech by a member of the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights.

The York researchers were among 66 recipients across the country to receive funding.

Passings: Paul Wye

August 9, 2023

Paul Wye, Osgoode Professional Development’s manager of information technology and innovation, passed away unexpectedly on Aug. 4 in Sudbury, Ont., after suffering a severe anaphylactic reaction.

Wye is survived by his wife, Ruthann Drummond, and their three young sons: Quinn, Davin and Ashton. A family man who poured his heart and soul into loving and caring for those around him, he is survived by his parents, Lockie and Judi Wye; his sister, Lindsay (Ben); his parents-in-law, Ruth Ranson and Ross Drummond; his brother-in-law, Andrew (Sara); and his nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and cousins. He will be missed by countless friends, coworkers and neighbours.

Wye worked at York University’s Osgoode Professional Development for 20 years, starting in a student role and working his way up to a management position. He was a loyal and devoted employee and coworker, as evidenced by his recent peer-nominated 2020 Louella Sturdy Leadership Award win for his outstanding contributions to the Osgoode community. Long before the COVID-19 pandemic made online course delivery essential, Wye was heavily involved in bringing cutting-edge learning technology to the University.

A celebration of Wye’s life will be held on Friday, Aug. 11 at 2 p.m. at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School, with a small reception to follow. The family asks that attendees wear bright colours and bring a favourite memory of Wye. Those who cannot attend are encouraged to share their memories by emailing lindsay.wye@gmail.com.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the GoFundMe page that has been established to support his family.

Osgoode professor’s book examines future of remote work

August 2, 2023

The Future of Remote Work, co-edited by Valerio De Stefano, an Osgoode Hall Law School professor and Canada Research Chair in Innovation, Law and Society, argues that companies forcing employees back to their offices to reinvigorate downtown economies are misguided.

The book, published by the independent, Brussels-based European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), includes more than 20 contributors from a variety of disciplines, including lawyers, economists and sociologists. The book’s other co-editors are: Nicola Contouris, a labour law professor at University College London and director of research for the institute; ETUI senior researcher Agnieszka Piasna, a labour sociologist; and labour lawyer Silvia Rainone, also an ETUI researcher.

“Remote work is here to stay,” insists De Stefano, “because it is beneficial for both employees and companies.”

According to Statistics Canada, the percentage of employed Canadians who work from home for all or part of their work week now stands at just over 25 per cent, down from a high of 40 per cent during the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many companies, such as Royal Bank of Canada and Amazon Canada, have mandated their employees to return to the office for at least part of the week. But in a competitive job market, De Stefano believes that could backfire. Companies that want to retain talent will need to continue providing remote work options or risk losing their most talented people, he says.

But unlike the first panicked months of the pandemic, De Stefano thinks remote work going forward must differentiate itself from what he calls “lockdown work”: “If we want to reap the benefits of remote work, we have to get away from the constraints that we had under the pandemic and put more rigid boundaries between work and personal time.”

This, says De Stefano, will require giving employees more autonomy and creating a stronger spirit of trust between them and their employers.

In the early pandemic, he notes, remote work was sometimes accompanied by invasive surveillance software that often led to employee stress, anxiety and burnout. He believes this type of technology can actually reduce productivity, if workers end up wasting time trying to outsmart the system.

De Stefano says the rise of remote and hybrid work has brought distinct benefits, like helping companies trim their rental budgets, cutting the cost of commuting for workers and reducing the number of cars on the road. While the negative impact on downtown economies is real, he thinks it is imperative for cities to find creative solutions to their vacant office space dilemma.

“It would certainly be a loss to society if we decided to go back to a pre-pandemic scenario just because we don’t know what to do with our downtowns,” he says.

Trevor Farrow appointed dean of Osgoode Hall Law School

July 26, 2023

Osgoode Hall Law School entrance to the Ignat Kaneff building

La version française suit la version anglaise.

Dear colleagues,

I am pleased to inform the York community that, following a national and international search and consultation process with staff, faculty and students at Osgoode Hall Law School, Professor Trevor Farrow has accepted our invitation to become dean of Osgoode Hall Law School, commencing Sept. 1. On July 24, the Board of Governors concurred with this recommendation and approved his appointment.

Dr. Farrow is a full professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, where he is currently an associate dean of research and institutional relations. He has served several times as associate dean for the law school and is a full member of the Faculty of Graduate Studies. Dr. Farrow is also the founding academic director of the Winkler Institute for Dispute Resolution at Osgoode, Chair of the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice and former director of the York Centre for Public Policy and Law. He has served as Chair of Osgoode’s Faculty Council and has extensive experience with Osgoode and University-wide academic, administrative and deliberative processes.

Dr. Farrow holds a PhD from the University of Alberta and has degrees from Princeton, Oxford, Harvard and Dalhousie universities. Formerly a practising lawyer, his areas of research include access to justice, legal process and advocacy, professional ethics, legal education and political theory. A prolific researcher and scholar, Dr. Farrow is the recipient of numerous research grants. His scholarship is widely published in Canada and around the world, and he has been ranked many times in the top 10 per cent of authors on the Social Science Research Network. His most recent book, The Justice Crisis: The Cost and Value of Accessing Law, co-authored with Lesley A. Jacobs, was published in 2020.

Dr. Farrow has significantly contributed to the legal profession, research and policy communities in Canada and globally by serving on many advisory boards and initiatives, including as a member of the Action Committee on Access to Justice in Civil and Family Matters (founded by the Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin); academic advisor to the Rules Committee of the Federal Court of Canada; as a research policy expert for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; and expert advisor to various foreign governments and many others.

Dr. Farrow is a highly respected educator. He has been a visiting professor at various universities in Canada and around the world and has received teaching awards from Harvard University and Osgoode Hall Law School.

I look forward to working with Dr. Farrow as he continues to bring leadership to this important role. I hope that all members of the York University community will join us in congratulating him.

I would like to thank the members of the search committee for their contributions to the appointment process. And I would like to thank Mary Condon, as she completes her term as dean, for her leadership and commitment to Osgoode. I look forward to recognizing Mary at a future occasion.

Sincerely,

Rhonda Lenton
President & Vice-Chancellor

Trevor Farrow, Ph. D., est nommé doyen de l’École de droit Osgoode Hall

Chers collègues, chères collègues,

J’ai le plaisir d’informer la communauté de York qu’à l’issue d’une recherche nationale et internationale et d’un processus de consultation avec le personnel, le corps professoral et la population étudiante de l’École de droit Osgoode Hall, le professeur Trevor Farrow a accepté notre invitation à assumer le rôle de doyen de l’École de droit Osgoode Hall, à compter du 1^erseptembre 2023. Le 24 juin, le conseil d’administration a entériné cette recommandation et approuvé la nomination.

M. Farrow est professeur titulaire de l’École de droit Osgoode Hall où il occupe actuellement le poste de doyen associé de la recherche et des relations institutionnelles. Il a été à plusieurs reprises doyen associé de l’École de droit et est membre à part entière de la Faculté des études supérieures. M. Farrow est également le directeur académique fondateur du Winkler Institute for Dispute Resolution de l’École Osgoode, président du Forum canadien sur la justice civile et un ancien directeur du York Centre for Public Policy and Law. Il a été président du Conseil de la faculté de l’École Osgoode et il possède une vaste expérience des processus académiques, administratifs et délibératifs de l’École Osgoode et de l’Université.

M. Farrow détient un doctorat de l’Université de l’Alberta et des diplômes des Universités de Princeton, d’Oxford, Harvard et Dalhousie. Ancien juriste, ses recherches portent notamment sur l’accès à la justice, la procédure juridique et la défense des intérêts, l’éthique professionnelle, la formation juridique et la théorie politique. Chercheur et universitaire prolifique, M. Farrow a reçu de nombreuses bourses de recherche. Ses travaux sont largement publiés au Canada et dans le monde entier et il a figuré plusieurs fois parmi les 10 % d’auteurs les plus réputés du Social Science Research Network (SSRN). Son ouvrage le plus récent, The Justice Crisis : The Cost and Value of Accessing Law, coécrit avec Lesley A. Jacobs, a été publié en 2020.

M. Farrow a largement contribué à la profession juridique, à la recherche et aux communautés politiques au Canada et dans le monde en siégeant à plusieurs conseils consultatifs et initiatives, notamment en tant que membre du Comité d’action sur l’accès à la justice en matière civile et familiale (fondé par la très honorable Beverley McLachlin), conseiller académique auprès du Comité des règles de la Cour fédérale du Canada, expert en politique de recherche pour l’Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques (OCDE), et conseiller expert auprès de divers gouvernements étrangers.

M. Farrow est un éducateur hautement respecté. Il a été invité dans diverses universités au Canada et dans le monde entier à titre de professeur et a reçu des prix d’enseignement de l’Université Harvard et de l’École de droit Osgoode Hall.

Je me réjouis de travailler avec M. Farrow qui continue à jouer un rôle de premier plan dans cette fonction importante. J’espère que tous les membres de la communauté universitaire de York se joindront à moi pour le féliciter.

Je tiens à remercier les membres du comité de recrutement pour leur contribution à ce processus de nomination. Je souhaite également remercier Mary Condon, qui achève son mandat de doyenne d’Osgoode, pour son leadership et son engagement. J’ai hâte de reconnaître sa contribution dans un avenir proche.

Sincères salutations,

Rhonda Lenton
Présidente et vice-chancelière

Osgoode students, alumni help build accessible legal chatbot

July 19, 2023

3d rendering robot working with digital display

Osgoode Hall Law School students Ryan Boros and Elias Tung have spent the summer, when many of their peers take a break from academic pursuits, working on the recently launched Law Newbie – an online chatbot that makes criminal law research accessible to the public.

The free application was developed by Toronto criminal lawyer Jordan Donich with support from recent Osgoode graduate Camille Melo, who now articles with Collett Read LLP, but previously spent the summer of 2022 conducting initial research for Law Newbie. Boros and Tung, each in their third and second years of studies, joined the project to refine the app leading up to and after its launch.

The encyclopedic resource enables users to access details about criminal code offences and potential defence strategies simply by asking the chatbot questions.

“The whole thing has been built with a lot of effort and it’s very intuitive,” said Boros.

“I feel like it’s given me a much stronger idea of the core concepts of criminal law and the finer points,” he added. “The other benefit for me going forward is it’s inspired me to take more technology focused courses next year.”

One of them will be Osgoode’s Engineering the Law course, taught by adjunct faculty member Al Hounsell, who serves as the Toronto-based director of strategic innovation and legal design for the multi-national law firm Norton Rose Fulbright LLP.

Among other things, the Osgoode course introduces students to how client needs have pushed the boundaries of legal service delivery to include elements of data, computer technology and artificial intelligence (AI), according to the course description. It also gives students the practical skills to break down contracts and legislation into decision trees, to develop markups and workflows for contract development and negotiations, to attain basic experience with common legal technology applications, and to apply design thinking methodology to legal problems.

Ryan Boros and Elias Tung sit in front of Osgoode Hall Law School Ignat Kaneff Building sign. — Ryan Boros and Elias Tung

Tung, who is leaning towards a career in family law, said his work with Law Newbie has helped spark an interest in working at the intersection of family law and criminal law.

“We’re just trying to make the information as accessible as possible,” he said of the project. “There’s definitely a need for criminal law resources like this because a lot of people don’t understand the criminal code – and it’s also important to understand your rights.

“I feel very fortunate,” he added, “because not a lot of people have the opportunity to do this kind of work.”

Melo said the research and writing that she did for Law Newbie last summer gave her a more solid grounding in criminal law.

“I really liked the research component of it and it was good to know as an up and coming criminal lawyer,” she noted. “I really enjoyed working on an access-to-justice initiative like this, too.”

Donich said he is currently experimenting with integrating AI into the chatbot, but is still determining its effectiveness.

“I am manually programming it now,” he said, “and Camille, Ryan and Elias’s brains have been irreplaceable. They’ve all said they wish they had had this experience with technology earlier in law school – and lawyers who are my age are saying the same thing.”

He said he is planning to hire another student to work on the project part-time beginning in the fall.

Along with his work in criminal law, civil litigation and professional regulation, Donich also specializes in cybersecurity and internet-related crime.

“Technology is changing the legal profession, faster than we have anticipated,” he said. “Lawyers and law students need to be part of the change to ensure any innovation improves our client experience and continues to serve the public interest.”

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Welcome to YFile’s 2023 New Faces feature issue

In this special issue, YFile introduces new faculty members joining the York University community and highlights those with new appointments.

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