Kate Mitchell

SJD Candidate
Thesis title:
Comparing the Levers of Prison Law Reform in Canada and the United States
Office in Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Toronto, M5S 2C5
Tel:
236-334-6034
Education
Master of Laws - University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) (2021-2022)
Juris Doctor - Queen's University (2014-2017)
Master of Public Administration - Queen's University (2014-2015)
Bachelor of Arts - Dalhousie University (2011-2014)
Awards and Distinctions
Canada Graduate Scholarship - Doctoral (CGS-D) (2022-2025)
C. David Naylor University Fellowship (2022-2023)
University of Toronto Centre for Ethics Doctoral Fellow in Ethics (2022-2023)
UCLA Dean's Tuition Fellowship (2021-2022)
Torkin Manes LLP Academic Excellence & Community Service Award (2017)
Fred S. Fountain Scholarship (2011-2014)
Lockward Scholarship (2011-2014)
H.C. (Kip) Roberts Scholarship (2014)
Margaret Nicholl Pond Memorial Award (2014)
Professional Affiliations
Member, Law Society of Ontario
Member, Canadian Prison Law Association
Research Interests
Administrative Law
Canadian Constitutional Law
Charter of Rights
Comparative Law
Criminal Law 
Criminal Procedure and Evidence
Judicial Decision-Making
Supervisor
Committee Members

Léa Brière-Godbout

SJD Candidate
Thesis title:
Who is eligible for legal protection from discrimination? The role of the protectorate in equality discourses
Office in Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Toronto, M5S 2C5

Léa Brière-Godbout (she/her) is a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law. She is a Vanier Scholar and 2020 Viscount Bennett Fellow. Her research critically examines judicial and lay discourses about equality and discrimination in the Canadian context. Léa completed her Bachelor of Laws at UQAM and was called to the Quebec Bar in 2014. She served for two years as a judicial law clerk to Justice François Doyon of the Quebec Court of Appeals. Léa completed her Master of Laws at Yale Law School where she worked on a Criminal Justice Reform initiative for the City of New York. In 2018-19, she worked as a judicial law clerk to the Chief Justice of Canada. As a clerk living with a disability, Léa sat on the Equity committee of the Supreme Court. In parallel to her doctoral research, Léa acts as SJD advisor and co-teaches the LL.M seminar at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law.


Léa Brière-Godbout (elle) est candidate au doctorat à la Faculté de droit de l'Université de Toronto. Elle est boursière Vanier et était Viscount Bennett Fellow pour l'année 2020. Ses recherches analysent de manière critique le discours judiciaire et public au sujet des notions d'égalité et de discrimination. Léa détient un baccalauréat en droit de l'UQAM et est membre du Barreau depuis 2014. Durant deux ans, elle a occupé le poste d'avocate-recherchiste auprès de l'Honorable François Doyon de la Cour d'appel du Québec. Léa est diplômée du programme de maîtrise en droit de l'Université Yale, où elle a notamment collaboré à une initiative de réforme du droit criminel de la ville de New York. En 2018-19, Léa a travaillé comme avocate-recherchiste auprès du Juge en chef du Canada. En tant qu'avocate vivant avec un handicap, Léa a siégé sur le comité d'Équité de la Cour Suprême. En parallèle de ses études doctorales, Léa agit comme conseillère académique et co-enseigne le séminaire de maîtrise de la Faculté de droit de l'Université de Toronto. 

Education
LL.M, Yale Law School (2017)
LL.B (with distinction), UQAM (2013)
D.E.C (social work), Vieux-Montréal CEGEP (2010)
Awards and Distinctions
Viscount Bennett Fellowship, Canadian Bar Association (2020)
Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, SSHR (2018-)
Doctoral Research Fellowship, FRQSC (2017)
Masters Research Fellowship, FRQSC (2016)
Dickson Medal, American College of Trial Lawyers (2012)
(...)
Professional Affiliations
Course instructor, University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, 2020-
SJD advisor, University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, 2018-
Member of the Canadian Bar Association, 2019-
Senior Editor, Journal of Law and Equality, 2017-18
Member of the Quebec Bar, 2014-
Selected Publications

Léa Brière-Godbout & Marie-Andrée Plante, “Religious challenges to anti-discrimination law: the mobilisation of the “minority label”, (2020) 66: 2 McGill LJ 377 (forthcoming).

Research Interests
Canadian Constitutional Law
Charter of Rights
Criminal Law 
Criminal Procedure and Evidence
Critical Legal Theory
Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law
Legal History
Legal Theory
Supervisor
Committee Members

IJD & Debwewin Summer Program Information Session

In February 2013, the First Nations Representation on Ontario Juries Report, authored by former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci, was released. Justice Iacobucci recommended, inter alia, the creation of an intensive summer education program that would see Ontario law students working on justice issues in and with Indigenous communities.

Asper Centre Constitutional Roundtable with Prof Brandon Garrett of Duke University School of Law

"Wealth, Equal Protection and Due Process"

 with UTLaw's Associate Professor Vincent Chiao as Discussant

 October 2nd 12:30-2:00 pm in Jackman J125

Cara Locke*

Cara Locke (*née Mouland)
SJD Candidate
Thesis title:
The Legitimacy of Constitutional Remedies
Office in Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Toronto, M5S 2C5

Cara is interested in how judges act like legislators, and how legislators act like judges.

Her doctoral project focuses on constitutional remedies for defective legislation. Cara's previous work has been cited by the Supreme Court of Canada in support of a disciplined approach to suspended declarations of invalidity.

Outside of academia, Cara has front-line experience in the courtroom and in the legislature. In addition to previously litigating for both the prosecution and the defence, Cara served as a Law Clerk at the Federal Court of Canada. Cara now practices constitutional law in her role as Assistant Clerk to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly.

Education
LLM - Criminal Law
JD (Distinction)
BA (Hons) - Psychology and English
Awards and Distinctions
C. David Naylor Fellow
Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Scholar
Nathan Strauss Q.C. Graduate Fellow in Canadian Constitutional Law
Raoul Wallenberg Scholarship
Doctoral Fellow, University of Toronto Faculty of Law
LLM Fellow, University of Toronto Faculty of Law
Spracklin Award, Law Society of Newfoundland & Labrador
Penney Award, Law Society of Newfoundland & Labrador
University Medal for Academic Excellence in Psychology
Professional Affiliations
Nova Scotia Barristers' Society
Commonwealth Parliamentary Association
Association of Clerks-at-the-Table in Canada
Canadian Study of Parliament Group
Canadian Law & Society Association
Selected Publications

"Debating the Rule of Law: The Curious Re-Enactment of the Solicitation Offence" (2021) 58: 3 Alta L Rev 687.

“Remedying the Remedy: Bedford’s Suspended Declaration of Invalidity” (2018) 41:3 Man LJ 281. (Cited in G v Ontario, 2020 SCC 38)
 *née Mouland

Research Interests
Administrative Law
Canadian Constitutional Law
Charter of Rights
Criminal Law 
Criminal Procedure and Evidence
Health Law
Judicial Decision-Making
Legal Process
Legal Theory
National Security Law and Anti-Terrorism Law
Political Philosophy and Theory
Supervisor
Committee Members

The SNC Lavalin Controversy: The Shawcross Principle and Prosecutorial Independence

 

Please note that a revised and expanded version of this blog is available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3367097

 

 

The SNC Lavalin controversy over whether improper pressure was placed on former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould continues to rage. Both the ambiguities of the facts and the complexity of the policy issues seem to warrant an independent public inquiry. 

 

Such an inquiry could explore controversies over prosecutorial independence under Justin Trudeau’s government just as the McDonald Commission explored controversies over police independence under Pierre Trudeau’s government. In both cases, the issues had became emmeshed in partisan politics. Clear and independent thinking and reform plans were necessary for moving forward.

 

The Shawcross Principle

 

The Shawcross Principle articulated in 1951 is a constitutional convention that while the Attorney General (AG) is entitled to consult Cabinet colleagues about the policy implications of prosecutorial decisions, he or she is not to be directed or pressured on such decisions by the Cabinet and that the decision should be made by the AG alone.

 

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