Wanekia (Kia) Dunn

SJD Candidate
Thesis title:
Relationships with Land: Exploring applications of natural agency and rights of nature theory to facilitate innovations in Indigenous land tenure and governance
Office in Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Toronto, M5S 2C5

Wanekia (Kia) Dunn is a doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Law. His research focus is on Indigenous and Aboriginal law, and intersections therein with constitutional law, property law, and the law of equity.  Kia wrote his LLM thesis “Cutting the Knot: Founding Canada and Restoring the Honour of the Crown” as an analysis of how to overcome the intractable knot that is the sui generis legal status of Indigenous peoples, and which holds Indigenous peoples precariously in a liminal space of legal exceptionalism.

Kia’s upcoming work seeks to explore pathways forward via innovations in land tenure within the space of declared Aboriginal title, as recognized in the Xeni Gwet’in of the Tsilhqot’in. His last few years of professional work have allowed him to learn from and work with several partner First Nations, including the Tsilhqot’in. This provided the understanding that it will be necessary for Canadians to expand the scope of what it can mean in law to have a relationship with lands and territories to enable substantive reconciliation to move forward.

The conceptual frameworks for recognizing lands and territories with a form of legal personhood akin to corporation are on the rise in Canada and internationally; they present distinct potential for manifesting Indigenous worldviews and lawful relations. The issue of standing is resolved when natural agency is understood to contain an inherent guardian and steward relation as between the lands and their First Peoples: a fundamental trust.  He returns to the Faculty of Law to more fully develop these conceptual tools so that they are available to facilitate self-governance.

Education
LLM, University of Toronto; JD, University of Toronto
MA Philosophy, Carleton University
BA (Hons) Philosophy, Carleton University
Awards and Distinctions
June Callwood Programme in Aboriginal Law (2020-2024)
Bennett Scholar (2018)
Other information
  • Panelist for the event “Dialogues on 175 Years of Canadian Democracy” alongside John Ralston Saul and Omayra Issa held in 2023.
  • Presented the “Indigenous Homelands Initiative – Housing and Governance Toolkit” to dozens of Nation, government, and industry leaders at the Yanonhchia Indigenous Housing Finance Network conference in 2022.
  • Facilitated a workshop for the Tsilhqot’in National Government to bring together leaders in housing and development to find consensus on a housing strategy across all six member communities in 2021.
  • Co-organized a conference entitled “Treaties Talk” held at Massey College which brought together expert panelists to discuss cross-border international agreements pertaining to Indigenous rights, specifically the Jay Treaty, in 2020.
  • Sat as chair of the Aboriginal Sovereignty panel held at Massey College as part of the series “Sovereignty in 2017: It’s Meaning for Canada and the World” held in, as you might suspect, 2017.
Research Interests
Aboriginal Law
Indigenous Legal Traditions
International Law
Legal Theory
Property Law
Supervisor
Committee Members

Hai Tran

SJD Candidate
Thesis title:
Transnational Property Law: Land Taking Conflict in East Asian Postsocialist Countries as The Enduring Evolution of Socialist Law
Office in Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Toronto, M5S 2C5

Hai Tran is a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Law. He holds a dear interest in the historical evolution of land law, and property rights in general. His doctoral thesis is the explanation of the unique and turbulent property rights compromise between socialist and free market legal norms in postsocialist East Asia. With his research, he seeks to solve the welfare question for the public regarding land redistribution and de-escalate the new ideological cold war of the 21st century. This is tied to his broader investigation of the developments of legal institutions in developing countries which are often ideologically nonconforming and self-contradicting.

Beyond his academic endeavor at the University of Toronto, he is an active member of social activism. He has been involved with the feminist HeForShe project in Japan; CPRE for the protection of the English countryside; Power For People and Repowering London to campaign for and build the capacity of community energy groups in the U.K.

Education
S.J.D University of Toronto (2023-present)
LL.M. King’s College London, United Kingdom (2021-2022)
LL.B. Nagoya University, Japan (2017-2021)
Awards and Distinctions
Best undergraduate thesis, Nagoya University Graduate School of Law (2021)
JASSO Honors Scholarship for Privately Financed International Student (2020-2021)
Selected Publications
Tran, Phuc Hai. “Vietnam’s Land Law Evolution” East Asia Forum, March 13, 2024. https://eastasiaforum.org/2024/03/14/vietnams-land-law-evolution/.
Research Interests
Civil Law
Comparative Law
Environmental Law
Law and Globalization
Legal History
Political Philosophy and Theory
Property Law
Supervisor
Committee Members

Dimitrios Tsilikis

SJD Candidate
Thesis title:
Justifications of Recourse Rules (working title)
Office in Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Toronto, M5S 2C5

 I am a second year S.J.D. student working on Bankruptcy Law and Private Law Theory. My main project is focused on the normative foundations of personal bankruptcy law in the U.S. and Canadian legal orders. I do also research on some side-projects on corporate bankruptcy especially in the U.S., currently working on the intersection of mass tort litigation and bankruptcy.

 I started my legal career in civil law countries (Greece and France), but I have transitioned towards the common law world with my LL.M. in Legal Theory at NYU School of Law and my S.J.D. at the University of Toronto. 

I am a lawyer in Greece and I spend some time lawyering in Greek and E.U. law, especially on restructuring consultation.

In my spare time I like to read moral and political philosophy as they tend to be really helpful in providing analytical tools in legal research. Other than that, I love reading on aesthetics and the philosophy of mind.

Education
LL.B. - National and Capodistrian University of Athens - Faculty of Law
LL.B. (Erasmus+) - Paris 1 - Panthéon-Sorbonne - École de Droit
LL.M. - New York University School of Law
S.J.D. - University of Toronto - Faculty of Law
Professional Affiliations
Athens Bar Association (Greece)
Research Interests
Bankruptcy/Insolvency Law
Business Corporations
Competition Law
Judicial Decision-Making
Legal Theory
Moral Philosophy
Political Philosophy and Theory
Property Law
Tax Law
Supervisor
Committee Members

Private Law Podcast: Professor Larrisa Katz

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

In an episode of the Private Law Podcast, Professor Larrisa Katz, Canada Research Chair in Private Law Theory, shares her work on the idea of ownership as an office, equity, and other topics.

Listen to the Private Law Podcast

 

Steve Lorteau

Steve Lorteau
SJD Candidate
Thesis title:
The Institutional Challenges of Adjudicating Climate Change Zoning
Office in Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Toronto, M5S 2C5

Steve has a bijural education with degrees in common law and civil law from the University of Ottawa. During his legal studies, Steve participated and later coached in the Jessup International Law Moot Court competition. In 2020, Steve completed a judicial clerkship at the Federal Court under Justice Peter Pamel. Following his clerkship, Steve completed his Master of Laws (LLM) thesis at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Dean Jutta Brunnée.

Steve's research interests are in the areas of administrative law, climate law, institutional analysis, and zoning law. His research centres on the role of courts in climate law. His LLM thesis explored the environmental obligations of state-owned fossil fuel companies under international law. His SJD thesis focuses on political economy issues relating to judicial adjudication of environmental zoning. His research on environmental law has been published in the Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law (RECIEL) and the McGill Journal of Sustainable Development Law.

Steve also has an interest in the regulatory aspects of wine law, and a particular interest in Canada’s unique approach to wine regulation. In 2016, Steve graduated with a diploma in wine law from the University of Reims, located in the heart of the Champagne. His research on wine law has been published in the Journal of Wine Research, Jus Vini: Journal of Wine & Spirits Law, and a collective monograph on comparative wine law. Since 2022, he has served as the Canadian reporter for Jus Vini annual chronicles.

In his spare time, Steve enjoys reading, playing board games, watching sports, cooking, and discovering new wines.

Education
University of Toronto, LL.M. (Long Thesis), 2021
University of Ottawa, J.D., 2019
University of Ottawa, LL.L. (Civil Law) 2018
University of Ottawa, B.Soc.Sc. (International Development), 2018
University of Ottawa, B.A. (Philosophy), 2015
Awards and Distinctions
SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS-D (2021-2024)
SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS-M (2020-2021)
Robert Law Fellowship in Legal Ethics (2020-2021)
Environmental Law Essay Contest Prize, Center for Environmental Law and Global Sustainability (2019)
Me Anwar Chami Scholarship for excellence in studies in international law (2018)
Second Best Oralist, Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition (2017)
Professional Affiliations
Law Society of Ontario
Earth System Governance Project Research Fellow
Global Perspectives on Corporate Climate Legal Tactics, International Expert Group Canada
Selected Publications

Peer-reviewed articles

· Steve Lorteau, “The Potential of 'State-as-Polluter' Litigation” (2023) 1 Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law.

· Steve Lorteau, “Canada 2022: Place of Origin Descriptors, Amarone, and More Cowbell” (2023) Jus Vini: Journal of Wine & Spirits Law.

· Steve Lorteau, “Canada 2021: Disputed Territories, Comparative Advertising, and Trademarks” (2022) 1 Jus Vini: Journal of Wine & Spirits Law 87-102.

· Steve Lorteau, “Contractual Carbon Fees: A Proposal” (2020) 15:2 McGill Journal of Sustainable Development Law 176-201.

· Steve Lorteau, “A Purposive Approach to Wine Regulation: Royal Demaria v Lieutenant Governor in Council” (2019) 2 Jus Vini: Journal of Wine & Spirits Law 231-240.

· Steve Lorteau, “La philosophie du droit systématique de l’encyclopédiste Antoine- Gaspard Boucher d’Argis [The Systematic Jurisprudence of l’Encyclopédiste Antoine-Gaspard Boucher d’Argis]” (2019) 54 Recherches sur Diderot et sur l’Encyclopédie 147-164.

· Steve Lorteau, “A Comparative Analysis of Skin-Contact Wine Definitions in Ontario and South Africa” (2018) 29:4 Journal of Wine Research 265-277.

· Steve Lorteau, “China’s South China Sea Claims as Unprecedented – Skeptical Remarks” (2018) 55 Canadian Yearbook of International Law 1-41.

Book Chapters

· Steve Lorteau, “Regulatory Controls in the Canadian Wine Sector” in Theodore Georgopoulos, ed, Administrative controls in the wine sector (Paris: Mare & Martin, 2021), pp 341-367.

Opinion Pieces

· Steve Lorteau & Andrew Green,"How Canadian courts are taking on climate change" The Conversation Canada, 4 January 2024. https://theconversation.com/how-canadian-courts-are-taking-on-climate-ch...

· Steve Lorteau, Audrey-Ann Deneault, Jean-François Bureau & Nicole Racine, "Educate and Empower: The 3 Es to discuss climate change with children" The Conversation Canada, 9 July 2023. https://theconversation.com/engage-educate-and-empower-the-3-es-to-discu...

· Steve Lorteau, “For Fossil-Fuel Reliant Governments, Climate Action Should Start At Home" The Conversation Canada, 19 April 2023. https://theconversation.com/for-fossil-fuel-reliant-governments-climate-...

Research Interests
Administrative Law
Economic Analysis of Law
Environmental Law
Family Law
Feminist Analysis of Law
Intellectual Property Law
International Law
Legal Theory
Property Law
Supervisor
Committee Members
Kate J. Neville, Department of Political Science

Book Workshop, James Penner’s Property Rights: A Re-examination (OUP)

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

On October 22, 2020, University of Toronto is hosting a workshop of international scholars to discuss property theorist and legal philosopher James Penner’s new book, Property Rights: A Re-examination (Oxford University Press).

David Bullock

David Bullock
SJD Candidate
Thesis title:
Tort law as a response to collective action problems
Office in Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Toronto, M5S 2C5

David is a Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) candidate at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and a Vanier Scholar.  His research interests include the intersection of public and private law (in particular property and tort) as they relate to the environment, international law, and constitutional law.

David is a graduate of Victoria University of Wellington and Yale Law School. He began his career as  judicial clerk to the former Chief Justice of New Zealand, the Rt Hon Dame Sian Elias GNZM, before commencing professional practice at a specialist litigation firm in Auckland, New Zealand.  As a lawyer, David has acted for a range of environmental NGOs and has appeared at all levels of New Zealand courts, including in leading cases on climate change, the exportation of indigenous timber, seabed mining, off-shore oil exploration, election advertising, and police interrogation.  David has also regularly acted in sports disputes, regulatory proceedings, and complex commercial litigation.

Education
LLM, Yale Law School (2017)
LLB(Hons), Victoria University of Wellington (2011)
BCA (Economics), Victoria University of Wellington (2011)
Awards and Distinctions
Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (2021)
Connaught International Scholarship (2020)
Fulbright General Graduate Scholarship (2016)
William Georgetti Scholarship (2016)
Victoria University Medal of Academic Excellence (2011)
Chapman Tripp Prize (2011)
Dean’s List for Academic Excellence (2011)
Chris Highfield Memorial Prize (2011)
Quentin-Baxter Prize in International Law (2011)
IPANZ Prize in Public Administration (2011)
Robert Orr McGechan Prize (2010)
Archibald Francis McCallum Scholarship (2010)
Val Gormley Memorial Prize (2010)
Lord Cooke of Thorndon Prize (2009)
A H Johnstone Scholarship in Law (2009)
New Zealand Recent Law Review Prize (2009)
Alumni Association Prize (2008)
Mario Patrono Prize (2007)
Faculty of Law Prize (2007)
Professional Affiliations
Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand
Selected Publications

"Public Nuisance and Climate Change: The Common Law's Solutions to the Plaintiff, Defendant and Causation Problems" (2022) Modern Law Review [forthcoming, available at https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12732]

The Law of Costs in New Zealand (LexisNexis, Wellington, 2022) (with Tim Mullins)

"New Zealand" (2020) 31 Yearbook of International Environmental Law 261

“Three Strikes and the Interpretative Obligation: Parliamentary Intention and the Ascription of Meaning under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act” (2020) 29 New Zealand Universities Law Review 225

“Combating Climate Recalcitrance: Carbon-related Border Tax Adjustments in a New Era of Global Climate Governance” (2018) 27 Washington International Law Journal 609

“Political Costs and the Challenge of Tradable Environmental Markets” (2017) 29 Georgetown Environmental Law Review 609

"A Defence of Statutory Property” (2017) 48 Victoria University of Wellington Law Review 529

“The Wane of s 5 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990” [2017] New Zealand Law Journal 164

“Costs of Costs Applications” [2014] New Zealand Law Journal 348 (with Julian Long)

“Emissions Trading in New Zealand: Development, Challenges and Design” (2012) 21 Environmental Politics 657

“Multi-party Governance: Managing the Unity-Distinctiveness Dilemma in Executive Coalitions” (2012) 18 Party Politics 349 (with Jonathan Boston)

"Electoral Expression with Institutional Bounds: Reframing the Judicial Treatment of Elections in New Zealand" (2011) 42 Victoria University of Wellington Law Review 459

“Home Detention as a Stand-alone Sentence” (2011) 2 New Zealand Law Students’ Journal 603

"Experiments in Executive Government under MMP in New Zealand: Contrasting Approaches to Multi-party Governance” (2009) 7 New Zealand Journal of Public and International Law 39 (with Jonathan Boston)

Research Interests
Environmental Law
International Law
Legal Process
Political Philosophy and Theory
Property Law
Tort Law and Tort Theory
Supervisor
Committee Members

Prof. Mayo Moran writes "The Macron Report and how we right history’s wrongs"

Friday, December 21, 2018

In a commentary in the Globe and Mail, Prof. Mayo Moran looks at the role of museums in debates about the restitution of cultural objects seized during colonialism, and points to Canadian examples where such objects have been returned to First Nations ("The Macron Report and how we right history’s wrongs," December 21, 2018).

Read the full commentary on the Globe and Mail website, or below.


The Macron Report and how we right history’s wrongs

By Mayo Moran

December 21, 2018

Pages