LAWS Topics Courses

Instructor: Stephen Donoghue

The law of evidence is one of the most important, yet challenging, areas of the law. Because it is so central to the introduction of information into a courtroom, a solid knowledge of its rules and principles are essential for any lawyer, judge, police officer, or other justice system participant who appears in court. This course introduces students to evidence law and frames it as a process, beginning with the collection of information, and ending with the establishment of fact. The course will focus primarily on criminal law proceedings as the rules of evidence are most vigorously applied and developed in the criminal law context. Topics canvassed include: disclosure, third party records applications, relevance and materiality, hearsay, confessions, character evidence, opinion evidence, exclusion of evidence, privilege, use immunity, the exclusionary discretion, witness competency, examination in chief, cross examination, real evidence, objections, judicial notice, admissions, standards of proof, weighing information, corroboration, presumptions, and evidence in specific court proceedings.

Instructor: Kelly Lauzon

In this class, we will look closely at one factor that has been linked to wrongful conviction cases. We will use this knowledge to study known cases of wrongful conviction within the Canadian and American justice systems to help us consider the implications that a wrongful conviction has for the accused person who is subsequently exonerated as well as for the justice system as a whole. In doing so, we will attempt to answer a variety of questions such as: What is the role of forensic science in criminal cases? What is the role of the expert witness in relation to these cases? What role do forensics play in the criminal justice system? What are the differences between junk science, pseudo-science and forensic science? What makes something a junk or a good science?

Instructor: Sam Schwisberg

The special topic for this course will focus on the impact of Donald Trump’s policies on the
international economic legal order. The economic, legal, geopolitical and social implications
will be considered to the extent possible in the time allocated to this course

Professor Alberto Salazar

Unlock the future of Business Law: Join our seminar on Corporate Law and Artificial Intelligence! Delve into the exciting realm of Canadian and comparative corporate law, exploring the transformative impact of the new technology.  Discover how algorithms, blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, automation, smart contracts, and platform corporations are reshaping the business landscape and traditional business law. Our course covers a wide range of topics, including the legal implications of financial technology (e.g. investment platforms, cryptocurrency), the changing landscape of fiduciary duties of corporate directors (e.g. AI directors, liability for privacy breaches, algorithmic management, consumer’s rights), the transformation of work (e.g. gig workers and corporate social responsibility), and antitrust (e.g. regulation of powerful big tech giants and platform corporations). Don’t miss out on this opportunity to explore the future of business law in the digital age!

Instructor Kelly Lauzon

In this class, we will rely on Canadian and American research to examine and analyze the factors that have been linked to wrongful conviction cases. We will use this knowledge to study known cases of wrongful conviction within the Canadian justice system to help us consider the implications that a wrongful conviction has for the accused person who is subsequently exonerated. In doing so, we will attempt to answer a variety of questions such as what impact do wrongful conviction cases have on the credibility of the criminal justice system? How do the state and the justice system respond when people complain that they have been wrongfully convicted? What role do police, crown attorneys, judiciary and other justice officials play in wrongful conviction cases? What impact do wrongful convictions have on the lives of the wrongfully convicted and their families? Finally, can anything be done to reduce the frequency with which people are wrongfully convicted by the criminal justice system in the future?

Professor Jane Dickson

This is a course about how law works (or doesn’t work) in real time.

Since 1999 Canadian courts sentencing an Indigenous person have been required to consider their ‘unique background and circumstances’ and any ‘alternatives to incarceration that are reasonable in the circumstances’ of the offence and the offender. Since that time, these ‘Gladue requirements’ have been expanded to apply across the criminal process, from bail through to parole applications.

Despite working with the requirements for 25 years, Gladue’s goal of reducing Indigenous incarceration rates remains beyond our reach and Indigenous people remain disproportionately represented at virtually every level of the system from police contacts to incarceration. So what’s the problem? Is it Gladue? Is it courts, lawyers, cops, corrections? Is it that we failed to understand the complexity of the factors that bring people into conflict with the law? Or was Gladue based on flawed assumptions about the system and the society that supports it, and thus the failure is no real surprise? Is this yet another example of how bad policy can thwart law’s best intentions?

This course will immerse you in the research and evaluations around Indigenous criminal justice system involvement, Gladue and critical discussions of the nature of culpability, accountability and ‘what works’. You will then have the opportunity to engage with those on the front lines of the criminal justice system – police, judges, defense and Crown counsel, Gladue writers and workers – to discuss their understanding of, and role in, decarceration.

You will have the opportunity to ask some hard questions and get honest answers from the people doing the actual work and to query connections between theory and practice and between research and the real world.

Because the real-world matters and ready or not, it’s on your doorstep.

Professor Michael Christensen

This course examines some of the socio-legal issues related to the recent expansion of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The course will be organized as a seminar and each week we will discuss foundational topics in the growing field of AI studies. The readings will be multidisciplinary, with an emphasis on questions about the social impact of AI technologies ranging from practical issues regarding copyright and training models, to larger more existential questions about the future of work and human interaction in the AI era. The course will consider many perspectives and voices that are currently impacting debates about AI, including academic, industry, media, and activist perspectives. The goal of the course is to provide a platform for understanding the latest developments in AI products and technologies from a socio-legal academic perspective.

Professor Hollis Moore

In this experiential course, graduate students will deepen their understanding of legal phenomena (e.g., racism in courtroom culture and sex discrimination in the Indian Act) while learning how to study law empirically. Through site visits (e.g., to the Ottawa Courthouse), lab-based learning, and a series of small research projects, students will develop the knowledge and skills necessary to conduct independent qualitative research. Both ‘in the field’ and inside the classroom, students will complete regular labs in which they gain first-hand experience performing core research activities such as systematic observation, recording fieldnotes, ethnographic interviewing, and coding. Instead of submitting a traditional final research essay, students will have the opportunity to design and execute three small research projects throughout the term. First, students will carry out an observational study of a legal setting of their choice. Second, they will use autoethnography to investigate their own legal experiences. Finally, they will conduct interviews with legal actors, code/analyze their data, and report on their findings. In each case, there will be ample opportunity to practice skills, engage in structured self-reflection, and “workshop” ideas and techniques.

This workshop-style course is particularly suitable for PhD students and MA students considering the MA Thesis or Research Essay path because they will be able to explore topics that interest them, experiment with methods, and get a taste of independent research. This course is also appropriate for students who want to deepen their understanding of law through a different style of hands-on, applied learning. In this course, we will read/discuss both compelling exemplars of ethnographic legal research and practical methods guides.

Professor Michael Christensen

This course examines the intersections of science, technology and law. While often thought of as separate domains of knowledge, this course will explore topics in which the governance, regulation or politics of science and technology intersect. The course will provide students with an overview of some of the key theories in the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) that have been particularly useful for contemporary scholars in Legal Studies. Topics covered in the course will include AI and Informational Capitalism, Science and the Anthropocene, racial (in)justice and surveillance technologies, Data and algorithmic decision making, and the cultural logic of misinformation. Each of these topics will be discussed from a legal perspective that foregrounds debates about rights and/or justice. The course will consider many perspectives and voices that are currently impacting critical debates about the role of science and technology in society.