Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson, KC
Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD)
Kil ‘yahda sing.Ga suu | Haida laws ceremony
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The Peter A. Allard School of Law at UBC is one of the world’s leading centres for legal education and research. Its faculty members engage in research with local, national, and global impact and provide students with some of the most extensive and innovative curricular opportunities of any Canadian law school.
The Peter A. Allard School of Law's innovative researchers, inspiring teachers, and outstanding graduates have established our national reputation and global reach. The Faculty is committed to preparing our students to become exceptional global citizens, to conducting leading-edge research that serves our community nationally and internationally, and to promoting the values of a just, civil and sustainable society.
The Allard School of Law is proud to foster a research environment that pulls faculty, students, and visitors into collaborative and challenging research projects. Our outstanding graduate programs offer students the opportunity to study law from within law’s wider social, economic, and political context, and select courses from a comprehensive and progressive curriculum that emphasizes foundational knowledge, scholarly innovation, ethics, and the development of professional skills.
Legal research that employs the perspectives of different disciplines, contexts, and methodologies makes the Allard School of Law an exciting and rewarding research centre. And, as the stories on the Allard School of Law research portal show, research done here changes peoples’ lives.
The Allard School of Law's more than 10,000 alumni include:
- The Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
- The Right Honourable Kim Campbell, PC, CC, OBC, former Prime Minister of Canada
- The Honourable Ujjal Dosanjh, former Premier of British Columbia and former Canadian Minister of Health
- The Honourable Mike Harcourt, OC, former Premier of British Columbia
- The Honourable Lance Finch, QC, retired Chief Justice of British Columbia
- The Honourable Frank Iacobucci, CC, QC, LSM, former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
- The Honourable Wally Oppal, QC, former Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, former Attorney General of British Columbia, and former Minister responsible for Multiculturalism
- The Honourable Steven L. Point, OBC, former Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, and current UBC Chancellor and Provincial Court Judge
- The Honourable Alfred Scow, CM, OBC, first Indigenous lawyer called to the British Columbia bar and first legally trained Indigenous Judge in the province
- Justice Ardith Walkem, QC, first Indigenous woman judge in the province, and both an LLB and LLM alumna
- The Honourable Patricia Proudfoot, OBC, first female judge in BC
Research Centres
Research Facilities
Allard Hall, home of the Allard School of Law, creates a welcoming and inspiring learning, research and meeting place for students, faculty, staff and the wider legal community.
Opened in 2011, the $56-million four-storey, 141,000 square-foot building and $56-million facility includes flexible, modern teaching spaces, a replica courtroom, and dedicated spaces for the faculty’s nearly 650 students, 45 full-time faculty, plus alumni and guests. Classroom video displays and webcasting technology will connect UBC students with law schools and communities globally. A three-storey multipurpose forum with floor-to-ceiling windows converts from a social area to an auditorium for special events and lectures. The new state-of-the-art UBC Law Library serves as an academic hub for students and the legal community.
With powerful learning and sustainability features, Allard Hall – named after donor and alumnus Peter A. Allard – provides a space to advance legal research and education in Canada, expand the Faculty’s presence in the community, and honour its ties to BC First Nations.
Research Highlights
The Allard School of Law is home to a dynamic, accomplished, and diverse group of faculty who make innovative and influential contributions to understanding the underpinning of the law, cutting edge developments in legal practice, the development of policy, and the progress of civil society at both national and international levels. The Faculty’s research is regularly cited by scholars, courts, and policymakers across the country and around the world.
The Allard School of Law has led Canada in curricular and research innovation with important programs focusing on areas including social justice, business law, environmental law, sustainability and Asian legal studies. Our faculty members carry out their research and teaching objectives with a commitment to pursuing social justice.
Key areas of faculty research include international law, Indigenous legal studies, environmental law and sustainability, migration, human trafficking, affordable housing, and criminal law and policy. Allard Hall is home to Centres of business law, environmental law and natural resources, Asian legal studies, and feminist legal studies.
Allard Hall is also home to affiliated law reform organizations: British Columbia Law Institute, which includes the Canadian Center for Elder Law Studies, and the UN-affiliated International Center for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy.
Graduate Degree Programs
Research Supervisors in Faculty
| Name | Research Interests |
|---|---|
| Affolder, Natasha | International Environmental Law, Biodiversity Law, Law and Sustainability |
| Ahmad, Hassan | transnational tort law; interaction of domestic jurisdiction and liability principles with international law; business and human rights law; Law and political economy |
| Aloni, Erez | Law and legal practice; Law; Contracts; family law; law and sexuality |
| Arbel, Efrat | Law and legal practice; Law; Constitutional law; Gender and Law; Legal and Critical Theory; Prison Law and Policy; Refugee Law; Tort Law |
| Bakan, Joel Conrad | Constitutional Law, Legal Theory, Socio-Legal Studies |
| Benedet, Janine | Law and legal practice; Penal Law; Labor Standards and Laws; Human Rights and Liberties, Collective Rights; prostitution and pornography; sexual abuse of girls; sexual harassment in employment and education; sexual violence against women |
| Beswick, Samuel Peter | Private law; Common law; Comparative law; Torts, private obligations and product liability law; Legal theory, jurisprudence and legal interpretation; Law; Law and time; Limitations; Remedies; Tort Law; Restitution and unjust enrichment; Public authority liability |
| Bhandar, Brenna | Law and legal practice; property law |
| Biukovic, Ljiljana | Adaptation of international legal norms by national governments, the impact of regionalism on multilateral trade negotiations and the development of European Union Law,European union Law, International Trade Law, International Dispute Resolution, E-commerce, Comparative Law |
| Cheng, Jie | Comparative Constitutional Law; Chinese Law and Governance; Hong Kong and Macau Basic Laws; Land Property Law; Information Law |
| Christie, Gordon | Legal Theory, and trans-cultural tort law, Aboriginal law, Indigenous legal orders, Indigenous legal theory, Legal Theory and trans-cultural tort law |
| Clifford, Robert | Aboriginal and Indigenous law |
| Cui, Wei | Law and legal practice; Taxation; Law; Social Organization and Political Systems; Chinese administrative law; Chinese legislative system; law and development; Law and political economy; tax and development; tax policy |
| Cunliffe, Emma | Women and the law, evidence, experts, courts and media, open justice, pathology and law, criminal law, SIDS, child homicide |
| Dauvergne, Catherine | Immigration, Immigration Law, Refugee Law, Legal Theory, Globalization |
| Duff, David | Tax Law Tax Policy Environmental Taxation Charities, Tax law and policy, environmental taxation, comparative and international taxation, and distributive justice |
| Etxabe, Julen | Law and society; Literature and critical theory; History and philosophy of law and justice; Law and humanities; Legal Theory and Jurisprudence; Human Rights; Political Theory; Law and literature; Cultural Studies |
| Flynn, Alexandra | Law and society; Municipal Law; Local Governance; property law; Administrative Law; Experiential legal education; Socio-Legal Studies; Law & Cities |
| Ford, Cristie | Law and legal practice; Law; Regulation; Social, Economical and Political Impacts of Innovations; Laws, Standards and Regulation Impacts; Administrative Law; Ideological, Political, Economical and Social Environments of Social Transformations; Financial innovation and fintech; financial regulation; Legal innovation and law tech; regulation & governance theory; securities regulation; the legal profession; Innovation and the law |
| Ghebremusse, Sara | natural resource governance; development; Human Rights |
| Goldbach, Toby Susan | Law and legal practice; Political Culture, Society and Ideology; Procedural Law; Jurisprudence; Comparative Law; Dispute Resolution; Judicial Politics; law and development |
| Goold, Benjamin | Law and legal practice; Law; Border Studies; Criminal Justice; Human Rights; migration; Privacy; security |
| Gordon, Sara | Law and legal practice; Intersection of psychology and mental health with the criminal justice system; Criminal law and criminal justice; Health law and policy; Legal methodology and interdisciplinary approaches |
| Grant, Isabel | Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, Psychiatry and Law |
| Harris, Douglas | Property law (except intellectual property law); Canadian history; property law; condominium law; legal history |
Pages
Graduate Student Stories
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Alumni on Success
Recent Publications
This is an incomplete sample of recent publications in chronological order by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Peter A. Allard School of Law.
Publication: Economics Letters
UBC Author(s): Wei Cui (Peter A. Allard School of Law / Peter A. Allard School of Law)
ISSN: 01651765
Volume: 237
Publication Date: April 2024
View Publication
UBC Author(s): Wei Cui (Peter A. Allard School of Law / Peter A. Allard School of Law)
ISSN: 01651765
Volume: 237
Publication Date: April 2024
View Publication
Publication: Human Rights Law Review
UBC Author(s): Julen Etxabe (Peter A. Allard School of Law / Peter A. Allard School of Law)
ISSN: 14617781
Volume: 24
Publication Date: 1 March 2024
View Publication
UBC Author(s): Julen Etxabe (Peter A. Allard School of Law / Peter A. Allard School of Law)
ISSN: 14617781
Volume: 24
Publication Date: 1 March 2024
View Publication
Recent Thesis Submissions
Doctoral Citations
A doctoral citation summarizes the nature of the independent research, provides a high-level overview of the study, states the significance of the work and says who will benefit from the findings in clear, non-specialized language, so that members of a lay audience will understand it.
| Year | Citation | Program |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Dr. Leslie examined how the Canadian federal government implements mortgage securitization in Canada. He found that the government provides support to banks and investors and takes risks affecting the Canadian public without meaningful public oversight. His research will assist in developing sound housing finance policy going forward. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2023 | Dr. Nosek showed how corporations have leveraged a multi-pronged strategy to simultaneously expand their reach over public discourse on climate change while undermining important checks on influence over discourse, like public protest and government enforcement actions for false and misleading speech. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Bateman examined the decision of the Roman Emperor Constantine to legislate Bishops into the role of judges in the Roman state. He argues that Constantine did this because of his first hand experience with bishops sitting on a panel of judges with them, and due to the fact the emperor wanted to rid the Roman courts of corruption. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Maharaj's work examines the law on mitigation of damages for breach of contract by establishing a robust framework that explains how the doctrine applies, why it applies, when it applies, and what it actually demands of contracting parties in practice. It will benefit judges, legal counsels, and the wider scholarly community in private law. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Ponomarenko studied the requirements the government must meet to justify a limitation of a Charter right. Currently, there is no judicial consensus on when these requirements must be strict and when they can be relaxed. Her dissertation examines this undertheorized body of jurisprudence and provides it with a principled theoretical basis. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2022 | Dr. Aikenhead examined the Canadian criminal justice response to technology-facilitated intimate partner violence (TFIPV) through a review of recent case law. She identified concerns and gaps in the legal response from a feminist perspective. Her proposed legislative and policy reforms will assist victims of TFIPV in accessing justice. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2022 | The law of negligence claims to deter accidental wrongdoers from causing harm. The mixed doctrinal and qualitative research in this dissertation suggest that in the law of negligence in Canada, deterrence is largely illusory. Potential wrongdoers are so well protected by liability insurance that there is little inclination to avoid causing harm. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Sankey studied legal processes developed by Squamish Nation for land use planning and environmental assessment of natural gas projects. Her research finds that in developing policy aimed at reconciliation, Canadian governments will learn much by shifting their focus away from principles of consultation defined by Canadian courts, toward processes for achieving consent established by Indigenous nations. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Dzah studied how Africa influences and is influenced by the concept of sustainable development. He argued that ethics and customary and Indigenous norms can revitalise the legal dimensions of this concept. He proposed ecological law as a new way to theorise and implement sustainable development and to reorganise links between society and nature. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2021 | Dr. Nickason examines Canada's efforts to give effect to First Nations' rights of self-determination and self-government. She demonstrates that cultural differences, in the ways First Nations and settler societies conceive of legitimacy, have undermined our capacity to negotiate new arrangements to give effect to these rights. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |