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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:
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.
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.
| Name | Research Interests |
|---|---|
| Stacey, Jocelyn | Law and legal practice; Administrative Law; Disaster Law; Environmental Law; Public Law; Regulatory and Legal Theory |
| Stewart, James | Comparative Criminal Law, Moral Philosophy, Legal Pluralism, Theory of Criminal Law, Corporate Accountability, International Criminal Justice, International Humanitarian Law, Human Rights |
| Thomasen, Kristen | Law (except legal practice and international law); robotics law and policy; drone regulation; privacy impacts of robotic technologies |
| Tremblay, Regine | Family Law, Family Mediation, Children Law, Private Law, Civil Law, Comparative Law, Feminist and Queer Theories |
| Wood, Stepan | Corporate social responsibility, Sustainability, Globalization, Transnational Governance, Voluntary Standards, Climate Change, Environmental Law |
| Young, Margot | Social sciences; Constitutional law; women’s right; Housing rights; Equality law; Social welfare law; International rights; Environmental rights |
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.
| Year | Citation | Program |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Dr. Cedillo studied how national legal systems impact the interpretation of globalized standards. Using Mexico as a case study, she developed a framework for states to establish their interpretation of the term public policy using four specific factors and local legal elements. Her work guides us to engage with pluralistic perspectives in law. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2018 | Parody is traditionally understood as the use of existing work to mock or evoke humour. Dr. Lai examined whether parodies infringe on copyright laws. She further defined the scope of protection that copyright law should provide for the right to parody and applied it to several jurisdictions in order to bring their copyright jurisprudences in line with their traditions of free speech. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2018 | The Nansen Initiative was an intergovernmental process that addressed the challenges of cross-border disaster and climate change displacement. Dr. Okeowo examined the Protection Agenda of the Initiative and argued that it has the tendency to regulate the behaviour of states on the recognition and protection of cross-border disaster-displaced persons. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Munarriz studied the opposition and resistance of Indigenous communities in Peru to extractive projects that affect their lands, health and life. He examined the central role of law in the dispossession of Indigenous lands by multinational corporations, as well as in the increasing criminalization and repression of affected communities. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Villaseñor compared the right to social security in two countries with very different economies but with similar social and legal problems: Japan and Mexico. This study revealed the roles of conservative culture, the judiciary and society in determining constitutional outcomes. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Li examined the Chinese migrant construction workers' values, ideas, opinions, and attitudes with regard to the general legal system in China, especially with respect to labour dispute resolution, and trade unions. This study explores how traditional local values in China still play a dominant role in the migrant workers' daily lives. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Liu studied judicial reform in China from the 1980s to 2015, focusing on the autonomy of judges in Chinese courts. Her research investigated the main influence in the adjudication and independence of the judges. This research will inform policy making and implementation of future judicial reform in China. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2017 | Dr. Liang studied the oversight and regulation regime of China's domestic cap-and-trade carbon market in the context of the country's environmental governance reform. Her research provides a deeper understanding of the relationship between law, administrative regulation and market in China, in both their long-run equilibrium and dynamic interactions. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Vogl's thesis examined legal processes of refugee status determination and the assessment of refugee testimony in Australia and Canada. Through an analysis of refugee oral hearings, her findings revealed that refugees must present evidence in a compelling narrative form in order to be heard as both credible and plausible. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Liao studied the integration of business law, corporate social responsibility and social enterprises. She also investigated the development of corporate models that blend for-profit and non-profit legal characteristics. She designed a framework for the implementation of these hybrid corporations, which has impacted Canadian regulatory reform. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |