OBA Foundation Chief Justice of Ontario Fellowships

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

The OBA Foundation is now accepting applications for each of these two Fellowships for the 2024-2025 year. The deadline for applications is Friday, July 26, 2024. 

  • $15,000 will be paid to the recipient of the OBA Foundation Chief Justice of Ontario Fellowship in Legal Ethics and Professionalism Research. This Fellowship is open to full-time faculty teaching at a Canadian university or college.
  • $5,000 will be paid to the recipient of the OBA Foundation Chief Justice of Ontario Fellowship in Legal Ethics and Professionalism Studies. This Fellowship is open to CBA members who are not full-time faculty teaching at a Canadian university or college.

The details of the Fellowships, including any limiting conditions, are available at:
oba.org/OBAFoundation/Fellowships/Terms-of-Reference

The OBA Foundation administers and funds The OBA Foundation Chief Justice of Ontario Fellowships in Legal Ethics and Professionalism (the “Fellowships”).

The OBA Foundation Chief Justice of Ontario Fellowships in Legal Ethics and Professionalism 2024/2025

2024-2025 WINNERS

The Chief Justice of Ontario Fellowship in Research (Fellowship in Research) is awarded to Daniel Del Gobbo, Assistant Professor, University of Windsor Faculty of Law.

Professor Del Gobbo's research is entitled "Towards a Restorative Approach to Legal Ethics in Canada." It explores the possibility of reorienting legal ethics around restorative justice as the foundation of a more public interest-minded approach to the lawyer’s role in Canadian society. He proposes to ask three questions: (1) What might a restorative approach to legal ethics look like? (2) What are the benefits and drawbacks of taking a restorative approach to legal ethics from lawyer, client, and community perspectives? (3) How should a restorative approach to legal ethics be professionally regulated and enforced?

By way of background, restorative justice is commonly associated with a range of facilitated encounters in which the parties to legal disputes come together to reflect on harmful conduct and how they can move forward productively to address it. Restorative justice is premised on the fact of our interconnectedness and the importance of establishing relationships and communities marked by equal care, concern, and respect for other people. In Canada, restorative justice is most frequently conceived as a feature of the criminal legal system to facilitate pre-charge diversion, sentencing, reintegration plans, and other extrajudicial matters, particularly in the Indigenous and young offending contexts. Less well known is that restorative justice has been theorized and practiced in a wide range of civil and human rights contexts as well. 

Professor Del Gobbo's research explores whether restorative justice can offer more than just an alternative path for lawyers in criminal law settings, but instead support a restorative principle-based approach to legal ethics within communities and across systems that can raise the moral consciousness of lawyers, facilitate collaboration, promote social justice, and redefine the role of lawyers as change agents.

The Chief Justice of Ontario Fellowship in Studies (Fellowship in Studies) is awarded to Archana Medhekar and Samantha Peters

Archana Medhekar, Certified Family Law Specialist

(Barrister and Solicitor, B. Sc., LL.B. LL.M.(DR), CPMed)

Title of the proposed study:

“Harmonizing Ethics, Empathy and Professionalism: A New Paradigm in Trauma-Informed Lawyering”

Statement of proposed study through the OBA Foundation Fellowship:

The study aims to explore the intersectional challenges in family conflict resolution, examine gaps in lawyers' ethical and professional obligations while serving vulnerable diverse populations and to develop strategies for integration of trauma-informed advocacy practices and culture shift within the legal profession for promoting meaningful access to justice.

Intended Work Products:

  • A Report to OBA Foundation.
  • A virtual dissemination event to present the outcome of the study. 
  • An article or comparable contribution to legal scholarship on legal ethics or professionalism with collection of best practices and recommendations, with primary focus on trauma informed lawyering practice tips.
  • Presentation of outcome of study at two academic and professional conferences.  
  • Podcasts and radio show in English and other languages to educate the public about lawyer’s evolving role in the field of family conflict resolution.

Samantha Peters, Honours B. A., M.A., J.D. (Specialization in Public Law and Dispute Resolution & Professionalism), LL.M. (Political and Legal Thought)

Title of the proposed study:

R. v. Desjourdy: A Black Feminist Rewriting and Reimagining

Statement of proposed study through the OBA Foundation Fellowship:

In 2021, Parliament amended the Criminal Code and Judges Act with Bill c-3 to promote continued judicial education on sexual assault law and social context evidence. Through a critical rewriting of the 2013 trial decision in R. v. Desjourdy, in which an Ottawa police officer was acquitted of sexual assault charges against a Black woman complainant, this research will offer an example of how rewritten judgments could be used to advance judicial education with feminist and critical race perspectives.

Intended Work Products:

  • An article or comparable contribution to legal scholarship on legal ethics or professionalism with respect to amendments made to the Criminal Code and Judges Act via Bill c-3; and
  • Presentation of research at two academic and professional conferences.