Katherine Lippel in 2011 with Caroline Couillard, coordinator of a research project on Chilean female workers, and research assistant Antonio Perfetto, who became a criminal lawyer (photo: Philippe Cordisco, 2011).
On September 23, we were deeply saddened to announce the passing of our colleague and friend Katherine Lippel. During the years she spent at the University of Ottawa, Katherine was a pillar of the Civil Law Section, a leading light. Her strength, commitment and generosity left their mark on many. Not only was she a star researcher and a great visionary in health and workplace safety law, she was above all a dedicated colleague, full of compassion, and an outstanding mentor and tireless ally to students and young researchers.
Throughout her career, Professor Lippel not only taught over a thousand students, but also profoundly transformed their lives, bringing out their calling and helping them launch careers as legal practitioners and researchers committed to advocating for the rights of women and the most marginalized in society. She had a deep belief in the need to guide and support students, including when they were writing their research papers or theses. On the memorial page created to gather the many respectful and affectionate testimonials, Professor Margarida Garcia recalled one of her first meetings with the distinguished researcher, who told her: “We must LOVE our students.”
The Katherine Lippel Fund for Graduate Studies in Law will award a $5,000 writing grant annually to a master’s or doctoral student at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law whose research is meant to advocate for the rights of the marginalized and who demonstrates financial need, to allow the recipient to devote themselves full time to writing their thesis or research paper. This fund honours Katherine’s incalculable commitment to students by seeking to extend this type of support beyond her lifetime.
In order to award this grant, the Faculty of Law wishes to quickly establish a $100,000 endowment. If you would like to honour the memory of Katherine Lippel, we invite you to donate to this fund.
Katherine Lippel receives the SSHRC Gold Medal from the Rt. Hon. David Johnston, then-governor general of Canada (photo: Sgt. Johanie Maheu, Rideau Hall © BSGG, 2017).