Lawrence David

Lawrence David teaches the first-year core curriculum course in Criminal Law and Procedure over the Fall and Winter semesters. He currently serves as Legal Counsel with the Department of Justice Canada, as part of the team of lawyers advising the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. Lawrence recently completed a Master of Laws degree at Harvard Law School, specializing in constitutional law.

Lawrence’s course is designed to be student-centric. The textbook is optional, and all course materials are made available for free using open access web-based sources. He takes pride in fostering an atmosphere conducive to respectful dialogue, and in teaching students about key aspects of the experience of Indigenous peoples in the Canadian criminal justice system.

Lawrence has extensive legal and policy experience at the federal level, having previously held the following positions:

• Legal Counsel (Litigator), Department of Justice Canada, National Litigation Sector (2019)
• Policy Advisor at Canada’s Privy Council Office, supporting the Prime Minister, Cabinet, and the Minister of Democratic Institutions (2016-2017)
• Law Clerk to Justice Rosalie Abella at the Supreme Court of Canada (2015-2016)
• Articling Student, Department of Justice, Legal Excellence Program (2014-2015)
• Judicial Law Clerk at the Quebec Court of Appeal (2013-2014)
• Legislative Assistant to a Member of Parliament (2010-2011)

In these capacities, Lawrence has had the privilege of contributing to the development of significant legislative and regulatory initiatives and to several judgments of considerable national importance. He has extensive experience interpreting and applying the Criminal Code to novel and complex cases, including as part of his clerkship at the Supreme Court of Canada. Lawrence’s up-close-and-personal in all three branches of Canadian government equips him with unique insights into the relationship between law and governance, law and public policy, and the separation of powers. Lawrence is a member in good standing of the Law Society of Ontario.

• Stare Decisis, the Charter and the Rule of Law in the Supreme Court of Canada (LexisNexis, 2020)
• “A Biographical Account of the Supreme Court of Canada’s Decision in R v Big M Drug Mart Ltd” in Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law, Oxford University Press (2019)
• “The Face of an Institution: Beverley McLachlin’s Reinvention of the Role of the Chief Justice of Canada” (International Journal of Constitutional Law Blog, December 2017)
• “Religious Institutionalism in a Canadian Context”(2015) 52:3 Osgoode Hall LJ 1048 (co-authored with Professor Victor Muniz-Fraticelli, McGill) (cited by the Supreme Court of Canada in Loyola High School v. Quebec (Attorney General), 2015 SCC 12 at para. 60.