Jena McGill is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law and a member of the Law Society of Ontario.
Jena researches in the areas of Canadian constitutional law (with a focus on equality law); gender and sexuality; women, peace and security in international law; feminist legal theory; and the impacts of new legal technologies on courts and the legal profession. Her work on section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has been cited by the Supreme Court of Canada in cases including Ward v Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse), 2021 SCC 43 and Quebec (Attorney General) v Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux, 2018 SCC 17. Along with co-author Amy Salyzyn, Jena received the 2021 Martin Felsky Award for Excellence in Canadian Open Legal Commentary for their article, “Judging by Numbers: How will judicial analytics impact the justice system and its stakeholders?” (2021) 44:1 Dalhousie LJ 249. Jena is co-editor, with Karen Drake, Anne Levesque, Kyle Kirkup and Joshua Sealy-Harrington, of the forthcoming edited collection, Critical Conversations in Canadian Public Law(University of Ottawa Press, 2025).
Jena teaches or has taught Tort Law, Constitutional Law and Introduction to Feminist Legal Thought in the first-year program at the Faculty of Law, as well as upper year seminars on Gender, Sexuality and the Law and Advanced Equality Rights. She is a three-time recipient of the Common Law Student Society's Teaching Award, and she received the Faculty of Law’s 2022 Excellence in Graduate Supervision Award and 2025 Excellence in Teaching Award.
Jena is a graduate of the joint J.D./M.A. program of the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law and the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University. Prior to joining the Faculty of Law, she served as law clerk to Justice Louise Charron at the Supreme Court of Canada and as legal assistant to the Canadian Representative to the United Nations International Law Commission, Professor Don McRae, in Geneva, Switzerland. Jena completed her graduate studies in law at Yale Law School.