Professor Mathen has been awarded the 2022 David Walter Mundell Medal, given out annually by the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario to recognize a legal writer who has made a distinguished contribution to the law.
Professor Mathen is one of Canada’s leading experts in constitutional law. Her body of written work demonstrates a commitment to the craft of legal writing with the goal of making the law accessible to a broad audience in the legal community and beyond. Her long list of publications includes a substantial amount of work on the judiciary, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and equality. Her work has been cited by the Supreme Court of Canada, and by numerous other courts, and colleagues have engaged with her research in academic journals around the common law world. A hallmark of Professor Mathen’s writing is that it often challenges conventional wisdom in a manner that is clear, direct and respectful.
The Mundell Medal was inaugurated by the late Ontario Attorney General Ian Scott, who intended it to be “a kind of Pulitzer Prize for legal writing.” The medal is named to honour the memory of the late David W. Mundell, a renowned constitutional lawyer and a pre-eminent member of the staff of the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario. This year`s Selection Committee was chaired by the Honourable Eileen Gillese, a justice of the Court of Appeal for Ontario.
“Through her impressive body of work, [Professor Mathen] engages with contemporary and emerging legal issues to provide accessible and topical insights,” says Justice Gillese. “In so doing, her writing enriches public debate on a number of important topics in constitutional law.” Ontario’s Attorney, Doug Downey, adds, “Throughout her distinguished career as a scholar, writer and speaker, Professor Mathen has demonstrated an ability to express complex legal ideas in clear and engaging ways. I congratulate Professor Mathen on this recognition of her work to make the law accessible to the legal community and beyond.”
Read the full press release from the Ministry of the Attorney General.
Other Faculty of Law members who have won the Mundell Medal include Martha Jackman (2018), Adam Dodek (2017), Sébastien Grammond (2016), Elizabeth Sheehy (2014) and Constance Backhouse (2010).
Congratulations to Professor Mathen!