“Professor Albert is an internationally-renowned constitutional scholar. He is also a leader in the scholarly community. We are very excited to welcome him to the Common Law Section at the University of Ottawa next year,” Dean Adam Dodek said.
Richard Albert is Professor of World Constitutions and Director of Constitutional Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. An expert in constitutional law and democratic reform, he has published over 20 books, including Constitutional Amendments: Making, Breaking, and Changing Constitutions (Oxford University Press 2019). He is the Founder and Director of the International Forum on the Future of Constitutionalism, whose mission is to marshal knowledge and experience to build a world of opportunity, liberty, and dignity for all.
Born and raised in the Ottawa area, he is a former law clerk to the Chief Justice of Canada and a graduate of Yale, Oxford, and Harvard. In July 2021, he begins his term as Co-President of the International Society of Public Law, the world’s leading organization for the study and practice of public law.
“I am grateful to the University of Ottawa, the Faculty of Law, and Dean Dodek for welcoming me back home as the Allan Rock Visiting Professor,” said Albert.
“The Faculty of Law is home to the very best cohort of public law scholars in the country. I look forward to exchanging ideas with them, learning from them, and contributing to the life of this truly special scholarly community.”
The Allan Rock Fund supports Black law students at the Common Law Section by funding internships, fellowships and mentorship programs for students from Black communities. It also funds visiting professors who are members of a Black community to spend one or two terms at the Common Law Section.
Professor Albert will be the first Visiting Professor hosted under the auspices of the Allan Rock Fund. “I thank Professor Rock for his vision and generosity in creating this landmark program,” said Albert.
In the fall, Professor Albert will teach a seminar on “Constitutional Reform in Canada”. This seminar will be open to JD and LLM students. Professor Albert explained that, “[t]ogether we will explore the inner workings of the Constitution of Canada, we will examine why large-scale constitutional amendment efforts have in the past failed, and we will look ahead to new possibilities for constitutional renewal in the country.”
The Faculty will invite applications from emerging and mid-career Black legal scholars for the 2022-2023 academic year beginning in October 2021. Inquiries may be directed to the Dean’s office at [email protected].
We look forward to hosting Professor Albert at the Common Law Section this Fall.
The uOttawa Public Law Centre, established in September 2019, is home to the largest number of public law academics in Canada.