Professor Wilks comes to the Duncan School of Law from Toronto, Canada, following 10
years in private practice and three years of post-secondary teaching. His primary
research interests explore issues surrounding the regulation of migrant remittances and
their position within global payment systems. He is particularly interested in
technology's role in reducing remittance costs for the world's poorest migrant
workers as well as the domestic and international governance implications flowing from
such technological innovations. In upcoming projects, Professor Wilks hopes to examine
the following issues: The extent to which transaction fees shape compliance choice among
customers who might otherwise risk legal sanctions in order to secure fast, cheap (but
illegal) remittance services; the state's use of private payment networks to
facilitate various forms of financial surveillance; and the use of transnational networks
to harmonize critical segments of the world's financial system.
Professor Wilks has taught undergraduate, postgraduate, and professional courses at York
University, Ryerson University, the University of Toronto and Humber College. He earned
his undergraduate and law degrees from Queen's University at Kingston, an M.S.W.
from the University of Toronto, and his LL.M. and PhD at York University's Osgoode
Hall Law School. During his studies at Osgoode Hall, Professor Wilks received the Harry
Arthurs Fellowship (2008), the Willard Estey Teaching Fellowship (2009-2010), and the
Nathanson Fellowship (2010). Although Professor Wilks will be teaching Business
Organizations in the fall of 2011, his other teaching interests include Secured
Transactions, Payment Systems, Commercial Transactions, Regulation and Governance, and
Globalization and the Law.
