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About Sara Ross

 
Dr. Sara Ross (BA (U Alberta), BA Hons (McGill), LL.B (McGill), B.C.L (McGill), LL.M. (Ottawa), Ph.D (Osgoode)) is an Assistant Professor at Dalhousie University’s Schulich School of Law where she teaches property law, private international law, and critical perspectives on law. She has held three prestigious postdoctoral fellowships (Banting, SSHRC, and Killam), in addition to previously teaching at other law schools such as both the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia (Transnational Law and Cultural Law) and the Osgoode Hall Law School. Dr. Ross completed her articles as a law clerk to the Honourable Justice Luc Martineau at the Federal Court and became a lawyer-member of the bar (Ontario) in 2013.
 
Dr. Ross is an executive board member of the Canadian Law and Society Association (Vice-President (Conferences)), Canadian Association of Law Teachers (Treasurer), and the co-Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed scholarly journal Canadian Legal Education Annual Review. In 2021, she was named on of the "Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers" in Canada by Canadian Lawyer magazine, and was a recipient of the "Rising Stars: Leading Lawyers Under 40" award for Lexpert magazine's top Canadian lawyers under 40.
 
Her critical, comparative, and legal anthropology research has led to two dozen scholarly articles, book chapters, and books. She is also an active speaker on the international stage, presenting her work in multiple countries, and a human rights special national rapporteur. Her current research focuses on both law and the city as well as law and culture, using an urban legal anthropology methodology and engaging with knowledge mobilization in both the academic and local community. Her most recent book, Law and Intangible Cultural Heritage in the City, was published by Routledge in 2019—a Toronto music journalist called it a “must-read” and a six-page review in the Osgoode Hall Law Journal calling it “compelling … memorable for her implicit preservation of the sites’ intangible cultural heritages by way of ink on paper.”

Positions

2023 - Present Board Member, Dalhousie University Schulich School of Law ‐ Dalhousie Law Journal Editorial Board
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2021 - Present Assistant Professor, Dalhousie University Schulich School of Law
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2020 - Present Book Review Editor, Canadian Journal of Law and Society
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2020 - Present Co-Editor-in-Chief, Canadian Legal Education Annual Review
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2013 - Present Certified Notary Public, Province of Ontario
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2013 - Present Lawyer Member, Law Society of Ontario (Ontario Bar)
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2018 - 2020 Killam Teaching Fellow, Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia
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2017 - 2018 Subject Matter Expert, Ryerson University ‐ Law Practice Program
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2014 - 2018 Instructor, Hon. William Z. Estey Teaching Fellow, Osgoode Hall Law School of York University
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2012 - 2013 Clerk to Justice Luc Martineau, Federal Court of Canada
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2010 - 2011 Editor-in-Chief (also Editor, 2009-2010), McGill Law Journal
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2009 - 2010 Book Review Editor (also, Editor 2008-2009), McGill Journal of Sustainable Development Law
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Curriculum Vitae

Disciplines

Research Interests

Grants

2020 - 2021 Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship
Social Science & Humanities Research Council of Canada
Role: Fellow
$140,000
2018 - 2020 Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship
Killam Laureates
Role: Laureate
$104,000
2018 - 2020 SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship
Social Science & Humanities Research Council of Canada
Role: Fellow
$105,000
2015 - 2018 Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Award
Social Science & Humanities Research Council of Canada
Role: Fellow
$105,000
2011 - 2014 Research Grant (Journals)
Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture
Role: Principal Applicant
$71,622
2011 - 2013 Aid to Scholarly Journals Grant
Social Science & Humanities Research Council of Canada
Role: Principal Applicant
$44,000
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Professional Service and Affiliations

2021 - Present Board of Trustees (Faculty Member), Dalhousie Legal Aid Service
2020 - Present Executive Board Member – Younger Comparativists Committee, American Society of Comparative Law
2020 - Present Treasurer, Canadian Association of Law Teachers (Board of Directors 2015 - Present)
2020 - Present Vice President (Conferences), Canadian Law and Society Association (Board of Directors 2014 - Present)
2020 - Present Special National Rapporteur for Canada, Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law
2012 - Present Member, Canadian Maritime Law Association
2020 - 2021 Law Faculty Representative, Dalhousie Postdoctoral Association
2018 - 2020 Postdoctoral Association Executive Board, University of British Columbia
2016 - 2019 Affiliates Advisory Group – Younger Comparativists Committee, American Society of Comparative Law (Chair 2018 - 2019)
2015 - 2019 International Outreach Committee, Association for Law, Property & Society
2015 - 2016 Co-Chair, Graduate Law Students Association, Osgoode Hall Law School (Member 2014 - 2018)
2003 - 2005 Board of Directors (Founding Member), Orchesis Modern Dance, University of Alberta
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Honors and Awards

  • • Named one of Canadian Lawyer magazine’s “Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers” in 2021
  • • Austin Sarat Award article prize – The Association for the Study of Law, Culture and the Humanities
  • • I. Ballon Memorial Medal – McGill University Faculty of Law
  • • Scarlet Key Award – McGill University
  • • Aisenstadt Research Fellowship – McGill Centre for Human Rights & Legal Pluralism
  • • Catherine Folinsbee Memorial Scholarship – University of Alberta
  • • Lillian Cobb Memorial Scholarship – University of Alberta
  • • 2021 Recipient of the "Rising Stars: Leading Lawyers Under 40" award for Lexpert magazine's top Canadian lawyers under 40

Courses

  • Private International Law (Schulich)
  • Property in its Historical Context (Schulich)
  • Critical Perspectives on Law (Schulich)
  • Transnational Law (Allard School of Law, UBC)
  • Cultural Law (Allard School of Law, UBC)
  • Ethical Lawyering in a Global Community (Osgoode Hall Law School)
  • Legal Process (Osgoode Hall Law School)

Education

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2020 - 2021 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dalhousie University Schulich School of Law
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2018 - 2020 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia
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2014 - 2018 Ph.D., Osgoode Hall Law School of York University
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2013 - 2014 LL.M., University of Ottawa ‐ Faculty of Law
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2011 Certificate in International Crisis Management, Université de Montréal ‐ Montreal Centre for International Studies
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2008 - 2011 BCL, McGill University ‐ Faculty of Law
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2008 - 2011 LL.B., Major in Commercial Negotiation and Dispute Resolution, McGill University ‐ Faculty of Law
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2010 Certificate in Arbitration, Penn State Law & McGill Faculty of Law
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2005 - 2007 BA Honours in Anthropology and Archaeology with First Class Honours, McGill University
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2000 - 2004 BA in French Language and Literature with Distinction (minor in Spanish Language and Literature), University of Alberta
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Links


Books and Book Chapters (2)

Articles (21)

Book Reviews (1)