Private Rights and the Rule of Law

Gerard J. Kennedy is an assistant professor at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Law. He researches the role of courts in society, specifically how different actors within or adjacent to the legal profession uphold the rule of law and facilitate access to justice. He principally does this through analyzing civil procedure, constitutional law, and administrative law. He has (co-)authored over thirty journal articles and five books on these topics. Professor Kennedy was previously a faculty member of the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Law and a litigator at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. A member of the bars of Ontario, Manitoba, and Alberta, he is an active member of the legal profession. He serves on the Alberta Judicial Council, the Federal Courts Rules Committee, and the (advisory) boards of Advocates for the Rule of Law, the Centre for Constitutional Studies, and the Edmonton Bar Association. He holds a B.A. from the University of Toronto, a J.D. from Queen’s University, an LL.M. from Harvard Law School, and a Ph.D. from Osgoode Hall Law School.

Kristopher Kinsinger is an associate with Smith Valeriote LLP in Guelph, Ontario. He received his Juris Doctor from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2019, where he was the recipient of several scholarships and prizes, before completing his articles of clerkship with a national law firm in Waterloo, Ontario. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 2020, and received his Master of Laws from McGill University in 2021 on a SSHRC scholarship and with the Pilarczyk Graduate Award in Law. Between 2021 and 2024, he served full-time as the national director of the Runnymede Society, a major Canadian legal association. In 2021, Kristopher was selected to join the inaugural cohort of the prestigious NextGen Fellowship with the Cardus think tank, and served two terms between 2017 and 2023 on the board of directors of Christian Legal Fellowship, Canada’s national association of Christian lawyers and law students. He currently serves as a past chair of the Canadian Bar Association’s Constitutional and Human Rights Section.

Malcolm Lavoie, KC is a Professor with the University of Alberta Faculty of Law. Professor Lavoie’s research deals with property law, judicial remedies, federalism, and issues of Indigenous land tenure and jurisdiction.