Please refer to the How to Apply for a Job (for External Candidates) job aid for instructions on how to apply. If you are an active McGill employee (ie: currently in an active contract or position at McGill University), do not apply through this Career Site. Login to your McGill Workday account and apply to this posting using the Find Jobs report (type Find Jobs in the search bar). Hiring Unit: Faculty of Law Course Number: LAWG 538 Course Title: Specialized Topics in Law 19 - State Accountability and Social Change Course Credits: 3 1 Instructor Term: Winter 2026 Course Schedule: Monday1435-1725 (Student Affairs Office will contact you if there is a change to the date/time) Location: Chancellor Day Hall Social justice lawyers use terms like rebellious, radical, progressive, community-based or people’s lawyer to describe a myriad of leftist legal practices, all implicitly contrasted against the orthodox view that lawyers should be the apolitical advocates of their clients. Against this view, social justice lawyers share a commitment to bring their personal politics into their professional practice. This creates an obvious risk: too often legal education reduces social justice to critical thinking and self-reflexivity and fails to also identify the skillset that an effective social justice practice requires. This course is designed to address this absence, within the specific social justice context of state accountability. Through a combination of tactical doctrine and process considerations, students will be taught how to lawyer for state accountability. This course will use case studies organized around various forms of political violence (including solitary confinement, colonial or genocidal violence against Indigenous peoples, criminalization of dissent and police brutality). This approach will expose the ways in which the state has (and hasn’t) been brought to account and forced to change through legal action. In addition to practical training, this course will consider theoretical questions which loom large. How is a state accountability practice situated within the larger frame of social justice lawyering? What are the ethical considerations arising from the ‘role confusion’ of an activist lawyer? Can a lawyer work towards decolonization or is their work inherently colonial? Can law ever be practiced in a way that is truly radical, rebellious or progressive? TQR: At a minimum, a first degree in law. Several years of significant practice or professional experience, in the relevant area; Experience in teaching undergraduate law students in a bilingual setting. The University may, at its discretion, assign the person of choice to give this Course/Teaching. This posting will be taken down at 12:00 a.m. on the day indicated below as the deadline to apply. You have until 11:59 p.m. the day before the indicated deadline date to submit your application. Hiring Unit: Faculty of Law Course Title: Specialized Topics in Law 19 - State Accountability and Social Change Subject Code: LAWG 538 001/009 Location: Chancellor Day Hall Schedule: Monday 1435-1725 Deadline to Apply: 2025-10-15 McGill University hires on the basis of merit and is strongly committed to equity and diversity within its community. We welcome applications from racialized persons/visible minorities, women, Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities, and persons of minority sexual orientations and gender identities, as well as from all qualified candidates with the skills and knowledge to productively engage with diverse communities. McGill implements an employment equity program and encourages members of designated groups to self-identify. Persons with disabilities who anticipate needing accommodations for any part of the application process may contact, in confidence, accessibilityrequest.hr@mcgill.ca. Located in one of the world’s great multicultural and multilingual cities, McGill University is internationally recognized for its excellence as a leading institution of higher education and research. For nearly 200 years, through the work of dedicated people, McGill has been breaking ground in diverse fields and contributing solutions to some of the world’s most significant issues. McGillians are proud to be part of a community that is both global and local, inspired by challenge and committed to shaping a better future. McGill received a Platinum STARS rating in sustainability, is among Canada’s greenest employers, and is a top Montreal Employer. Grandescunt Aucta Labore. By work, all things increase and grow. Find a sense of purpose. Develop your future. Join us today.
