Paul Daly joined the Faculty of Law (Common Law Section) at the University of Ottawa in July 2019, where he was named to the University Research Chair in Administrative Law & Governance.
A leading scholar of public law in the common-law world, his work on judicial review, reasonableness, and the culture of justification has shaped academic debate and judicial decision-making across multiple jurisdictions. He is the author of several major monographs published by Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and UBC Press, most recently A Culture of Justification: Vavilov and the Future of Canadian Administrative Law (2023), shortlisted for the Walter Owen Book Prize.
Professor Daly’s scholarship — including his long-running blog Administrative Law Matters — has been cited over 200 times by courts in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel, including numerous appellate and supreme courts. These citations include more than 50 separate books and articles. He is widely regarded as one of Canada’s foremost authorities on administrative law and the modern administrative state.
Bilingual in English and French, Professor Daly is a frequent speaker at conferences, judicial-education programs, and continuing legal-education events across Canada and internationally. He has appeared as counsel in both official languages at all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada, in precedent-setting public-law cases. He also regularly advises administrative tribunals and agencies on compliance with administrative law principles and best practice. Before joining the University of Ottawa, he held faculty appointments at the University of Cambridge and the Université de Montréal, and visiting positions at Harvard Law School, Université Paris II – Panthéon-Assas, Louvain Global College of Law, Trinity College Dublin, and the Law Reform Commission of Ireland. Since 2019 he has served as a part-time member of the Environmental Protection Tribunal of Canada.