We are pleased to announce that Andrew E. Cleland has joined Ecojustice and will serve as the Director of the uOttawa-Ecojustice Environmental Law Clinic! Andrew is a bilingual civil litigator with over 13 years of experience in conducting complex litigation before all levels of courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada.

For the 2026-2027 academic year, Andrew will lead the clinic with Professor Stewart Elgie, the founder of Ecojustice, under a renewed format designed to deepen student learning about public interest environmental law:

• the English, Fall 2026 semester will employ seminars, practical assignments, and written and oral advocacy to introduce students to environmental litigation or law reform; and
• the bilingual, Winter 2027 semester combines seminars with hands-on environmental law work to enable students to gain practical experience and skills.

A maximum of 15 students can enroll in each semester and admission to each semester is by application. Interested students should submit their application to [email protected].

For more information, please check out the links below:

• To learn about each course and the application process, search for the clinic on the course search engine: https://www.uottawa.ca/faculty-law/common-law/student-centre/courses/course-search-engine. 
• To learn more about Ecojustice, visit our website at: https://www.ecojustice.ca/. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact [email protected].

CML 3154 - TRIAL ADVOCACY 2026–27 | 3 CREDITS | FALL AND WINTER TERMS

The art of advocacy is learned by doing.

Leave law school knowing the principles and techniques of modern trial advocacy.

Learn how to turn your analysis into argument. Have the confidence to stand up to the challenge. And do it all in small groups where you receive personalized feedback, build collegiality, and have some good fun along the way!

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the principles and techniques of trial advocacy. The course is designed to be “hands on” and you will actively participate in every class. The course is taught using a series of short exercises and drills coupled with lectures, as well as group discussions on the theory and strategies employed in successful trial advocacy. In essence, you will conduct a “mock” trial in stages. You will cap off the term in the role of the advocate as you conduct your final arguments at the Ottawa Courthouse.

Your professors are litigators. They are on the ground and live to the modern courtroom. They are experienced professors who are passionate about what they do.

Join us and learn how to:

• Examine and cross-examine witnesses
• Manage experts, evidence, and opposing counsel
• Impeach, object, and persuade
• Conduct case analysis
• Argue a motion
• Navigate online appearances
• Deliver opening statements and closing arguments

No final exam · Upper year only · Fulfil your ECL oral advocacy requirement

Walk into your first trial ready to go - not ready to watch.

The course will permit students to delve in greater detail on selected and chosen issues and aspects of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and other human rights legislation. Basing their research on the most current analysis of issues related to selected rights in the Charter by Canada’s leading experts as published in the landmark 6th Edition text “the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms” edited by Professors Errol P. Mendes & Stephane Beaulac, LexisNexis, 2025, students will examine the outcome of specific challenges in specific areas of the Charter or human rights legislation.

Upon choosing which particular Charter right(s) or human rights legislation issues from the list described below that they want to focus on, students will examine the most recent decisions on that specific right(s) and in consultation with external experts and practitioners, attempt to predict in a term paper the likely outcome of present or future challenges on the selected rights issues that they have selected including discuss the possible direction of the courts on those challenges. Almost every week we will have a guest lecturer who is a practicing lawyer or expert discussing one or more of the selected research projects who could then be a source of advice and consultation on the particular research challenges chosen.

Space activities are an integral part of modern life. This course will explore the role of space law in the regulation of activities taking place beyond Earth, from its Cold War origins to its present day application and future opportunities. Specifically, the course will explore the genesis of outer space activities and their regulation, the current challenges posed by growing political and commercial competition in space and the methods by which a sustainable future may be realized.

Fundamentally, the course will explore the ways in which both international and national space law regulate space activities carried out by governments, international organizations and commercial operators in orbits around Earth, the Moon and other celestial bodies. The course will examine the various hard law and soft law instruments that make up international space law as well as the implementation of these foundational principles into the national space laws that govern domestic and commercial space activities.

The course will survey a variety of legal topics including: the freedom to access and use outer space; the principle of non-appropriation; national responsibility and liability for activities in space; ownership, jurisdiction and control of space objects; the rescue and return of astronauts and personnel of a spacecraft; the peaceful uses and non-weaponization of outer space; and emerging space activities (for example, space mining, human settlement and on-orbit servicing).

This upper level seminar will explore issues associated with the practice of law in Canada by government lawyers. The overall objective of this course is to engage students in advanced discussions on a series of discrete topics related to government lawyering issues. While lectures will ground and frame the class discussions, this course will not provide a comprehensive review of all doctrinal law related to government lawyering in Canada.

*More information to come*

This course explores the complex relationship between freedom of expression and preventing and combatting online hatred. Students will examine this topic from multiple perspectives, with a goal of understanding the role of law – and lawyers – in upholding fundamental rights. To that end, students will study international human rights and domestic law, including human rights law, constitutional law, criminal law, tort law and platform regulation. Topics include the theoretical underpinnings of freedom of expression, the root causes of hatred, the impact of technology (e.g. artificial intelligence, social media, chatbots) on discourse, and the role and power of online platforms as arbiters of freedom of expression. Students will examine a variety of case studies in the areas of violent extremism, mis/dis/malinformation, hate speech, defamation and protest. This is an evolving area of law and policy, and therefore students will gain tools to assess current policy approaches and consider the future of speech governance in the digital age.

Cours prévoyant la formation et l'acquisition d'une expérience en plaidoirie, c'est-à-dire dans la manière d'exposer les prétentions d'un client ou d'une cliente devant un des nombreux tribunaux.

*More information to come*

This course provides a critical introduction to the theories, laws and policies that govern institutions and individuals housed within Canada’s federal penitentiary system. We will investigate the historical evolution of the prison and critically examine the central role that punishment and incarceration play in Canadian criminal law and society. The course draws on a variety of sources, including caselaw, legislation, books, policies, reports, and academic commentary among others to ground class discussion and inquiry. This course is a discussion-based seminar and requires students to engage in close reading of assigned texts and thoughtful discussion throughout the term.

We are pleased to announce that Andrew E. Cleland has joined Ecojustice and will serve as the Director of the uOttawa-Ecojustice Environmental Law Clinic! Andrew is a bilingual civil litigator with over 13 years of experience in conducting complex litigation before all levels of courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada.

For the 2026-2027 academic year, Andrew will lead the clinic with Professor Stewart Elgie, the founder of Ecojustice, under a renewed format designed to deepen student learning about public interest environmental law:

• the English, Fall 2026 semester will employ seminars, practical assignments, and written and oral advocacy to introduce students to environmental litigation or law reform; and
• the bilingual, Winter 2027 semester combines seminars with hands-on environmental law work to enable students to gain practical experience and skills.

A maximum of 15 students can enroll in each semester and admission to each semester is by application. Interested students should submit their application to [email protected].

For more information, please check out the links below:

• To learn about each course and the application process, search for the clinic on the course search engine: https://www.uottawa.ca/faculty-law/common-law/student-centre/courses/course-search-engine. 
• To learn more about Ecojustice, visit our website at: https://www.ecojustice.ca/. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact [email protected].

This course provides an introduction to international human rights law. Students will critically examine and discuss the history and philosophical foundations of human rights and critical approaches to international human rights law, as well as the universal and regional regimes and mechanisms for the protection of human rights at the international level. Students will also engage in research on specific human rights issues. These studies will be used to illustrate some of the problems and controversies underlying international human rights law and discourse.

Artificial intelligence is transforming healthcare. From accelerated drug development to precision diagnostics and personalized treatment, the landscape is rapidly changing. Yet, while health AI offers tremendous promise, it also brings numerous risks and challenges, for instance, relating to privacy, safety and liability, informed consent, and bias and discrimination. This course will unpack health AI and its many intersections with law. We will investigate the degree to which existing legal frameworks, such as privacy laws, equality guarantees, and tort law principles, are adequate to address the risks. We will also take up issues relating to specific health-AI applications, such as mental health apps and AI in women’s health. Throughout, we will discuss possible law reform, including the potential role and shape of bespoke AI legislation in Canada.

This course provides an in-depth introduction to the law governing police services in Canada and explores several contemporary topical legal issues concerning police regulation, accountability, and reform/abolition. It will include aspects of criminal, tort, constitutional and human rights law. Legal topics explored in this course will include police oversight and disciplinary systems, use of force, racial profiling and discrimination, police responses to mental health crises, and the use of artificial intelligence in law enforcement. Students will be asked to critically engage with course material, informed by ongoing debates about reform and abolition.

Modernity, as both an era and a worldview, was built upon three pillars: the centrality of individual human rationality, the emancipatory potentials of technology, and the sovereign authority of the nation-state. These foundations, however, are now being unravelled by the rise of technological platforms and artificial intelligence.

'Law, Technology, and Modernity' charts the development of modern institutions in law and politics – and examines the prospects of their demise. Our key question: what is the future of modern law, and of modernity itself, in a world increasingly dominated by AI?

From autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence (AI)-generated music and art to AI-driven healthcare innovations and virtual environments in the metaverse, the rapid advancement of disruptive technologies has generated significant challenges for intellectual property (IP) norms, doctrines, and regulatory frameworks.
This course explores a broad range of legal and policy challenges posed by disruptive technologies, with particular attention to copyright, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and data governance. The course is designed to provide students with a critical understanding of how intellectual property doctrines, and jurisprudence are evolving—or may require reform—in response to rapid technological change.
The course aims to prepare and equip future lawyers and legal scholars with the knowledge and analytical tools needed to navigate the complex relationship between intellectual property, technology, and social justice. Organized as a series of seminars, the course is taught through interactive discussions and role-playing exercises.