Dean Lorne Sossin of Osgoode Hall Law School and Dr. Patricia Hughes, the Executive Director of the LCO, are pleased to announce that Professor Sean Rehaag has been selected as the OHLS LCO Scholar in Residence for 2013-2014. Professor Rehaag has received teaching release for the winter term and will serve as Scholar from January 1 to June 30, 2014.
During his tenure as Scholar, Professor Rehaag intends to assess Ontario’s legal aid regime for refugee claimants, comparing it to regimes in other jurisdictions with the objective of identifying how the different policies affect rates of representation and success in refugee claims. Professor Rehaag will make evidence-based recommendations for possible reforms to the provision of legal aid to refugee claimants.
Professor Rehaag anticipates writing a study to be published in a law journal or academic publications based on the work undertaken while Scholar in Residence. This study will also be presented at an Osgoode faculty seminar and at an academic conference and otherwise distribute for feedback.
In making the selection, the Selection Committee of Dean Sossin, Associate Dean (Research, Graduate Studies & Institutional Relations) Poonam Puri and Patricia Hughes considered the relationship of the applicants’ proposals to the LCO’s mandate and how the candidates’ own research would be advanced by the appointment.
The Scholar in Residence Program is only one contribution Osgoode makes to the LCO, but one with particular value for both Osgoode and the LCO. This program helps the LCO to advance its mandate to promote scholarly legal research. For Osgoode scholars, it provides an opportunity to pursue their research in collaboration with an institution, the LCO, committed both to adding to the body of knowledge in the particular area and applying research to the development of pragmatic recommendations for law reform.