Carissima Mathen, LSM joined the Faculty in 2011, and is Full Professor of Law. She teaches Canadian Constitutional and Criminal Law, as well as seminars in Advanced Constitutional Law. She served as Vice-Dean (Academic) of the English Program from 2017-2019. From 2002-2011, Professor Mathen was alaw professor at the University of New Brunswick. From 1994-2001, she was Counsel and, later, Director of Litigation for the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) undertaking equality rights litigation before the Supreme Court of Canada and other courts. She participated in formativeChartercases of theLamer court including Vriend v Alberta, R v RDS, Winnipeg Child and Family Services v G, M v H, R v Darrach and R v Mills.
Professor Mathen is an expert in Canadian constitutional law.Her 2019 monograph, Courts Without Cases: The Law and Politics of Advisory Opinions(Hart) won 2nd Place Distinction in the prestigious Walter Owen Book Prize competition. She has also written The Tenth Justice: Judicial Appointments, Marc Nadon and the Supreme Court Act Reference(UBC Press, 2020). She is the Editor of the leading casebook, Canadian Constitutional Law 6th Edition (Emond, 2022). Her latest book is (De)Coding the Court: Legal Data Insights into Canada's Supreme Court, (Routledge Focus, 2024). Professor Mathen has authored dozens of additional works in constitutional law, criminal law, legal pedagogy, and feminist legal theory. In 2018, the Law Faculty recognizedher work with the Award for Excellence in Legal Research.
Professor Mathen has also won multiple awards from the legal community. Citing her “outstanding contribution to legal writing in the field of Canadian constitutional law”, the government of Ontario bestowed upon her the 2022 David W. Mundell Medal. She is a recipient of theLaw Society Medal. She has also received faculty and university-wide prizes for Excellence in Media Relations.