Daniel Jutras named interim Dean of Law

On July 1, Professor Daniel Jutras will take up the position of Interim Dean of McGill's Faculty of Law.

In the fall of 1984, a young Daniel Jutras, gold medalist in law from the University of Montreal, gold medalist at the Quebec Bar Admission course, former law clerk to Mr. Justice Antonio Lamer, and holder of the Frank Knox Fellowship while pursuing an LL.M. at Harvard, came to McGill on a recruitment visit. At his faculty presentation, he spoke to his Master’s thesis on criminal law; by the end of the day he had convinced his soon-to-be colleagues not only of his brilliance in that field, but of his potential to excel in the field of civil law obligations and private law more generally.

For 25 years, Daniel Jutras has taught, researched and published in these domains, along the way spending a year as a visitor at the University of Toronto, shepherding key elements of the Faculty’s transsystemic programme through Faculty Council and serving as Executive Legal Officer to Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin.

Professor Jutras has participated in many scholarly, bar association and judicial conferences across Canada and internationally, always bringing a deep legal culture, acute analysis and wry humour to his presentations. The epitome of a teacher, scholar and academic administrator for our collective aspirations, he is a respected and cherished colleague who has given of himself unstintingly to others.

All of us rejoice in his nomination as Interim Dean, confident that the Faculty will continue to flourish under his leadership.