Professor Adam Dodek is a Full Professor at the University of Ottawa鈥檚 Faculty of Law (Common Law Section). He has taught Public Law, Constitutional Law, Legal Ethics, Professional Responsibility, Torts, and a seminar on the Supreme Court of Canada. He served as Vice Dean Research from 2012-14 and as Dean of the Common Law Section from 2018 until June 2021.
Professor Dodek is the author of more than 50 academic articles and book chapters. He has authored or co-edited ten books in his areas of research interest: public law, the legal profession, the judiciary and legal ethics.
His book (Dundurn) was named by The Hill Times as one of the Best 100 Books in Politics, Public Policy and History of 2013.A French version of the book was published as (Dundurn, 2019) with Professor Yan Campagnolo.
Professor Dodek鈥檚 book Heenan Blaikie: The Making and Unmaking of a Great Canadian Law Firm was published by the and in 2024.
Professor Dodek's (2014) won the Walter Owen Book Prize in 2015. His book Twas published by U of T Press in 2018.
Dodek co-edited (Edward Elgar, 2017) (with Richard Devlin); (UBC Press, 2016); (Irwin Law, 2011) (with David A. Wright); (Irwin Law, 2010) (with Lorne Sossin); and (with Daniel Jutras).
Professor Dodek has received several honours including the Canadian Association of Law Teachers鈥 Prize for Academic Excellence (2018); the Mundell Medal for Excellence in Legal Writing (2017); the Walter Owen Book Prize (2015); and the Law Society of Ontario鈥檚 Law Society Medal (2015). In 2014, Canadian Lawyer named Dodek as one of Canada鈥檚 Most Influential Lawyers and in 2012 Professor Dodek was awarded the Capital Educators Award as one of the top teachers in Ottawa.
Professor Dodek graduated from McGill University and Harvard Law School and then received a Fulbright Scholarship to research Israeli constitutional law while clerking for the Supreme Court of Israel. After being called to the bar in California, Professor Dodek practiced law in San Francisco and then clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Pasadena, California.
Professor Dodek returned to Canada and clerked for Justice Claire L'Heureux-Dub茅 at the Supreme Court of Canada. After being called to the bar in Ontario, he joined the Public Law Working Group in Borden Ladner Gervais LLP's Toronto office where he practiced until the fall of 2003. At that time, he joined the staff of Ontario's Attorney General, first as Senior Policy Adviser and then as Director of Policy and from 2005-06 as Chief of Staff.He received his LLM from the University of Toronto.
He is the Chair of CanLII鈥檚 Board of Directors.
Dodek previously served as a governor of the Law Commission of Ontario, a member of the Advisory Committee to the Office of the Public Service Integrity Commissioner of Canada, a trustee of the Ontario Bar Foundation and a Commissioner on the Canadian Commission on Democratic Expression.
Professor Dodek is a Distinguished Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem鈥檚 Faculty of Law and a Senior Fellow of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.
For Professor Dodek's research, visit his .