Associate Professor
BA, MA (UWO), LLB, LLM, PhD (UBC)
Robert’s research is focused in the areas of criminal law, civil liberties, and human rights. He completed a PhD in law at the University of British Columbia in 2013. Over the course of his doctorate, he held the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship and was a visiting scholar at the Yale Law School.
Robert is the author of The Harbinger Theory: How the Post-9/11 Emergency Became Permanent and the Case for Reform (Oxford University Press, 2015) and Guantanamo North: Terrorism and the Administration of Justice in Canada (Fernwood, 2008). He has also published on a range of topics including police powers, sentencing, and legal theory. His publications are listed below and can be downloaded at SSRN.com
Together with Professors Neudorf and Hunt, Robert is a founder and co-editor in chief of the Canadian Journal of Comparative and Contemporary Law. He is also a member of the editorial board of BarTalk, a publication of the BC branch of the Canadian Bar Association.
Robert has also been a member of the Law Society of British Columbia since 2002, with practice experience in criminal and constitutional law. He currently teaches first-year criminal law and advanced criminal law in the upper year curriculum.
Publications
Books
The Harbinger Theory: How the Post-9/11 Emergency Became Permanent and the Case for Reform (Oxford University Press, 2015).
Guantanamo North: Terrorism and the Administration of Justice in Canada (Fernwood Publishing: Halifax, 2008).
Book Chapters
“The Demise of Rights as Trumps”, in Ben Goold and Liora Lazarus, eds, Security and Human Rights, 2nd edition (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2019). (10,000 words)
“Counter-terror Law: Canada” in Kent Roach, ed., Comparative Counter Terror Law (Cambridge University Press, 2015) (14,000 words)
“Terrorism as Crime or War?” in Carolyn Brooks and Bernard Schissel, eds., Marginality and Condemnation: An Introduction to Criminology, 3rd edition (Fernwood Publishing: Halifax, 2015) (10,000 words)
“Sentencing of Terrorism Offences After 9/11: A Comparative Review of Early Case Law,” in Craig Forcese and François Crépeau, eds., Terrorism, Law and Democracy: 10 Years After 9/11 (Montreal: Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice, 2011) (12,000 words)
“Reading Khadr: Making Sense of Canada’s Reluctance To Do the Right Thing”, in Janice Williams, ed., Omar Khadr, Oh Canada (McGill-Queens University Press: Montreal, 2012) (with Alnoor Gova)
Journal Articles
“Search Engines and Global Takedown Orders: Google v Equustek and the Future of Free Speech Online" (2019) 56 Osgoode Hall Law Journal, Forthcoming
“Does the State Have a Compelling Interest in Searching Device Data at the Border? Emerging Approaches to Reasonable Search in Canada and the United States” (2018) Oxford U Comparative L Forum 1
“Protecting the Right to Privacy in Digital Devices: Reasonable Search on Arrest and at the Border” 69 University of New Brunswick Law Journal 96 (2018) (10,000 words)
“Justice as Invisibility: Law, Terror, and Dehumanization” (2016) 5 Annual Review of Interdisciplinary Justice Research (10,000 words).
“The Policing of Major Events in Canada: Lessons from Toronto’s G20 and Vancouver’s Olympics” (2016) Windsor Review of Legal and Social Issues (16,000 words) (with W. Wesley Pue and Grace Jackson).
“R. v. Khawaja and the Fraught Question of Rehabilitation in Terrorism Sentencing” (2014) 39: 2 Queens Law Journal (10,000 words)
“Sentencing for Terrorism Offences: A Comparative Review of Emerging Jurisprudence” (2011) 15:3 Canadian Criminal Law Review (15,000 words).
“Security for the 2010 Olympics – The Gap in Police Powers Under Canadian Law” (2010) 28 Windsor Review of Legal and Social Issues 87-107, (7,300 words) (with Wesley Pue)
Book Reviews
University of Toronto Law Journal, 2017 67:1, review of ‘False Security: The Radicalization of Canadian Anti-Terrorism,’ by Craig Forcese and Kent Roach (Irwin: 2015).
Canadian Journal of Law and Society, 2015 30:3, review of ‘The Disappearance of Criminal Law: Police Powers and the Supreme Court,’ by Richard Jochelson and Kristen Kramar, with Mark Doerksen (Fernwood Publishing: Halifax and Winnipeg, 2014).
Canadian Journal of Law and Society, 2010 25:2, review of ‘Canadian State Trials: Volume III – Political Trials and Security Measures, 1840-1914’ Barry Wright and Susan Binnie, eds. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009).
Canadian Journal of Law and Society, 2007 22:1, review of ‘How Patriotic is the Patriot Act?’ by Amatai Etzioni (Routledge: New York, 2004).
The Advocate, Vol. 61, 2003, review of ‘The British Columbia Civil Trial Handbook’ ed. by D. Harris et al (C.L.E.: Vancouver, 2003).
Clarity, 45, 2000, review of ‘Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing Classic Prose’ by Francis-Noel Thomas and Mark Turner (Princeton UP: 2000).
Other law publications
“Compelling people to reveal their passwords is posing a challenge to police and courts” (27 May 2019) The Conversation | salon.com
“Is Password Compulsion Constitutional in Canada? Two Views” (July 2019) The Advocate (with Marshall Putnam)
“The Big Fail: The Internet Hasn’t Helped Democracy” (15 October 2018) The Conversation
“Has ISIS Become the New Pretext for Curtailing Our Civil Liberties?” (June 2015) Oxford University Press blog
“Canada’s Refugee Health Law and Policy from a Comparative, Constitutional, and Human Rights Perspective” (2015) 1:1 The Canadian Journal of Comparative and Contemporary Law (14,000 words) (with Ruby Dhand).
“Security for the Olympics: British Columbia Needs a “Public Order Policing Act” The Advocate September 2009 (with Wesley Pue).
Links
