Skip to main content

About Me

Photo of Professor Phil Lord of Lakehead University’s Bora Laskin Faculty of Law.
Phil Lord is an Assistant Professor at the University of Moncton’s Faculty of Law. He was when appointed and remains the youngest law professor in Canada. 

Phil previously served as an instructor at Carleton University's Department of Law and a law clerk at the Federal Court of Canada. Prior to that, he started two companies, worked in the financial services industry, and practiced civil and commercial litigation in Montreal. 
 
Phil graduated from the McGill Faculty of Law with degrees in civil and common law, on the Dean’s Honor List and with the highest standing in property law and constitutional law. He subsequently pursued an LL.M. as a Bombardier scholar and a Ph.D. at Osgoode Hall Law School, which he completed in just two years while teaching full-time. Phil is called to the bar in New York, Massachusetts, and Quebec. He is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a Financial Planner, and he holds two securities designations. 

Phil has authored over 25 academic articles, most peer-reviewed. His research focuses on public law (principally employment and taxation law), behavioral economics, and new religious movements. Phil also writes on other things, such as Quebec’s Bill 21, children’s literature, and the porn industry. A free version of each of his articles can be accessed at https://ssrn.com/author=2790633.

Although he does wear the same outfit every day, Phil tries to spend some of his free time leaving his narrow comfort zone. He has traveled to 42 countries and run three marathons. Last summer, with one spare set of clothes, he walked 900 kilometers across Spain on the Camino de Santiago. That got him thinking it would make sense to ascend the Seven Summits. Phil is an avid collector of Scientology books and archival documents, many of which can be consulted during his office hours.

Phil has also failed a lot. His first three grades in law school were B-s, and his final law school transcript lists two B-s and a C — the latter being a particularly unusual grade at McGill. Although the selection rate seems to hover around 75%, Phil wasn’t selected as an editor of the McGill Law Journal. With four manuscripts, he spent almost two years trying to get his first publication. It would be another year before he published in a law review. Phil welcomes discussions about his failures, as he thinks law professors too often lack humility. (He even wrote an article on that.)

Over the past two years, Phil has given interviews to or briefed journalists from nine media outlets. He welcomes media inquiries in his areas of expertise.

Phil can be reached at phil@mylawyer.ca.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

On Putting Clients First

A few days ago, Paul Clement, one of the United States' most prominent Supreme Court advocates, left his firm. He'd just prevailed in a significant gun rights case, and his firm had just announced it would no longer represent clients in such cases. Anyone who knows Clement and his practice knew it was only a matter of days. Clement had left another large law firm, King & Spalding, in 2011 when the firm withdrew from defending the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (a law that defined marriage as between partners of opposite sexes). Here's why I would have done the same thing. It has nothing to do with guns, unpopular clients, or law firm politics.  According to American Lawyer, Clement's law firm, Kirkland & Ellis, is the largest law firm in the world by revenue, and the third most profitable. Its equity partners each made $6,194,000 last year. Clement served in a Republican administration, and he often represents clients whose interests align with

Should Religions Hoard Their Cash?

People seem to be outraged that religions hoard their cash. While this is in no way a recent phenomenon, the outrage is. The bottom line is that some religious organisations are very, very rich  –  and have been for a very long time.  The Catholic Church, at the helm of the most popular organised religion on Earth, settled sexual assault cases for billions (with a  b ) of dollars. Scientology is estimated to own between one and three billion dollars (net) worth of property. We recently learned that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (known, to its dismay, as the Mormon Church) owns an investment portfolio worth 100 billion dollars. The Church only has some 16 million members. It also takes in some 7 billion dollars each year. (The Church mandates tithing of 10% of its members' gross income.) Recently, some have made that argument that churches should not benefit from a tax exemption if they hoard their cash.  It is true that churches are tax exempt. Their members

Nicholas Kasirer Appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada

As a McGill Law alumn (LL.B./B.C.L. '18), I was pleased to hear that Nicholas Kasirer was nominated to the Supreme Court of Canada.  Justice Kasirer follows in a long line of McGill Law alumni who have dedicated significant portions of their careers to public service. He joins other exceptional leaders such as current Minister of Justice David Lametti ( LL.B./B.C.L. '89) and current Minister of the Environment Catherine McKenna  ( LL.B./B.C.L. '99). Justice Kasirer  graduated from the Faculty ( LL.B./B.C.L. '85) and served as a professor for over a decade. He was later nominated Dean of the Faculty, a position which he occupied for six years. Following his deanship,  Justice Kasirer was nominated to the Quebec Court of Appeal.  Justice Kasirer is an exceptional scholar and teacher. He is thoughtful and humble - as thoroughly reflected in his  judicial questionnaire . I have no doubt that he will, in his new role, further contribute to the developmen