NOTICE: Postgraduate Research Fellow (Quebec Research Centre of Private and Comparative Law, McGill University Faculty of Law)

The Quebec Research Centre of Private and Comparative Law (QRCPCL) intends to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with effect from August 2011. The position is funded by a Research Team Support Grant from the Fonds québécois de recherche sur la société et la culture (Quebec Fund for Research on Culture and Society). The team is led by Professor Lionel Smith, director of the QRCPCL, and composed of colleagues from McGill’s Faculty of Law and beyond. The position is for one year, with the possibility of renewal for a second year.

ABOUT THE QUEBEC RESEARCH CENTRE OF PRIVATE AND COMPARATIVE LAW

Based at McGill University in Montreal (Quebec, Canada) the QRCPCL is the only research centre in Canada devoted to research in fundamental private law. Quebec’s private law is civilian, but it evolves in a North American environment that is otherwise largely grounded in the common law. Quebec’s private law therefore provides a living model for the fruitful coexistence of two legal traditions, in which the ongoing interaction of the common law and the civil law is combined with the interaction of French and English in Quebec’s bilingual civil law.

The research agenda to which the position relates revolves around three axes:

1) McGill’s transsystemic approach to legal education, and its impact on our understanding of law;
2) the interactions between intellectual property law and private law, in Canada and beyond; and
3) trusts in Quebec civil law, and in civilian and mixed legal systems generally.

QUALIFICATIONS:

The applicant must hold a doctoral degree in law at the time of the appointment. The ideal candidate will have a solid track record of research in private and comparative law, and will propose an interesting research project that interacts with the goals of the QRCPCL and the research agenda mentioned above.

The successful candidate will pursue his or her own research project on a topic relating to one of the QRCPCL’s axes of research. He or she will also assist in the activities of the QRCPCL, principally through involvement in the organization of a conference on transsystemic and comparative legal thought, to be held in the second quarter of 2012. He or she may also be invited to speak at the conference, and to take a role in the editing of a volume of papers presented at or arising from the conference.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE:

The review of applications will begin on 31 March 2011 and continue until the position is filled. The preferred starting date is August 2011. The position will pay C$40,000, and an office and computer will be provided. Applications are to be submitted electronically to crdpcq.law@mcgill.ca. Applicants should submit a covering letter, a curriculum vitae, a research proposal (maximum four pages), a transcript of postgraduate studies, and one or more writing samples (from peer-reviewed publications if possible). Applicants should also name three referees, who may subsequently be invited by the QRCPCL to send letters of reference.