About

Jessica Eisen is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alberta Faculty of Law. Her research interests include animals and the law, constitutional and comparative constitutional law, equality and antidiscrimination law, feminist legal theory, intergenerational justice, and law and social movements. Professor Eisen’s research has been published in the Journal of Law and Equality, Animal Law Review, Canadian Journal of Poverty Law, Transnational Legal Theory, Queen’s Law Journal, ICON: International Journal of Constitutional Law, University of British Columbia Law Review, University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, and elsewhere. She has studied at Barnard College, Columbia University (BA, Political Science and Human Rights Studies, 2004); The University of Toronto Faculty of Law (JD, 2009); Osgoode Hall Law School (LLM, 2014); and Harvard Law School (SJD, 2019); and has worked at WeirFoulds LLP, the Ontario Ministry of Labour, and the Constitutional Law Branch of the Ministry of the Attorney General for Ontario.

Research

• Animal Law
• Charter of Rights & Freedoms
• Comparative Constitutional Law
• Labour & Employment Law

Publications

• Jessica Eisen, “Milked: Nature, Necessity, and American Law” (2019) 34 Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice 71
• Jessica Eisen, “Feminist Jurisprudence for Farmed Animals” (2019) 5 CJCCL 1
• Jessica Eisen, "Beyond Rights and Welfare: Democracy, Dialogue, and the Animal Welfare Act" (2018) 51 U Mich JL Reform 469
• Jessica Eisen, Roxanne Mykitiuk & Dayna Nadine Scott, “Constituting Bodies into the Future: Toward a Relational Theory of Intergenerational Justice” (2018) 51 UBC L Rev 1
• Jessica Eisen, "Animals in the Constitutional State" (2018) 15 ICON 909
• Jessica Eisen, “Milk and Meaning: Puzzles in Posthumanist Method” in Mathilde Cohen & Yoriko Otomo, eds, Making Milk: The Past, Present and Future of our Primary Food (London: Bloomsbury, 2017)
• Jessica Eisen, “Grounding Equality in Social Relations: Suspect Classification, Analogous Grounds and Relational Theory” (2017) 42 Queen’s LJ 41
• Jessica Eisen & Kristen Stilt, “Protection and Status of Animals” in Rainer Grote, Frauke Lachenmann & Rüdiger Wolfrum, eds, The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016)
• "Perspectives on the Global" (2014) 4 Transnat'l Legal Theory 502
• "On Shaky Grounds: Poverty and Analogous Grounds under the Charter" (2013) 2 Can J of Poverty L 1
• "Liberating Animal Law: Breaking Free from Human-Use Typologies" (2010) 17 Animal L 59
• "Rethinking Affirmative Action Analysis in the Wake of Kapp: A Limitations-Interpretation Approach" (2008) 6 J L & Equality 1.

LAW 401 - Foundations to Law

An introduction to the institutions and processes of the Canadian legal system, and its underlying values and systems of thought. Also introduced are the history, structure and function of the modern system, and the role of law and the legal profession in society. This will include learning about racism, sexism and bias in the Canadian justice system through topics such as legal history, legal theory, cultural difference, individual and systemic biases and contemporary cases and legal issues.

LAW 435A - Constitutional Law

An introduction to the legal framework governing the exercise of power by the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the Canadian state, covering who has the power to make new laws, the power to implement laws, and the power to adjudicate disputes. The limitations imposed on these powers by the rules of federalism and by the provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms are also considered. An introduction to the constitutional provisions concerning Canada's Aboriginal peoples is also included.

LAW 435B - Constitutional Law

An introduction to the legal framework governing the exercise of power by the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the Canadian state, covering who has the power to make new laws, the power to implement laws, and the power to adjudicate disputes. The limitations imposed on these powers by the rules of federalism and by the provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms are also considered. An introduction to the constitutional provisions concerning Canada's Aboriginal peoples is also included.

LAW 486 - Jurisprudence

An examination of law from a theoretical rather than a doctrinal perspective. Every year, the course will consist of a number of seminar offerings whose focus will be on a broader theoretical examination of law, legal processes, and institutions. Each of these courses will allow a critical examination of law from a variety of perspectives such as; legal theory, literature, politics, economics, social and cultural development, and religion.

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