Fiona Kelly, PhD, LLM, LLB, BA

Dean, Faculty of Law

Contact Overview Publications

Contact

Dean, Faculty of Law

Email: deanoflaw@ualberta.ca
Phone: (780) 492-5590
Address: 487 Law Centre
8820 - 111 St NW

Edmonton AB

T6G 2H5

Overview

Area of Study / Keywords

Family Law health law assisted reproduction donor linking

About

Professor Kelly is the Dean of the University of Alberta, Faculty of Law. She holds a BA and LLB (Hons) from the University of Melbourne and an LLM and PhD from the University of British Columbia. Prior to becoming Dean at UAlberta, Professor Kelly was Dean of La Trobe University Law School in Melbourne, Australia. Professor Kelly is a law and society scholar whose research interests are primarily in the areas of Family Law and Health Law, with a particular focus on the legal regulation of assisted reproduction. She has published extensively in Canadian and international journals on a variety of topics, including the legal regulation of parentage in the context of assisted reproduction and the judicial and legislative treatment of lesbian and single mother by choice families. Her research has had significant impact on family law reform in both Canada and Australia, including reforms to British Columbia's Family Law Act which became the first legislation in the world to recognize families with more than two parents. Professor Kelly has held research grants in both Canada and Australia. Most recently, she led an Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant, "Families of Strangers? The socio-legal implications of donor linking”, which explored the impact of donor linking laws and practices on the individual and familial identities of donor conceived adults and their parents, as well as sperm and egg donors. Professor Kelly has served on a number of Boards, including the Victorian Assisted Reproduction Treatment Authority (VARTA) and the Alberta Law Reform Institute. She was also the Editor of the Australian Journal of Family Law from 2015-19.

Featured Publications

“Recipient Parents Using Do-It-Yourself Methods to Make Early Contact with Donor Relatives: Is There Still a Place for Law?”

Fiona Kelly

in Kelly, Dempsey & Byrt (eds), Donor-Linked Families in the Digital Age: Relatedness and Regulation . 2023 July; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 10.1017/9781009008129.002

“The Contact Expectations of Australian Sperm Donors Who Connect with Recipients Via Online Platforms”

Cal Volks & Fiona Kelly

in Kelly, Dempsey & Byrt (eds), Donor-Linked Families in the Digital Age: Relatedness and Regulation . 2023 July; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 10.1017/9781009008129

Donor-linked Families in the Digital Age: Relatedness and Regulation

Fiona Kelly, Deborah Dempsey & Adrienne Burt (eds). 2023

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2023 July; 10.1017/9781009008129

“Beyond secrecy and openness: telling a relational story about children’s best interests in donor- conceived families”

Deborah Dempsey, Petra Nordqvist, Fiona Kelly

BioSocieties. 2022 September; 17 (3):527-548 10.1057/s41292-020-00220-6

"Secret Shame - Male Infertility and Donor Conception in the Wake of Retrospective Legislative Change"

Barbara Cosson, Deborah Dempsey & Fiona Kelly

Men and Masculinities. 2022 August; 25 (3):497-515

"Reforming the Law on Consent to Medical Treatment for Trans Youth: A Renewed Call for Legislative Intervention"

Steph Jowett, Georgina Dimopolous & Fiona Kelly

Laws. 2022 July; 11 (4):56-76 10.3390/laws11040056

“Children’s right to know their genetic origins? A Comparative Analysis of Approaches to Donor Linking”

Fiona Kelly

in Melissa Breger (ed.), Exploring Norms and Family Law Across the Globe. 2022 March; New York: Lexington Books

“Parental consent and the treatment of transgender youth: the impact of Re Imogen”

Fiona Kelly, Simona Giordano, Michelle Telfer & Ken Pang

Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 216. No. 5; 219-221. 2022 March;

A perfect storm of intervention? Lesbian and cisgender queer women conceiving through Australian fertility clinics

Deborah Dempsey, Fiona Kelly & Jennifer Power

Critical Public Health. 2022 January; 32 (2):202-216 10.1080/09581596.2020.1810636

“Re Imogen: A step in the wrong direction”

Stephanie Jowett & Fiona Kelly

Australian Journal of Family Law . 2021 May; 34

“On the Margins: The Experiences of Single Women Who Conceive at Australian Fertility Clinics”

Fiona Kelly

in Berit Åström & Disa Bergnehr (eds), Single Parents Representations and Resistance in an International Context . 2021 March; Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan 10.1007/978-3-030-71311-9

"Use of fertility services in Australian lesbian, bisexual and queer women's pathways to parenthood"

Jennifer Power, Deborah Dempsey, Fiona Kelly & Melanie Lau

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology . 2020 May; 60 (4):61-65 10.1111/ajo.13175

“Applications to statutory donor registers in Victoria, Australia: information sought and expectations of contact”

Deborah Dempsey, Fiona Kelly, Briony Horsfall, Kate Bourne, Karin Hammarberg & Louise Johnson

Reproductive Biomedicine & Society Online. 2019 December; 9 10.1016/j.rbms.2019.08.002

“From stranger to family or something in between: donor linking in an era of retrospective access to anonymous sperm donor records in Victoria, Australia”

Fiona Kelly, Deborah Dempsey, Jennifer Power, Kate Bourne, Karin Hammarberg & Louise Johnson

International Journal of Law Policy & the Family. 2019 December; 33 (3):277-297

“Legal parentage and assisted conception following the High Court’s decision in Masson v Parsons”

Fiona Kelly & Hannah Robert

Australian Journal of Family Law. 2019 December; 33 (2):144-159

“How do single mothers by choice promote the health and wellbeing of their donor conceived children and what role should law play?”

Fiona Kelly

QUT Law Review. 2019 January; 18 (2):28-43 10.5204/qutlr.v18i2.758

"The Donor Linking Practices of Australian Fertility Clinics"

Fiona Kelly, Charlotte Frew, Deborah Dempsey

Journal of Law & Medicine. 2019 January; 27 (2):355-368

“Autonomous motherhood in the era of donor linking: new challenges and constraints?”

Fiona Kelly

Canadian Journal of Family Law. 2019 January; 32

“‘Exactly the same rights’? Comparing the legal benefits of marriage and de facto relationships”

Hannah Robert & Fiona Kelly

in Quinn Eades & Son Vivienne (eds), Going Postal: More than Yes or No . 2018 November; Melbourne: Brow Books

“Transgender adolescents and legal reform: How improved access to healthcare was achieved through medical, legal and community collaboration”.

Michelle Telfer, Fiona Kelly, Debi Feldman, Georgie Stone, Rebekah Robertson & Zeffie Poulakis

Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health. 2018 October; 54 (10):1096-1099 10.1111/jpc.14124

The History of Donor Conception Records in Victoria

Fiona Kelly & Deborah Dempsey

Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority, Melbourne. 2018 February;

"Is there still no room for two mothers? Revisiting lesbian mother litigation in post-reform Australian family law". Australian Journal of Family Law

Fiona Kelly, Hannah Robert & Jennifer Power

2017 July; 31 (1):1-19 10.3316/agispt.20173463

"Experiences and Motives of Australian Single Mother's by Choice who Make Early Contact with their Child's Donor Relatives"

Fiona Kelly & Deborah Dempsey

Medical Law Review. 2017 January; 24 (4):571-590 10.1093/medlaw/fww038

"Is it time to tell? Abolishing donor anonymity in Canada"

Fiona Kelly

Canadian Journal of Family Law. 2017 January; 30 (2):173-226

“Transnational third-party assisted conception: pursuing the desire for ‘origins’ information in the Internet era” in Miranda Davies (ed.), Global Babies: Transnational surrogacy and the new politics of reproduction

Deborah Dempsey & Fiona Kelly

London: Zed Books. 2017 January;

“Should court authorisation be required for surgery on intersex children? A critique of the Family Court decision in Re Carla”.

Fiona Kelly & Malcolm Smith

Australian Journal of Family Law. 2016 December; 31 (2):118-133 10.3316/agispt.20180109

“The family law implications of early contact between sperm donors and their donor offspring”

Fiona Kelly & Deborah Dempsey

Family Matters. 2016 November; 98

"The Court Process is Slow but Biology is Fast': Assessing the impact of the Family Court approval process on transgender children and their families". Australian Journal of Family Law

Fiona Kelly

2016 June; 30 (2):112-128 10.2139/ssrn.2793664

Autonomous Motherhood? A Socio-Legal Study of Choice and Constraint

Susan Boyd, Dorothy Chunn, Fiona Kelly & Wanda Wiegers

Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 2015 April;

Australian Family Law: The Contemporary Context

Belinda Fehlberg, Rae Kaspiew, Jenni Millbank, Fiona Kelly & Juliet Behrens

Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2015 February;

“Parenting outside the normative framework: Australia’s single mother by choice”

Fiona Kelly

Australian Journal of Family Law. 2015 January; 29 (2):90-110

“Australian Children living with Gender Dysphoria: Does the Family Court have a role to play?”

Fiona Kelly

Journal of Law and Medicine. 2014 September; 22 (1):105-120

“Multiple Parent Families under British Columbia’s New Family Law Act”

Fiona Kelly

UBC Law Review. 2014 July; 47 (2):565-596

“Treating the Transgendered Child: The Full Court's decision in Re Jamie”

Fiona Kelly

Australian Journal of Family Law. 2014 May; 28 (1):111-119 10.3316/agispt.20141931

“Age and Ageism in Sentencing Practices: Outcomes from a Case Law Review”

Israel Doron, Fiona Kelly & Helene Love

Canadian Criminal Law Review. 2013 June; 17 (2):253-279

“Equal Parents, Equal Children: Reforming Canada’s Parentage Laws to Recognize the Completeness of Women-led Families”

Fiona Kelly

University of New Brunswick Law Journal. 2013 January; 64

“One of these Families is Not Like the Others: The Legal Response to Non-Normative Queer Parenting in Canada”

Fiona Kelly

Alberta Law Review. 2013 January; 51 (1):1-22 10.29173/alr55

“Enforcing a Parent/Child Relationship At All Cost? Supervised Access Orders in the Canadian Courts”

Fiona Kelly

Osgoode Hall Law Journal. 2012 July; 49 (2):277-309

“Autonomous Motherhood and the Law: Exploring the Narratives of Canada’s Single Mothers by Choice”

Fiona Kelly

Canadian Journal of Family Law. 2012 January; 28 (1):63-104

“Autonomous from the Start: Single Mothers by Choice in the Canadian Legal System”

Fiona Kelly

Child and Family Law Quarterly. 2012 January; 24 (3):257-283

Transforming Law’s Family: The Legal Recognition of Planned Lesbian Motherhood

Fiona Kelly

Vancouver: UBC Press. 2011 May;

“De-Anonymising Sperm Donors in Canada: Some Doubts and Directions”

Angela Cameron, Vanessa Gruben & Fiona Kelly

Canadian Journal of Family Law. 2010 January; 26 (1):95-148

“An Alternative Conception: The Legality of Home Insemination under Canada's Assisted Human Reproduction Act”

Fiona Kelly

Canadian Journal of Family Law. 2010 January; 26

“Losing the Child in Child-Centred Legal Processes”

Cindy Baldassi, Susan Boyd & Fiona Kelly

in Mona Gleason & Tamara Myers, Leslie Paris and Veronica Strong-Boag, eds., Lost Kids: Vulnerable Children and Youth in Twentieth-Century Canada and the United States. 2009 November; Vancouver: UBC Press