Linda C Reif, LLB (Windsor), LLM (Cambridge)

About

Professor Linda C. Reif, University of Windsor (LLB), University of Cambridge (LLM), has been a member of the Faculty of Law since 1987. Professor Reif has published extensively on national human rights institutions, ombuds institutions, children’s rights institutions, international human rights law, international trade law and international business law. Her work is widely cited and appears in Canadian, US, European and Asia-Pacific publications. It includes Ombuds Institutions, Good Governance and the International Human Rights System (Brill/Nijhoff, 2d revised edition, 2020), co-authorship of Kindred's International Law: Chiefly as Interpreted and Applied in Canada (Emond, 9th edition, 2019), and numerous book chapters and law review articles, including in the Harvard Human Rights Journal and Human Rights Law Review.  Professor Reif was the CN Professor of International Trade from 2007-2023.

Professor Reif has provided editing, consulting and academic services to organizations such as the Commonwealth Secretariat, International Ombudsman Institute (IOI), Academic Council on the UN System (ACUNS), Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) and the Uniform Law Conference of Canada. She served as the Faculty’s Associate Dean (Graduate Studies) in 1998-1999, 2009-2011 and 2019-2022.

Research

• International Human Rights Law
• International Business Transactions
• International Trade & Investment Law
• National Human Rights Institutions

Selected Publications

Books

• L.C. Reif, Ombuds Institutions, Good Governance and the International Human Rights System 2d rev. ed.(Leiden and Boston: Brill/Nijhoff, 2020)
• P.M. Saunders, R.J. Currie, P. Akhavan, J. Brunnée, G. van Ert, T.L. McDorman, F. Megret, I. Mgbeoji, K. Mickelson, L.C. Reif & C. Waters, Kindred’s International Law: Chiefly as Interpreted and Applied in Canada 9th ed. (Toronto: Emond, 2019)

Articles and Book Chapters

• L.C. Reif, “Business and human rights: what role for National Human Rights Institutions?” in A. Marx, G. Van Calster and J. Wouters, eds., Research Handbook on Global Governance, Business and Human Rights (Cheltenham UK and Northampton USA: Edward Elgar, 2022) 254-273
• L.C. Reif, “Ombuds Institutions: Non-judicial Mechanisms for the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Older Persons” in M. Groves and A Stuhmcke, eds., The Ombudsman in the Modern State (London UK: Hart Publishing, 2022) 357-360
• L.C. Reif, “Institutional Variations for the Protection and Promotion of Official, Minority and Indigenous Languages: From Official Languages to Human Rights” in H. Amon and E. James, eds., Constitutional Pioneers: Language Commissioners and the Protection of Official, Minority and Indigenous Languages, (Montreal: Éditions Yvon Blais, 2019) 3-25
• L.C. Reif, "Compliance Advisor Ombudsperson (CAO) of the International Finance Corporation and the Multilateral Guarantee Agency" in H. Ruiz Fabri, ed., Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020, online)
• L.C. Reif, “Ukraine’s Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights: Strengthening Human Rights Promotion and Protection?” (2018) 31 Harvard Human Rights Journal 113-157
• L.C. Reif, “Ombuds institutions: strengthening gender equality, women’s access to justice and protection and promotion of women’s rights” in M. Hertogh and R. Kirkham, eds., Research Handbook on the Ombudsman (Edward Elgar, 2018) 236-257
• L.C. Reif, “The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and Networked Governance: Improving the Role of National Human Rights Ombudsman Institutions as National Remedies” (2017) 17 Human Rights Law Review 603-632
• L.C. Reif, “Independent Children’s Rights Institutions” in M.D. Ruck, M. Peterson-Badali and M. Freeman, eds., Handbook of Children’s Rights: Global and Multidisciplinary Perspectives (Routledge, 2017) 398-416
• L.C. Reif, “The Future of Thematic Children’s Rights Institutions in a National Human Rights Institution World: The Paris Principles and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child” (2015) 37 Houston Journal of International Law 433-490
• L.C. Reif, “Transplantation and Adaptation: The Evolution of the Human Rights Ombudsman” (2011) 31 Boston College Third World Law Journal 269-310
• L.C. Reif, “Canada and Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean: Evolution of an International Investment Agreement Framework” (2010) XIII International Trade and Business Law Review 86-133
• L.C. Reif, “Desperate Softwood Lumber Companies? The Canada-US Softwood Lumber Dispute and NAFTA Chapter 11” (2007) 45 Alberta Law Review 357-380

LAW 557 - International Human Rights Law

This seminar course focuses on the international legal protection of human rights (political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights). It may also consider the rights of women, children's rights, regional human rights systems, Canadian implementation of international human rights obligations, national human rights institutions, transitional justice issues, and the interface with international humanitarian law.

LAW 565 - International Business Transactions

This is a survey course on the international and domestic law governing the transactional aspects of international trade/investment activities of Canadian and foreign business entities. Topics covered include contract types and drafting, international sale of goods, financing of transactions, dispute settlement by international commercial arbitration, export/import laws, human rights and MNCs, anti-bribery laws, and international investment law.

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