News

The Schulich School of Law is proud to announce the appointment of Professor Robert J. Currie, K.C., (LLB ’98) as the Viscount Bennett Professor of Law for a three-year term.

Established in 1944 by the Right Honourable RB Bennett (LLB 1893, LLD 1919), lawyer and founding partner of Bennett Jones, benefactor, and former Prime Minister of Canada, the Viscount Bennett Professorship supports great teaching and meaningful contributions to scholarship and international affairs.

“I’m grateful to take on this role, which has been filled by many distinguished Dalhousie Law School and Schulich Law colleagues in the past,” says Currie. “It will provide short-term support for my continuing work on the suppression of transnational criminal networks and Canada’s role in that fight.”

He also plans to use the professorship as a platform for establishing the “Halifax Colloquia on Cross-Border Crime and Corruption” which will bring together leading experts to do forward-thinking policy work in this space.

Coincidentally, Currie has a number of personal connections to the Professorship. “Not only was Bennett a graduate of this law school, as I am, but he began his career as a lawyer in the little mill town of Chatham, New Brunswick, which is also my hometown,” he shares.

Currie studied at St. Francis Xavier University and the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University, and has degrees in law from Dalhousie and the University of Edinburgh. A member of the Nova Scotia Bar since 2000, he has practiced both civil litigation and criminal law and has appeared before all levels of court in Nova Scotia as well as before the Federal Court.

After teaching Evidence while he was still practicing, he joined the Schulich Law community full-time in 2002. He currently teaches International Law, Evidence, the Jessup Moot, International & Transnational Criminal Law, and Comparative Criminal Law.

Currie is a specialist in the area of international and transnational criminal law and also teaches a seminar course in this subject. His scholarly work in the field is regularly cited by Canadian courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada and he acts as a consultant and advisor for both government and private clients in criminal matters with transnational aspects. He is often invited to contribute to judicial education events and continuing legal education seminars for practicing lawyers and is a frequent media commentator on legal issues.

He is a former president of the Law Reform Commission of Nova Scotia, a member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law, and a member of the Canadian Task Force Against Global Corruption.