Janine Benedet

Janine Benedet joined the law school faculty in 2005 and served as Dean pro tem. Her first stop after her L.L.B. graduation from UBC was a clerkship with fellow UBC alumnus Justice Frank Iacobucci at the Supreme Court of Canada. That was followed by graduate studies – leading to both an LL.M. and an S.J.D. – at the University of Michigan, where she also taught as a Visiting Faculty Fellow. She practiced labour law in Toronto from 1997 to 1999, and was a member of faculty at Osgoode Hall Law School from 1999-2005. She is a member of the British Columbia bar and engages in pro bono litigation in sexual violence cases.

Professor Benedet’s areas of teaching expertise include criminal law, labour law, the law of sexual offences and legal ethics.  Her current research focuses on sexual violence against women, including prostitution, pornography and sexual assault.  She is currently researching the barriers to successful criminal justice system responses to sexual assault for women and girls across the lifespan, as well as the use of criminal law to target sex buying and pimping.  She is an Associate Editor of the Criminal Reports. 

In 2014, Professor Benedet received the CBA BC Equality and Diversity Award, for her work in advancing equality within BC and the legal profession.

• Centre for Feminist Legal Studies