Expertise: Poverty Law

Mosher, Janet

Professor Mosher joined the faculty of Osgoode Hall Law School in 2001 after teaching at the Faculties of Law and Social Work at the University of Toronto, where she was also the Director of the Combined LLB/MSW program. Between 2001 to 2005 and 2011 to 2013 she was the Academic Director of Osgoode’s Intensive Program in Poverty Law at Parkdale Community Legal Services. She is the co-founder of the Feminist Advocacy: Ending Violence Against Women Clinical Program and has served on many occasions as the program’s co-director. Professor Mosher has served as the editor-in-chief of Osgoode’s Journal of Law and Social Policy, as the English language editor of the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, and on the boards of several community-based social justice organizations.

Research Interests: Gender-based violence and legal interventions, access to justice for marginalized populations, welfare policy, poverty law, homelessness, legal aid, and clinical legal education

Teaching Areas: Feminist Advocacy: Ending Violence Against Women, Legal Process, Law & Poverty, Legal Ethics.

Recent Publications:
Domestic Violence and Access to Justice: A Mapping of Relevant Laws, Polices and Justice System Components Across Canada, co-authored ebook (CanLii)

“Domestic Violence, Precarious Immigration Status, and the Complex Interplay of Family Law and Immigration Law” (2023) 35:1 Canadian Journal of Family Law 297-358

“Introduction: Domestic Violence and Access to Justice within the Family Law and Intersection Legal Systems,” co-authored, (2023) 35:1 Canadian Journal of Family Law 1-32

“A Comparison of Gender-Based Violence Laws in Canada: A Report for the National Action Plan on Gender-Based Violence Working Group on Responsive Legal and Justice Systems,” commissioned by Women’s Shelters Canada for the Roadmap for the National Action Plan on Violence Against Women and Gender-Based Violence report (appendix F), co-authored, 30 April 2021

“COVID-19, the Shadow Pandemic, and Access to Justice for Survivors of Domestic Violence,” co-authored, (2020) 57:3 Osgoode Hall Law Journal 739-799

“The Costs of Justice in Domestic Violence Cases – Mapping Canadian Law and Policy,” co-authored, in Trevor CW Farrow & Lesley A Jacobs, eds, The Justice Crisis: The Cost and Value of Accessing Law (UBC Press, 2020) 149-172; version with extended footnotes on SSRN at

“Introduction” to “Reimagining Child Welfare,” a special volume of the Journal of Law and Social Policy, co-authored (2018) 28 JLSP

“Grounding Access to Justice Theory and Practice in the Experiences of Women Abused by Their Intimate Partners,” (2015) 32:2 Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice 149-176

“Accessing Justice Amid Threats of Contagion,” (2014) 51:3 Osgoode Hall Law Journal 919-56 (refereed), reprinted in Kristy Buccieri and Rebecca Schiff, eds, Pandemic preparedness & homelessness: lessons from H1N1 in Canada (Toronto, ON : Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, 2016)

“From Research to Action: Four theories and their implications for knowledge mobilization,” (2014) 5:4 Scholarly and Research Communication 1-17 (lead author with Uzo Anucha, Henry Appiah & Sue Levesque) (refereed)

Graduate Research Supervision (LLM, PhD): Professor Mosher is particularly interested in supervising projects related to how law is implicated in gender-based violence; community-grounded conceptions of access to justice; law and social change; and poverty law. She welcomes qualitative projects, including those deploying community-based participatory action methodologies. Her current research grants include domestic violence and access to justice at the intersections of various areas of law and legal processes (family, child welfare, criminal, immigration, etc.) and the criminalization of women victims of domestic violence.

Professor Mosher is willing to read preliminary proposals from strong students in the areas of interest listed, and comment on interest in supervision prior to submission of an official application.

Bhabha, Faisal

Faisal Bhabha is an Associate Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Canada. He also serves as the Faculty Director of the Canadian Common Law LLM degree program. He has researched and published in the areas of constitutional law, multiculturalism, law and religion, disability rights, national security and access to justice. He teaches constitutional law, human rights, legal ethics, and appellate advocacy. Previously, he sat as Vice-chair of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (2008-2011). He maintains a varied public and private law practice, appearing before administrative boards and tribunals and at all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada. He advises and represents a variety of individuals and public interest organizations in matters pertaining to constitutional law and human rights. He has appeared as an expert witness before Canadian parliamentary committees and served as a member of the Equity Advisory Group of the Law Society of Ontario. He has lived and worked in the Middle East and South Africa, and has lectured and taught in many countries. He is currently a senior editor with the International Review of Human Rights Law.

Research Interests: constitutional law; equality and anti-discrimination; administrative law; legal ethics and professionalism; legal process; dispute resolution; legal education