Daniel Jutras appointed Principal of the Université de Montréal
It is with equal measures of sadness and pride that the Faculty of Law shares that Professor Daniel Jutras, O.C., Ad. E., is leaving McGill University to take up the role of rector at the Université de Montréal as of June 1, 2020.
Since joining the Faculty in 1985, Professor Jutras has made exceptional contributions in numerous capacities that will have a lasting impact on McGill Law. In addition to chairing significant committees, he served as associate dean (admissions), associate dean (academic), and director of the Institute of Comparative Law. He served as interim dean from 2009 to 2010 and then as dean from 2010 to 2016. He spearheaded the Innovation in Teaching and Learning fundraising campaign and led the curricular renewal of the BCL/JD program implemented in 2016. Since 2011, he has held the Wainwright Chair in Civil Law.
Professor Jutras has been a beloved professor for generations of students, teaching foundational private-law courses to thousands of students in their first year. He played a major role in building and giving life to the integrated obligations courses at the heart of our distinctive transsystemic program. The Law Students’ Association recognized his teaching by giving him the John W. Durnford Award for Teaching Excellence in 2006. An internationally renowned comparatist, he has pivoted his work in recent years towards civil procedure and class actions.
From 2002 to 2004, Professor Jutras was on leave from McGill to serve as executive legal officer for Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin of the Supreme Court of Canada. In 2013 and in 2018, Canada named him as amicus curiæ to make submissions in relation, respectively, to the constitutionality of proposed changes to the Senate of Canada and to the standard of review in administrative law. In 2016, the federal government named him to the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments.
His distinguished career has earned him many honours, including the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2013), the Advocatus Emeritus (Ad. E.) distinction from the Barreau du Québec (2014), and the Mérite du Barreau du Québec (2016). In 2019, he was appointed an officer of the Order of Canada.
“The Faculty of Law has had the great good fortune to have Daniel Jutras as a colleague, teacher, and friend for over three decades,” said Dean Robert Leckey. “While we will miss him greatly, we are proud to see a colleague take up such an important leadership position in Quebec society and wish him every success. Congratulations, Daniel!”