Jérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly

Publications on SSRN: https://ssrn.com/author=3825789

CV and complete list of publications (August 2026) 

Biography

Jérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly is an Assistant Professor at McGill University’s Faculty of Law, where his research focuses on access to justice in civil matters. His current projects explore topics such as people-centred justice, the role of public participation in civil justice, particularly through lay courts and juries, as well as class actions. More broadly, his work extends to various aspects of private law, civil procedure, judicial institutions, and constitutional law.

His research has been published, in both English and French, in several law journals. His article titled "Actions collectives et tribunaux administratifs : un vide juridictionnel à combler" received the Best Scholarly Paper award in the 2024 annual legal writing competition of the Fondation du Barreau du Québec. His article titled “Contributions civilistes à l’interprétation des lois constitutionnelles canadiennes” has, for its part, been awarded the Prix Publication en français Louise-Dandurand by the Fonds de recherche du Québec, and the prize of the 2026 Annual McGill Law Journal Essay Contest.

Professor Boulanger-Bonnelly currently teaches the law of contractual obligations and the law of judicial institutions and civil procedure. In 2023, he received the John W. Durnford Award for Teaching Excellence, named in honour of the late professor and former dean John W. Durnford (BCL'52), and conferred by students.

In parallel to his teaching and research, Professor Boulanger-Bonnelly strives to contribute to access to justice through community initiatives. He is involved as a pro bono lawyer in several constitutional cases, as a member of the Canadian Bar Association's Access to Justice Subcommittee, and as chair of the Legislation and Law Reform Committee of the CBA’s Quebec Division. He also serves on the board of directors of the National Self-Represented Litigants Project and on the data and research subcommittee of the National Action Committee on Access to Justice.

Prior to joining the Faculty, Professor Boulanger-Bonnelly completed his doctoral studies at the University of Toronto, where his research was supported by a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship and a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholarship. He also worked as a civil litigator, a law clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada, and an intern at UNIDROIT, an international organization working on harmonizing private law. In 2022, he was a Visiting Researcher at Harvard Law School.

Areas of Interest

Professor Boulanger-Bonnelly works in the following areas: Access to Justice, Judicial Institutions and Civil Procedure, Private Law, Comparative Law, and Constitutional Law.

He welcomes the opportunity to supervise students at every level of their studies, particularly if their work relates to access to justice, judicial institutions, or civil procedure.

Selected Publications

Refereed Articles and Chapters

• “The Uncertain Future of the Canadian Civil Jury” (2026) Canadian Bar Review (forthcoming).
• Jérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly, “Contributions civilistes à l’interprétation des lois constitutionnelles canadiennes” (2025) 70:2 McGill Law Journal 203.
• Jérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly, “Person-Centred Dispute Resolution: The Potential of Lay Courts” (2024) 39 Canadian Journal of Law and Society 404.
• Jérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly, “Actions collectives et tribunaux administratifs : un vide juridictionnel à combler”, [2023] (2022) 67:4 McGill Law Journal 453.
• Jérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly, “L’Acte de Québec : relique du passé ou charte contemporaine?” [2023] (2022) 63 Cahiers de droit 785.
• Louise Otis & Jérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly, “Shelters of Justice in Displaced Persons Settlements: A Proposal for Rohingya Camps” (2022) 73 University of New Brunswick Law Journal 42.
• Jérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly, “Public Access to Online Hearings” (2022) 45:2 Dalhousie Law Journal 303.
  • Read about this article in the University of Toronto News, the Lawyers’ Daily and the Law Times.
• Jérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly & Louise Otis, “In Search of Coherence: Burden and Standard of Proof in International Administrative Law” (2021) 18:3 International Organizations Law Review 507.
• Jérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly, “Inspiring Analogies: From Access to Healthcare to Access to Justice” in Vinícius Alves Barreto da Silva, ed., Access to Justice in the Americas, Rio de Janeiro, Fórum Justiça, 2021, 443. 
  • Featured in the “Intercultural Dialogues” video series by Fórum Justiça.

Other Journal Articles and Chapters

• “Jury Secrecy in Canada: A Cure Worse Than the Disease?” in Shari Seidman Diamond & Valerie P. Hans, eds, Juries Across the Americas: Variation and Evolution (forthcoming).
• “Le Code civil du Québec et ses règlements : renvois à double tranchant?” in Michelle Cumyn & Mark Antaki, eds, Les figures du Code civil du Québec, Paul-André Crépeau Centre for Private and Comparative Law (forthcoming).
• “Lay Participation in Civil Trials” in Ulrike Schultz, Håkan Hydén & Peter Scharff Smith, eds, Encyclopedia of the Sociology of Law, Edward Elgar (forthcoming; with Valerie P. Hans).
• “La pertinence contemporaine de l’Acte de Québec” in Félix Mathieu, Dave Guénette & Amélie Binette, eds, L’Acte de Québec après 250 ans – Un moment fondateur en quête de reconnaissance, Presses de l’Université Laval, 2026.
• “The Hybridization of Lay Courts: From Colombia to England and Wales” (2023) 98:1 Chicago-Kent Law Review 191-216.

Edited Collection

• Jérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly & Joshua Sealy-Harrington, eds., Une force tranquille : The Judicial Legacy of Clément Gascon, Toronto, LexisNexis, 2022 (249 pages).

Reports

• “Class Actions: Second Policy Report”, Winnipeg, Uniform Law Conference of Canada, August 2026 (forthcoming).
•  “Class Actions: First Policy Report” , Halifax, Uniform Law Conference of Canada, August 2025. 
• “Class Actions – Progress Report”, Ottawa, Uniform Law Conference of Canada, August 2024.

Academic Affiliations

• Research Affiliate, Institut québécois de réforme du droit et de la justice (since 2025)
• Titular Member, Paul-André Crépeau Centre for Private and Comparative Law (since 2023)

• Young Governor, Quebec Bar Foundation (since 2022)

• Member, Collectif de l’Observatoire pluridisciplinaire sur le devenir du droit privé (since 2022)
• Member, International Research Collaborative on Lay Participation in Law (since 2021)
• Member, Canadian Association for Legal Ethics (since 2021)

• Member, Law & Society Association (since 2020)

• Member, Canadian Law & Society Association (since 2019)