Our Research
We are building our future through our global reach in business, energy, resources and environmental law, innovation in student experience and legal education, and high-quality, high-impact research.
Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law
The law relating to natural resources, energy and the environment. Our faculty members are actively researching in a variety of areas, including international environmental law, energy law, law of the sea, regulation of environmental markets, alternative energy law, constitutional law, climate change law, the law of the extraction and mining of natural resources, environmental assessment law and adaptive management, international comparative energy law, sustainable development law, energy transportation law, and land use law.
Business Law & Tax Law
The law relating to business and taxation. Our faculty members are doing research in areas that include corporate finance, entrepreneurial law, estate planning, international taxation, liability for director malfeasance, corporate governance, the regulation of transnational corporations, bankruptcy and restructuring law, regulation of the Canadian and international mining sector, tax law, charity law, and the regulation of renewable energy markets.
Criminal Law
The domestic, international and transnational law relating to criminal conduct, including substantive provisions and criminal law procedures. Our faculty members are actively researching in a variety of areas, including international criminal law, criminal procedure, and state responses to violence.
International Law
The law relating to international activities involving states, international organizations, and non-state actors. Our faculty members are conducting research in areas that include international environmental law, law of the sea, international criminal law, international humanitarian law, international law of emerging technologies, law and development, regulation of transnational corporations, the intersection of international trade law and international investment arbitration, international climate law, international infrastructure and construction law, and conflict of laws.
Indigenous Law
The Indigenous, Canadian and international law relating to indigenous peoples. Our faculty members are researching in areas that include aboriginal law, indigenous law, and the intersection between laws affecting indigenous peoples and environmental issues.
Legal Theory & History
Theoretical, interdisciplinary and methodological aspects of law and legal systems. Our faculty members are researching in a variety of areas, including legal philosophy, legal history, comparative constitutional law, empirical legal research methods, the rule of law, technology law theory, and property theory.
Private Law
The law relating to legal actions available to private actors, including those available in the common law as well as from legislation creating private rights of action. Our researchers are involved in a variety of areas of private law, including family law, property law, and contract law.
Security Law
The law relating to national, human, and organizational security, including national security legislation, security of the person, economic security, political security, privacy, and cybersecurity. Faculty members are currently conducting research in areas that include cybersecurity law, the concept of the reasonable expectation of privacy, a privacy tort for the digital age, and proposed national security legislation.
Administrative Law & Regulation
The laws that relate to administrative decision-making, including the sources and uses of power by decision-makers, the review of administrative decisions by courts; and the law of subordinate legislation. Our faculty members are currently doing research in administrative law, health regulation, the regulation of professionals, regulatory compliance and enforcement, environmental assessment and adaptive management, regulatory issues related to environmental and energy law, and regulatory theory.
Technology & Intellectual Property Law
The law relating to novel technologies, including their regulation, and the ownership of intellectual property rights in technologies. Our faculty members do research in a variety of areas, including Internet law, media law, technology and the legal profession, copyright law, patent law, information privacy law, international law and policy relating to emerging technology, geoengineering regulation, technology start-up law, blockchain law, cybersecurity law, the regulation of synthetic biology, and biosecurity.
Human Rights Law
The law related to domestic and international human rights, including treaties, declarations, regional conventions, domestic law, constitutional provisions, and customary international law. Our researchers work in a variety of areas, including human rights law in a digital context, international human rights law, constitutional protection of human rights, equality rights, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and multiculturalism and the law.
Legal Practice
Legal, theoretical, and practical principles of good legal practice. Our researchers are conducting research in areas such as negotiation, dispute resolution, legal ethics, and the legal profession.
Research news
Turning obstacles into opportunities: Professor Kellinde Wrightson’s new book champions immigrant lawyers
Book provides beacon of hope for those navigating Canadian legal landscape
Professor receives funding from Canadian Foundation for Legal Research
Professor Shaun Fluker received a grant to study how courts exercise their discretion to grant public interest standing.
Professor cited in three appellate decisions
Professor Jennifer Koshan’s research and writing was recently cited in three appellate decisions.
ABlawg: The Faculty of Law blog
ABlawg features commentary by faculty members, sessional instructors, research associates at our affiliated institutes, and students on court and tribunal decisions as well as legislative and policy developments in Alberta and beyond.