Professor Brenda Cossman receives Carolyn Tuohy Impact on Public Policy Award

Professor Brenda Cossman, Associate Dean, Research and Goodman Schipper Chair at the Henry N.R. Jackman Faculty of Law, has received the Carolyn Tuohy Impact on Public Policy Award in recognition of her lasting impact on public policy debates concerning the legal regulation of gay and lesbian couples, the reform of child custody and access laws, legal aid in family law, the regulation of adult personal relationships and freedom of expression.

Brenda Cossman is a ground-breaking internationally recognized, interdisciplinary, and feminist legal scholar. She has written authoritatively across a broad range of areas and is considered an expert in family law, law and gender, law and sexuality, feminist legal studies, queer legal studies and the legal regulation of sex and sexual harm.

Cossman’s scholarship is as erudite as it is unconventional and, frequently, controversial. It has shaped academic and public debates and the law itself. Her scholarship has led to invitations by governments and other public entities to write reports and policy papers including the co-authored White Paper “Gay, Lesbian and Unmarried Heterosexual Couples and the Family Law Act: Accommodating a Diversity of Family Forms,” which was cited by the Supreme Court of Canada and led directly to the reform of Ontario law, and the co-authored White Paper that formed the basis for the Law Commission of Canada report Beyond Conjugality: Recognizing and Supporting Close Personal Adult Relationships, which outlines a methodology for assessing the relevance of personal relationships to legal objectives. Her work has had lasting impact on public policy debates concerning, the legal regulation of gay and lesbian couples, the reform of child custody and access laws, legal aid in family law, the regulation of adult personal relationships and freedom of expression.