Brian Bird

Brian Bird’s primary research interests are constitutional law and theory, interactions between courts and legislatures, jurisprudence, philosophy of law, legal history, and bills of rights.

Before joining Allard Law, Brian was a postdoctoral research fellow at Princeton University in the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. At Princeton, Brian was also a lecturer in Politics.

Brian’s academic writing has appeared in the Dalhousie Law Journal, Cambridge Law Review, Alberta Law Review, Supreme Court Law Review, Saskatchewan Law Review, and Manitoba Law Journal.

Brian has co-edited three collections of essays published by LexisNexis Canada: The Forgotten Fundamental Freedoms of the Charter (2020), Forgotten Foundations of the Canadian Constitution (2022), and Rights, Freedoms, and Their Limits: Reimagining Section 1 of the Charter (2023).

Brian’s writing on current affairs has appeared in a variety of media outlets, including the Globe and Mail and the National Post.

Brian clerked for judges of the Supreme Court of British Columbia and for the Hon. Justice Andromache Karakatsanis at the Supreme Court of Canada. He completed his doctorate at McGill University. He also holds degrees from the University of Oxford, the University of Victoria, and Simon Fraser University.

• Criminal Law
• Ethics and Professionalism

Lecturer in Politics, Princeton University (2020)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Politics, Princeton University (2019-2020)

Law Clerk to the Hon. Justice Andromache Karakatsanis, Supreme Court of Canada (2012-2013)

Law Clerk, Supreme Court of British Columbia (2011-2012)

The Forgotten Fundamental Freedoms of the Charter  (forthcoming), D. Newman, D. Ross and B. Bird, editors (Toronto: LexisNexis, 2020)

The Reasons for Freedom of Conscience (forthcoming) in D. Newman, D. Ross and B. Bird, eds, The Forgotten Fundamental Freedoms of the Charter (Toronto: LexisNexis, 2020)

The Judicial Notwithstanding Clause: Suspended Declarations of Invalidity Manitoba Law Journal (2019) Vol. 42:1 at 23-49

Stare Decisis and the Charter Supreme Court Law Review, 2^nd Series (2019), Vol. 92 at 125-157

The Unbroken Supremacy of the Canadian Constitution Alberta Law Review (2018), Vol. 55:3 at 755-776

The Call in Carter to Interpret Freedom of Conscience Supreme Court Law Review, 2^nd Series (2018), Vol. 85:2 at 107-141

Are All Charter Rights and Freedoms Really Non-Absolute? Dalhousie Law Journal (2017), Vol. 40:1 at 107-121

Prayer for Relief: Saguenay and State Neutrality toward Religion in Canada Cambridge Law Review (2016), Vol. 1 at 176-187 (with Ravi Amarnath)

Federal Power and Federal Duty: Reconciling Sections 91(24) and 35(1) of the Canadian Constitution Appeal: Review of Current Law and Law Reform (2011), Vol. 16 at 3-14