This lecture honours the memory of Marlee Gayle Kline, a member of the Faculty from 1989. Professor Kline died in 2001 after a lengthy and determined struggle with leukemia. Her work on feminist legal theory and critical race theory, child welfare law and policy, law's continued colonialism, and restructuring of the social welfare state is internationally acclaimed. This lectureship not only recognizes Marlee's rich contribution to the law school community but also reflects her belief in the central role social justice concerns must play in legal education and law.
Past Marlee Kline Lectures
2025
Gillian Calder, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria
Topic: The Importance of Creativity, Empathy and Imagination to Legal Education in Canada
Delivered February, 2025
2024
Adelle Blackett, Professor, Faculty of Law, McGill University
Topic: The Fierce Urgency of Now: Transforming Employment Equity for Us All
Delivered March, 2024
2023
Sylvia McAdam (Saysewahum), Assistant Professor, Windsor Law, University of Windsor
Topic: Skirting Around Colonialism
Delivered March 6, 2023
2022
Brenda Cossman, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
Topic: The New Sex Wars: Sexual Harm in The #MeToo Era
Delivered March 10, 2022
2021
Donna E. Young, Dean of Law, Lincoln Alexander School of Law, Toronto Metropolitan University
Topic: Say Her Name: Law and Activism at the Intersection of Race and Gender
Delivered February 8, 2021
2020
The Honourable Lynn Smith, QC, Former Justice, Supreme Court of British Columbia
Topic: Real hate in a virtual world: misogyny in cyberspace
Delivered January 28, 2020
2019
Sonia Lawrence, Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University
Topic: What we talk about when we talk about rights: infinite loops and uncertain futures for feminist legal strategies
Delivered January 15, 2019
2018
Jacinta Ruru, Professor, Faculty of Law, University Otago and Co-Director, Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, New Zealand's Māori Centre of Research Excellence
Topic: Honouring our Ancestors in Law: Legal Personality and Indigenous Governance of Lands and Waters
Delivered January 31, 2018
2016
Constance Backhouse, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
Topic: Canada's first Lesbian Sexual Assault Trial
Delivered November 9, 2016
2015
The Honourable Kim Pate, Member of the Canadian Senate from Ontario.
Topic: The Terrible Truth about Canadian Crime
Delivered October 29, 2015
2014
Bonnie Sherr Klein, Filmmaker, Author, Disability Rights Activist
Topic: “I am who you are”
Delivered January 30, 2014
2013
Jean Teillet, Author & Lawyer
Topic: The Métis of the Northwest: Finding Justice for an Invisible People
Delivered January 17, 2013
2012
Hester Lessard, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria
Topic: Jurisdictional Justice and the “Dream of Democracy”: Missing Voices in the Struggle for Insite
Delivered January 26, 2012
2011
Ruthann Robson, Professor, City University of New York School of Law
Topic: UnSettled- - Exploring the links and dissonances amongst five colonial / post-colonial societies. Themes include land, indigenous peoples, family, sexuality, gender, class, and the possibilities of forgiveness.
Delivered March 3, 2011
2010
Tracey Lindberg, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria
Topic: De(CON)struction: Canadian Law and Indigenous Women
Delivered March 25, 2010
2008
Camille Nelson, Professor, St. Louis University School of Law
Topic: “Racializing Disability, Disabling Race: Policing the Intersection of Race and Mental Disability”
Delivered October 16, 2008
2007
Carol Smart, Professor of Sociology and Co-Director, Morgan Centre for the Study of Relationships and Personal Life, University of Manchester
Topic: “Memory, Law and Family Secrets”
Delivered November 1, 2007
2006
Lucie White, Louis A. Horvitz Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Topic: “Rights Based Development: Bringing It All Back Home”
Delivered October 19, 2006
2005
Didi Herman, Professor of Law & Social Change at Kent Law School, U.K.
Topic: “An ‘Unfortunate Coincidence’: Jews and Jewishnessin English Courts”
Delivered October 24, 2005
2004
The Honourable Judge Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, Saskatchewan Provincial Court, Member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation
Topic: The Inaugural Marlee Kline Lecture in Social Justice
Delivered October 14, 2004