Ed Béchard-Torres

Ed Béchard-Torres is an assistant professor in the Lincoln Alexander School of Law. He is broadly interested in the relationship between constitutional law and political economy. His research projects have taken up how courts can contribute to the fulfillment of socio-economic human rights, and how “transformative” constitutional projects can influence commercial and corporate law. His research is comparative and bridges jurisdictions in the Global “South” and “North”. 

Prior to joining the Faculty, Béchard-Torres was a Scholar in Residence at New York University’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice. He holds a DCL from McGill University, an LLM from the University of Cambridge, and a joint BCL/LLB from McGill. He is from Montreal and is Venezuelan-Canadian. 

Béchard-Torres clerked for Justice Suzanne Côté at the Supreme Court of Canada, and for Justice Pierre Dalphond at the Quebec Court of Appeal. He has also practiced commercial litigation in leading firms in Quebec, appearing before various levels of court. In 2018, he assisted the amici curiae in the landmark Vavilov and Bell appeals before the Supreme Court.

In 2022, Béchard-Torres was appointed to the Human Rights Expert Panel of the Court Challenges Program (CCP) for a term of 3.5 years. The Expert Panel is responsible for allocating funding to support groundbreaking human rights litigation in cases of national importance.