Dr. Laverne Jacobs (external link, opens in new window) is a Professor of Law at the University of Windsor Faculty of Law, and a former Associate Dean (Research & Graduate Studies). Laverne researches and teaches in the areas of law and disability, human rights, access to administrative justice, and administrative law and theory. Laverne is the founding Director of the Law, Disability & Social Change Project, which is housed at Windsor Law. She is also Co-Director of the Disability Rights Working Group at the Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law. In June 2021, Laverne was named Canada’s nominee for the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Laverne has published and lectured widely in her fields, both in Canada and internationally. She is currently working on three research projects: a forthcoming book on disability, the right of access and the law, based on research funded by SSHRC and the Fulbright Foundation; a study on guardianship, disability rights and relational ethics, funded by the CIHR; and a study on navigational tools and administrative justice, funded by Justice Canada. As a Visiting Scholar, Laverne will focus on the completion of her new book while engaging the Ryerson community through workshops and discussions on administrative law and law and disability.