Randal Graham is a Canadian

law professor A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

, and the Goodmans LLP Faculty

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

legal ethics Legal ethics are principles of conduct that members of the legal profession are expected to observe in their practice. They are an outgrowth of the development of the legal profession itself. In the United States In the U.S., each state or territ ...

at the

University of Western Ontario Faculty of Law The University of Western Ontario Faculty of Law, branded as Western Law since 2011, is the law school of Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1959, its first Dean was former Supreme Court of Canada justice, the Honourabl ...

Early life and education

Originally from

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Graham earned a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from

Osgoode Hall Law School Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The law school is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the Journal of Law and Social Policy, and the ''Osgoode Hall La ...

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

, followed by a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

from the same institution in 1999. While completing his dissertation, Graham worked under the supervision of

Peter Hogg Peter Wardell Hogg (12 March 1939 – 4 February 2020) was a New Zealand-born Canadian legal scholar and lawyer. He was best known as a leading authority on Canadian constitutional law, with the most academic citations in Supreme Court jurispru ...

, for whom he had worked as a research assistant throughout his time in the LL.B. program.

Career

From 1996 to 1997, Graham clerked at the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

under Mr. Justice

John Sopinka John Sopinka, (March 19, 1933 – November 24, 1997) was a Canadian lawyer and puisne justice on the Supreme Court of Canada, the first Ukrainian-Canadian appointed to the high court. Early life and education Sopinka was born in Broderick, Sa ...

after which he practised

commercial law Commercial law, also known as mercantile law or trade law, is the body of law that applies to the rights, relations, and conduct of persons and business engaged in commerce, merchandising, trade, and sales. It is often considered to be a branc ...

Goodmans LLP Goodmans LLP is a Canadian corporate law firm. First established in Toronto in 1917 by David Bertram Goodman, Goodmans LLP now has approximately 200 lawyers. The firm acts for Canada's largest corporations, financial institutions and multinatio ...

. He served as an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

and an

assistant professor Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree and general ...

at the

University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Americ ...

before coming to the

in 2002, soon earning tenure and full professorship. In 2005, Graham was named "Faculty

Scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

" for the international impact of his research. He has won awards for outstanding teaching, including the Edward G. Pleva Award for Excellence in Teaching, Western University's highest teaching-related honour. In 2016, Graham testified in front of the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs of the

Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The Senate is modelled after the B ...

regarding Bill C-14, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make related amendments to other Acts (medical assistance in dying) relating to

euthanasia in Canada Euthanasia in Canada in its legal voluntary form is called medical assistance in dying (MAID) and it first became legal along with assisted suicide in June 2016 to end the suffering of terminally ill adults. In March 2021, the law was further am ...

. In 2017, Graham published his first novel, Beforelife, followed by its sequel, Afterlife Crisis, in 2020.

Raoul Bhaneja Raoul Bhaneja is an English-Canadian actor, musician, writer and producer. Early life and studies Bhaneja was born in Manchester. His father is an Indian Sindhi and mother is Irish. A graduate of The National Theatre School of Canada and Ot ...

narrated the audiobook version of Afterlife Crisis. The third novel of the trilogy, Nether Regions, was released in September 2022. Beforelife won the

Independent Publisher Book Awards The Independent Publisher Book Awards, also styled the IPPY Awards, are a set of annual book awards for independently published titles. They are the longest-running unaffiliated contest open exclusively to independent presses. The IPPY Awards ar ...

Gold Medal for Fantasy Fiction. Both Beforelife and Afterlife Crisis were top ten finalists for the

Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour The Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour, also known as the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour or just the Leacock Medal, is an annual literary award presented for the best book of humour written in English by a Canadian writer, published or self ...

. Singer-songwriter, Treasa Levasseur, described Graham's Afterlife Crisis for

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

The Next Chapter (radio program) ''The Next Chapter'' is a Canadian radio program, which airs on CBC Radio One. Hosted by Shelagh Rogers, the program is an hour-long weekly magazine show on books and literature, including interviews with writers."CBC to interview literary winner ...

as ". . . a sprawling, intellectual yet humorous book - like if

Life of Brian ''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' (also known as ''Life of Brian'') is a 1979 British comedy film starring and written by the comedy group Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin). It wa ...

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...

was 14-and-a-half hours long and was written by a law professor at Western University." Heather McBriarty of The Miramichi Reader described Graham's Nether Regions as ". . . a hilariously thought-provoking romp of a book in the finest tradition of

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gr ...

Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' developed into a " ...

, and

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humourist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his ''Discworld'' series of 41 novels. Pratchett's first nov ...

. McBriarty noted, "Graham draws from both today's headlines and ancient myths to create a world like no other, and never hesitates to ask huge philosophical questions in the most outlandish of settings."

Publications

Books

*''Statutory Interpretation: Theory and Practice''. Toronto: Emond, 2001 ISBN 978-1-55239-063-4. *''Statutory Interpretation: Cases, Text and Materials''. Toronto: Emond, 2002 ISBN 978-1-55239-091-7. *''Legal Ethics: Theories, Cases, and Professional Regulation''. 3rd Edition (2nd Edition 2014; 1st Edition 2004). Toronto: Emond, 2014 ISBN 978-1-55239-623-0. *''Beforelife''. Toronto:

ECW Press ECW Press is a Canadian book publisher located in Toronto, Ontario. It was founded by Jack David and Robert Lecker in 1974 as a Canadian literary magazine named ''Essays on Canadian Writing''. They started publishing trade and scholarly book ...

, 2017 ISBN 9781770413177. *''Afterlife Crisis''. Toronto:

, 2020 ISBN 9781770414709. *''Nether Regions''. Toronto:

, 2022 ISBN 9781770414716.

Selected articles

* Morality v. Markets (2005) 8:1 Legal Ethics 87. * In Defence of Ethinomics (2005) 8:1 Legal Ethics 160. * Right Theory, Wrong Reasons (2006) 34 SCLR (2d) 1.
"What Judges Want: Judicial Self-Interest and Statutory Interpretation"
(2009)Statute Law Review 30(1) 38 -72, Oxford University Press. * Evolutionary Analysis: The Impact of Interpretive Theory (2010) 34 Man. LJ 1, 143. * The Myth of Originalism (appearing in Interpretatio Non Cessat, Yvon Blais), 2011.

Videos

*
Building Accessibility for People with Disabilities into our Legislation: Avoiding the Creation of Unintended Barriers
', 8 May 2016. *
Beforelife CBC Interview
', 8 September 2017. *
Second Beforelife CBC Interview
', 13 April 2018. *
Homecoming 2020 Western Law Ethics Webinar
', 20 October 2020. *
Commencement Speech to Professional Graduates, Western University
', 8 July 2022 (at 34 minute mark).

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Randal Living people Canadian legal scholars University of Western Ontario faculty Law clerks People from Peterborough, Ontario Year of birth missing (living people)