Osgoode law Professor Jinyan Li became the interim dean of Osgoode Hall Law School on July 1, succeeding Patrick Monahan. Li will serve as interim dean while a University search committee looks for a successor to Monahan, who stepped down on June 30 as dean of Osgoode to become 
vice-president academic & provost of York University. Monahan had served as dean since 2003.
Right: Jinyan Li
"I want to build on the momentum created during Dean Monahan’s term of office," Li said. "Maintaining and even enhancing a sense of community during the much-needed renovation and expansion of our 41-year-old building, which gets underway in the summer of 2009, will be my top priority." The complete text of Li’s first official message as interim dean is available here.
Li has been a member of the Osgoode faculty since 1999 and currently serves as chair of the law school’s Upper-Year Curriculum Reform Working Group. She has also served as chair of the Faculty Recruitment Committee and the Equality Committee.
The recipient of Osgoode Teaching Award in 2004, she holds an LLB from the University of Toronto, an LLM from Queen’s University and a DJur (’91) from Osgoode. Her research interests include taxation law and policy, electronic commerce, social security law, pension law and Chinese law.
The author of numerous books, articles and commissioned reports, she was a member of an advisory committee for the minister of national revenue on e-commerce taxation. She has been a legal consultant to the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development, the auditor general of Canada, the Department of Justice of Canada, as well as several leading law firms.