Professor Palma Paciocco joined Osgoode on July 1, 2016. Her teaching and research interests are in the areas of criminal law and theory, criminal procedure, evidence, sentencing, and professional ethics. Her scholarship has examined a wide variety of criminal justice issues, including the privacy interests of criminal suspects, the mental states that ought to attract criminal liability, and the role of prosecutors in determining sentencing outcomes.
“We are delighted to welcome Palma to the Osgoode community,” said Osgoode Dean Lorne Sossin. “She will build on our existing strengths as a faculty and Osgoode's leadership role in legal education and research. Palma is committed to student success and will bring energy, passion and a distinctive scholarly voice to the Law School."
Paciocco’s doctoral dissertation, which she completed as a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) doctoral fellow at Harvard Law School, considers the ethical obligations of prosecutors engaged in plea-bargaining. She will receive her SJD degree from Harvard in November.
Before beginning her doctoral studies, Paciocco completed Harvard’s LLM program as a Thomas Shearer Stewart Travelling Fellow and a Landon H. Gammon Fellow, but waived the LLM degree to enroll in the SJD program. She also has a BCL/LLB degree from McGill Faculty of Law, where she was awarded the Gold Medal, and a BA in philosophy and history from McGill Faculty of Arts. Paciocco served as a law clerk to the Honourable Justice Louise Charron of the Supreme Court of Canada. She is called to the bars of Ontario and New York.