Law Prof. Janet Mosher (right) is one of three Canadian scholars chosen this year to spend eight months doing research with the Law Commission of Canada.
She and two others have been selected as 2006 Virtual Scholars in Residence. The program is a joint initiative of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Law Commission of Canada.
Mosher, a professor at York’s Osgoode Hall Law School who recently received $50,000 for her research project, Access To Justice: A New Policy Framework, will conduct her research mostly from Toronto but will also travel to Ottawa and other locations to work with the law commission.
“It will come as no surprise to anyone who is familiar with Prof. Mosher’s research and writing about abused women, our welfare system, poverty law and access to justice for disadvantaged groups that she has been chosen for this program,” said Osgoode Dean Patrick Monahan. “She is one of the most knowledgeable academics in our country about access to justice issues and has the qualifications and experience to play a leading role in advancing the law commission’s research in this area.”
Mosher joined Osgoode’s faculty in 2001 after directing the combined law and social work program at the University of Toronto. For three years, she was academic director of the poverty law program at Parkdale Community Legal Services. Her research has focused on the impact of legal interventions upon abused women and, most recently, upon the connection between female abuse and welfare receipt, and on welfare fraud. She has also published on poverty law and access to justice for disadvantaged groups. Mosher is co-author of the highly publicized 2004 report, Walking on Eggshells, Abused Women’s Experiences of Ontario’s Welfare System.
Mosher is the second Osgoode professor selected as a Virtual Scholar in Residence. Stepan Wood was the first, in 2004.