The Canadian Bar Association has recognized Laverne Jacobs of Windsor Law for her work to promote equality in the legal profession, the judiciary, and the legal community in Canada.

A law professor and associate dean for research and graduate studies, Dr. Jacobs has dedicated her career to teaching, researching, and writing about law and disability, administrative law, and human rights. She is the founder and director of The Law, Disability and Social Change Project, a research and public advocacy initiative based in the UWindsor Faculty of Law.

During a virtual ceremony held Feb. 17, the bar association conferred its 2021 Touchstone Award on Jacobs. The award recognizes successful promotion or furthering of equality at the national level and a significant contribution relating to race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or other diversity issues in the recipient’s community.

“I am delighted to have my research, scholarship, and advocacy recognized in this way,” Jacobs says. “It’s an honour to be the recipient of this national award which has been held by many legal trailblazers in the past.”

Her acceptance speech can be viewed on The Canadian Bar Association’s YouTube channel.

Valeria Kuri, a third-year law student and one of Jacobs’ nominators, says she has witnessed first-hand her dedication to disability rights and her students’ learning.

“She has inspired and challenged me and countless other students to continue to plant seeds of hope, equity, compassion, and justice within the legal field, to fight for the rights of people from disenfranchised and targeted communities, and to centralize social justice in our approach to practice,” Kuri says.

Find more information in an article celebrating Jacobs’ accomplishments published on the association’s National magazine website.

—Rachelle Prince