Robert Leckey

Robert Leckey is a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec. From 2016 to 2025, he was the Dean of McGill University's Faculty of Law.

Education

Robert Leckey graduated from Queen's University with a B.A.H. in English literature in 1997 and from McGill Law in 2002, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the McGill Law Journal. After graduation he was a clerk to Justice Michel Bastarache at the Supreme Court of Canada. He then graduated from his S.J.D. from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law,^[1] where he was a Trudeau Scholar.^[2]

Career

Leckey is known for his work in family law, specifically his work on the subject of same-sex equality under the family law and legal system of Canada.^[3][4] He is an active supporter of LGBT rights in Quebec and has made open statements against government policies that affect LGBT communities negatively.^[5][6] He has also provided arguments that try to poke holes in modern family law ethics, such as the concept of divorce.^[7] Leckey has worked in the field of human rights law^[8]

In 2009 he was awarded the John W. Durnford Prize for Teaching Excellence and le Prix d'essai juridique for his legal scholarship.^[9] In 2010 he was awarded the Canada Prize for his 2008 book Contextual Subjects: Family, State and Relational Theory, a national book award given only once every four years.^[10] In 2015, Leckey became a full professor. In 2016, he was named to the Samuel Gale Chair. On July 1, 2016, he began a five-year term as dean of the McGill Faculty of Law. From 2014 to 2016, Leckey was the director of the Paul-André Crépeau Centre for Private and Comparative Law. From 2008 to 2011, he chaired the McGill Equity Subcommittee on Queer People.^[11]

In 2022, Leckey was strongly criticized in his position as Dean regarding the Faculty of Law's lack of measures to counter the spread of COVID-19.^[12][13] He referred to a student strike, initiated by referendum, as a "boycott"^[14] and insisted that he cannot mandate measures in classes due to professorial independence.^[12] Nonetheless, he has opposed professorial unionization on the grounds that law professors should not form a bargaining unit separate from other professors at McGill.^[15]

On January 27, 2025, Leckey was appointed as a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec.^[16] His appointment swiftly drew sharp criticism, including from Quebec’s Justice Minister, Simon Jolin-Barrette.^[17][18]