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Brenda Cossman

Professor

Faculty of Law

Orcid identifier0000-0003-4022-0158
  • Professor
    Faculty of Law
  • 416-978-8103 (Work)
  • 416-537-9184 (Mobile)
  • University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, 78 Queens Park, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2C5, Canada

BIO

Brenda Cossman is Professor of Law at the University of Toronto. She joined the Faculty of Law in 1999, and became a full professor in 2000. She was Director of U of T's Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies from 2009-2018. She holds degrees in law from Harvard and the University of Toronto and an undergraduate degree from Queen's. Prior to joining the University of Toronto, she was Associate Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School of York University.

In 2012, Professor Cossman was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 2009, she was awarded the Mundell Medal for contributions to letters and law. In 2002 and 2003, she was a Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.

Professor Cossman's teaching and scholarly interests include family law, law and gender, and law and sexuality. Her book The New Sex Wars: Sexual Harm in the Age of #MeToo was published by NYU Press in the fall of 2021. Her publications include Sexual Citizens: The Legal and Cultural Regulation of Sex and Belonging (Stanford University Press, 2007), the co-authored Bad Attitudes on Trial: Pornography, Feminism and the Butler Decision (University of Toronto Press) and Censorship and the Arts (published by the Ontario Association of Art Galleries).

Media availability: TV, Radio, Print/Online

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

  • Associate Dean, Research
    Facult of Law, University of Toronto, Canada1 Jul 2023 - present
  • Professor of Law
    University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, Toronto, Canada2000 - present
  • Goodman-Schipper Chair
    University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, Toronto, Canada2020 - present
  • Director, Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies
    University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, Toronto, Canada2009 - 2018
  • Associate Professor of Law
    University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, Toronto, Canada1999 - 2000
  • Visiting Professor
    Harvard University, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, United States1 Sep 2002 - 31 Dec 2002
  • Visiting Professor
    Harvard University, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, United States1 Sep 2003 - 1 Dec 2003
  • Associate Professor of Law
    York University, Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto, Canada1992 - 1998
  • Assistant Professor of Law
    York University, Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto, Canada1988 - 1992

DEGREES

  • B.A. (Hon)
    Queen's University, Kingston, Canada1982
  • LL.B.
    University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada1986
  • LL.M.
    Harvard University, Cambridge, United States1988

AVAILABILITY

  • Media enquiries
  • Masters Research or PhD student supervision

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