Janet Walker is a Canadian scholar and author in the fields of Private International Law and Civil Procedure at Osgoode Hall Law School, and an international arbitrator at Arbitration Place in Toronto, Canada. She is married to Australian lawyer and international arbitrator, Doug Jones AO.
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Education and teaching
Walker received B.A. (Hons.) and M.A. degrees from York University (1979, 1982); an LL.B. degree from Osgoode Hall Law School (1993, J.D. 2012); and an M.A. and DPhil from Oxford University (2002). She is a Professor and former Associate Dean at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, where she teaches Conflict of Laws and International Dispute Resolution and is co-director of the Osgoode Professional Development LLM Program in Civil Litigation and Dispute Resolution. Walker has coached the Osgoode Hall team for the Willem C. Vis Moot during 2001-2014, including when it won the competition in 2004. Walker has also taught as a visiting scholar at a number of universities including:
Author
Walker is an author and scholar in private international law and procedure. She has authored more than 60 peer reviewed articles, as well as contributing to a number of text books and other works. She is the named author of the current edition of Castel and Walker: Canadian Conflict of Laws (6th ed, Butterworths, 2005+), which has been described as "the most cited private law work in Canadian jurisprudence", and was co-author of the previous edition. She is also the author of the Conflict of Laws volume of Halsbury's Laws of Canada (Lexis Nexis Canada, 2006; reissue 2011), General Editor of The Civil Litigation Process (6th ed, Emond Montgomery, 2005; 7th ed, Emond Montgomery, 2010), General Editor of Class Actions in Canada (Emond Montgomery, 2013), and co-author of Common Law, Civil Law and the Future of Categories (LexisNexis, 2010).
Arbitrator
Walker is a member arbitrator at Arbitration Place and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb). She is the founding chair of the Toronto Chapter of CIArb, and a founding member of ICC Canada and the Toronto Commercial Arbitration Society (TCAS). She has served as sole arbitrator, chair and co-arbitrator in arbitration under the institutional rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR). She is a member arbitrator of several institutional panels including those of the ICDR and American Arbitration Association (AAA), China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), Shanghai International Arbitration Center (SHIAC), and of the former Canadian National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce. She is also a member of the Arbitration Roundtable of Toronto.
Advisory work
Walker is the common law advisor to the Federal Courts (Canada) Rules Committee. She is Secretary General of the International Association of Procedural Law, and is a former president of the Canadian branch of the International Law Association. Walker frequently serves as an expert witness on laws of jurisdiction, the recognition and enforcement of judgments, and the application of foreign law. She also offers expert advice to members of the profession in the public and private sectors in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.
She has also served as a member on a wide variety of international and Canadian task forces and working groups including:
Honours and awards
Walker has been among the Arbitration Lawyers recognized in Who’s Who Legal Canada and Who’s Who Legal International since 2010, Who’s Who Legal, and Best Lawyers since 2008.
Walker has been a member of the Canadian Forces Primary Reserve since 1977 and has received the Canadian Forces Decoration, the Land Force Central Area Commander’s Award of Excellence and the Governor General's Horse Guards Commanding Officer and Regimental Sergeant Major’s Award of Excellence. She is the longest serving and highest ranking female non-commissioned member in the Regiment and was its first female Bandmaster. Walker has received a number of high-profile awards for her professional and personal accomplishments, including the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012), the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal (2002), the Viscount Bennett Fellowship (1995), and the Osgoode Hall Law School Silver Medal (1993).
Memberships
Walker is a member of the University Club of Toronto and of the Athenaeum Club, London, and a Senior Fellow of Massey College, Toronto. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute, the International Academy of Commercial and Consumer Law and The Advocate’s Society. She is also a member of the Bar of Ontario and the Law Society of Upper Canada the Canadian Bar Association, the International Bar Association and the London Court of International Arbitration.