For Immediate Release
July 21, 2005
PRESS RELEASE
U OF T FACULTY OF LAW HIRES TWO NEW
ISLAMIC LAW SCHOLARS
(Toronto, ON) – Anver Emon joined the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law this week as the
law school’s first Islamic law scholar. In January 2006, the Faculty will welcome a second Islamic
law scholar, Mohammad Fadel, who also has an expertise in business law.
"We are honoured to have such talented scholars join our distinguished faculty. These
appointments represent the most significant concentration of Islamic law expertise in any law
school in Canada and positions the Faculty of Law at U of T to be a leading centre for Islamic law
scholarship and teaching in North America," says Acting Dean, Lorne Sossin.
Students are taught to understand law and legal institutions in the broadest possible frame.
Recently, the law school has found that there is growing interest in Islamic law, particularly in
Ontario where there’s been ongoing debate on Shari'a law involving the Arbitration Act.
"Islamic Law is one of the world's major legal systems. Modern legal education demands that
students are exposed to Islamic legal systems in order to prepare them for the challenges of
leadership and citizenship in today's global society," says Sossin.
Anver M. Emon Biography
As an Assistant Professor, Anver will teach Islamic law and torts, and this fall, will lead upper
years in an Islamic law reading group. Trained in the Arabic language, his research specialization
is in medieval Islamic legal history, and his interests include law and religion, legal history, and
legal philosophy. In spring 2006, Anver will also teach an introductory course on Islamic law and
in Fall 2006, will teach Islamic family law.
Anver earned his BA from UC Berkeley (1993), JD from UCLA (1996), MA in medieval Islamic
legal history from the University of Texas at Austin (1999), and LLM from Yale Law School
(2004). Currently, he is completing a PhD at UCLA's history department where he is researching
the medieval natural law and natural rights tradition in Islamic law. He is also a JSD candidate at
Yale Law School and is researching Islamic legal hermeneutic theory, with special reference to the
historical treatment of non-Muslims under Islamic law. He is called to the California State Bar.
Mohammad H. Fadel Biography
Assistant Professor Fadel will teach business organizations. His areas of interest are corporate and
securities law; law and economics; jurisprudence and Islamic law.
Mohammad received his BA in Government and Foreign Affairs (1988), a PhD in Near Eastern
Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago (1995) and his JD from the University of
Virginia (1999). While at Virginia, Mohammad was a John M. Olin Law and Economics Scholar
and Articles Development Editor of the Virginia Law Review. Prior to law school, Mohammad
completed his PhD in Chicago where he wrote his dissertation on legal process in medieval
Islamic law. He was admitted to the Bar of New York in 2000 and practiced law with the firm of
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York, New York, where he worked on a wide variety of
corporate finance transactions and securities-related regulatory investigations.
– 30 –
For more information, please contact:
Kathleen O’Brien, Communications Officer, 416.946.8188 or kathleen.obrien@utoronto.ca