LSO honours Lesley Jacobs for access-to-justice scholarship

Law360 Canada (October 20, 2026, 3:32 PM EDT) -- The Law Society of Ontario (LSO) awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree to Lesley Jacobs at its Oct. 19 Call to the Bar ceremony.

According to the LSO, Jacobs is a prominent scholar in human rights and access to justice whose work has focused on advancing an evidence-based, people-centred, everyday legal problem-oriented understanding of legal systems in Canada and internationally.

He is vice-president of research and innovation at Ontario Tech University and professor emeritus at York University, where he previously held a Tier 1 Research Chair in Human Rights and Access to Justice.

Over more than three decades, Jacobs has conducted socio-legal research combining law, policy and data analysis, including work on access to justice, competing human rights, racial profiling and race-based data collection. His research has been cited by organizations including the Canadian Bar Association and the Action Committee on Access to Justice.

Jacobs has also worked with organizations including the Law Commission of Canada, Justice Canada, Legal Aid Ontario, the Ontario Human Rights Commission and Elections Canada. According to the LSO, his work contributed to policy development and legislation, including Ontario’s Anti-Racism Act, 2017 and Nova Scotia’s Dismantling Racism and Hate Act.

The LSO awards honorary doctorates in recognition of contributions to the legal profession, the rule of law and the administration of justice.

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