Please visit my new website at www.ideablawg.ca
About
Lisa A. Silver is a lawyer with a background in criminal law. She has a B.A. in Economics (UWO,1984), an LL.B. (Osgoode Hall, 1987), and a LL.M. (Calgary, 2001). Her thesis is in the area of regulatory offences and is entitled “The Punitive Sanction as an Alternative to the Criminal Sanction in Regulatory Offences.” It is available on the University of Calgary dissertation website.
She was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1989 and the Bar of Alberta in 1998. From 1987 to 1998, she practiced with the firm of Greenspan, Humphrey. Lisa specializes in criminal appeals and has written numerous legal briefs and facta. She has appeared before all levels of Court, including the Supreme Court of Canada. From 1999 to 2000, she was a Presiding Justice of the Peace. Presently, she is in private practice and does legal research and writing in the areas of criminal law and constitutional law, on a contract basis only. She is particularly interested in Charter issues, in the criminalization of regulatory behavior, and in critical legal theory.
From 2002 - 2005 and then from 2007 - 2013, Lisa was a part-time faculty member at Mount Royal University in the Department of Justice Studies where she taught courses on human rights, criminal law, and criminal procedure and evidence. She is presently working on a collaborative research project with Dr. Janne Holmgren on the media’s perception of forensic evidence and the resultant effect on the Bench and Bar when conducting a jury trial.
Starting in Septmeber 2014, she will be teaching first year criminal law at the University of Calgary Faculty of Law . Presently, she is working on an article for publication based on one of her blogs entitled Poof Into A Puff of Air - Where Have All The Defences Gone?: The Air of Reality Test And The Defences of Justifications and Excuses, which has been accepted for publication.
Lisa is Vice-Chair of the Calgary Police Commission and is a member of the new Provincial Appeals Committee of Legal Aid Alberta.
In her spare time Lisa loves to do volunteer work, read LOTS of books, and drive her family crazy with all of her IDEAS!
