Prof. Cochran is interested in supervising LLM and PhD students with an interest in legal and political theory and constitutional law. More specifically: theories of judgement, relational approaches to law, multijuralism, technology in legal processes, law and humanities methodologies.
Patricia Cochran
Associate Dean, Administration and Research, and Associate Professor
- Contact:
- pcochran@uvic.ca 250-721-8183
- ORCID:
- 0000-0002-6727-831X
- Credentials:
- BA Hons. (McGill), MA (U of T), LLB (UBC), LLM (UVic) PhD (UBC)
- Area(s) of expertise:
- Constitutional law, theories of judgement, democracy and legality, multijuralism, law and humanities
Biography
Dr. Patricia Cochran joined the Faculty of Law, University of Victoria in 2014, where she has taught constitutional law, legal methodologies, feminist legal theories, statutory interpretation, equality and human rights law and evidence law. She has received graduate degrees in law and political theory, and continues to teach and research at the intersection of those disciplines. Her research focuses on theories of judgment as a resource for thinking about the demands of law and justice in the context of pluralism, inequality and colonialism.
Prof. Cochran’s book, Common Sense and Legal Judgment: Community Knowledge, Political Power and Rhetorical Practice (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2017) is a critical and interdisciplinary engagement with questions of judgment, knowledge and rhetoric. This interest in legal judgment, and particularly its relational aspects, has continued to inform Prof. Cochran’s research. She is currently exploring these themes in a variety of subject areas including agonistic constitutionalism, multijural statutory interpretation, and the rhetorical aspects of legal texts such as judgments, application forms, and online processes.
Education
- BA Honours - McGill (1999)
- MA - U of T (2000)
- LLB - UBC (2004)
- LLM - UVic (2006)
- PhD (Law) - UBC (2013)
Selected books
- Common Sense and Legal Judgment: Community Knowledge, Political Power and Rhetorical Practice (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2017).
Selected publications
- “Jurisdictional Relationships: Exploring a statute that aims to structure relationships between state and non-state lawmaking authorities,” Social & Legal Studies blog, October 14, 2024:
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"Jurisdictional relationships: Democracy and the administrative state through the lens of Caring Society v Canada" (2023) Social & Legal Studies, online.
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“Judgment by Thomas Giddens” (2023) 35:3 Law & Literature 539–542 [book review].
- "Not Judging: Jurisdictional Hubris and Building a Common Legal World" (2019) No Foundations: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Law and Justice 28-52.
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“Review of Authorities: Conflicts, Cooperation, and Transnational Legal Theory by Nicole Roughan” (2017) 29:1 Canadian Journal of Women and the Law 211-215.
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“Applying the Burden of Proof and Creating Connections to Communities” (2011) 19.3 Constitutional Forum 119-124.
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“Taking Notice: Judicial Notice and the ‘Community Sense’ in Anti-Poverty Litigation” (2007) 40:2 UBC Law Review 559-589.