(photo credit: Jane Doucet of Dalhousie University Schulich School of Law)
The University of Alberta Faculty of Law is welcoming yet another new hire.
Tamar Meshel, currently an SJD candidate at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, will join UAlberta Law beginning July 1, 2018.
Meshel is one of 11 new hires under Dean Paul Paton's tenure, six women and five men. Other new hires include: Hillary Nye, Joshua Nichols, Jessica Eisen and Darcy Lindberg.
Her doctoral research in international water law and dispute resolution examines the global impact of interstate freshwater disputes and their regulation; she'll defend her thesis, titled: "International Law and Transboundary Freshwater Resources: A Dispute Resolution Perspective,"this summer.
She became interested in international water law and freshwater disputes during a graduate fellowship at The Carter Center in Atlanta in 2013, where she researched the Nile River dispute between Ethiopia and Egypt. With the rising scarcity of freshwater and the growing risk of disputes over its allocation and use, Meshel said she decided to dedicate her doctoral research to this global problem and the potential role of international law in its resolution.
Assistant prof. Cameron Jefferies, who is taking five students to Vancouver Island, British Columbia this spring for the inaugural Oceans Law and Policy experiential learning course that aims to highlight the importance of preserving, protecting and managing the ocean, is excited for the opportunity to work with someone of Mesher's caliber.
"I am aware of Tamar's considerable research record in the areas of international transboundary water management and I very much look forward to collaborating with here given our overlapping interests in international law and environmental regulation."
Meshel also holds an LLM from U of T Faculty of Law, and a JD with a business law concentration from the University of British Columbia School of Law. Her undergraduate degree, from U of T and Santa Monica College, is an honours bachelor of arts in political science.
Of Israeli and Polish nationality, Meshel has lived and worked around the world. Throughout her studies, she aimed to gain a better understanding of both Canadian and international law.
"I have a natural curiosity to explore and throughout my travels, I've been exposed to many different legal systems and cultures," she said.
Over the past year, Meshel has been a researcher with UBC's Decolonizing Water Initiative and a Schulich Fellow at the Dalhousie University School of Law, where she was nominated for the DLLA and LLS Award for Excellence in Teaching Law.
She's also worked as a pro-bono legal advisor with the Jerusalem Arbitration Center in Israel and Palestine; as deputy counsel with the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris; as an articling student and associate with Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP in Vancouver, Canada; and as a research fellow for the Department of International Law and Dispute Resolution at the Max Planck Institute for Procedural Law in Luxembourg.
With her global experience, Meshel said she is excited about joining an institution leading in the development of many new and exciting areas.
"U of A is a well-known and established institution with expertise in my fields of interest and I'm hopeful for an opportunity for interdisciplinary work," she said. "At the same time, there are a lot of new hires right now and an exciting atmosphere of change."
Additionally, Meshel is a renowned publisher and speaker; ranked in the top 10 per cent of authors on SSRN by all-time downloads. Her work has been published in The Law and Practice of International Courts and Tribunals, Questions of International Law and Water International, to name a few.
Given her breadth of experience, Meshel is a welcome addition to the Faculty.
"Academia combines teaching, research and service, all of which I love, and I'm very excited to begin my new chapter at U of A," she said.