Jack Major Fellowship

The Runnymede Society is pleased to continue the annual $25,000.00 legal fellowship, named in honour of former Supreme Court of Canada Justice John (Jack) Major. This fellowship is intended to support an exceptional Canadian student pursuing graduate legal studies and who shares the Runnymede Society’s commitment to constitutionalism, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law. The fellowship period will run from 1 September 2024 and run through 31 August 2025.

Expectations

Recipients of the Jack Major Fellowship will join the Runnymede Society as a Scholar-in-Residence and are expected to write and submit an 8,000-word (minimum) research paper to a peer-reviewed Canadian law journal on a theme relating to constitutionalism, fundamental freedoms, or the rule of law by the end of the fellowship period. Recipients are additionally expected to join the Dicey Law Review (co-published by the Runnymede Society, Advocates for the Rule of Law, and LexisNexis) as a senior editor for the duration of the fellowship period. 

Deadline

The 2024/2025 Jack Major Fellowship period begins as of 1 September 2024. Applications are due by 31 July 2024 at 11:59 PM ET. Interested students are invited to send their applications to the Runnymede Society’s National Director, Tim Haggstrom, at [email protected]. 

Eligibility

  • Applicants must be Canadian citizens or pursuing eligible studies at a Canadian university, while residing in Canada.
  • Applicants must be pursuing graduate legal studies (e.g., an LLM, SJD, PhD, DPhil, etc.) at an accredited law school or university during the fellowship period.
  • Applicants must send a cover letter, transcript, and CV to the Runnymede Society on or before the deadline; letters of reference from a professor or mentor are not strictly required but are nevertheless encouraged.
  • Cover letters should demonstrate how and why the applicant shares the Runnymede Society’s commitment to constitutionalism, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.
  • Applicants must be enrolled in graduate legal studies at an accredited law school or university at the time of their application.
  • Applicants must begin their graduate legal studies no later than 30 September 2024 and complete them no earlier than 30 April 2025.

Presentation

Recipients will be invited to attend the Runnymede Society’s national Law & Freedom conference at the University of Toronto’s Hart House from 7-8 February 2025 to be officially presented with the fellowship. (Note that funding to travel to and from Toronto to attend the national conference cannot be guaranteed.)

Preston Jordan Lim

Major Fellow 2024/2025​

Preston Jordan Lim is an Assistant Professor at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. He is on leave during the 2024-2025 academic year to commence an SJD at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. He holds an A.B. from Princeton University, a Master’s of Global Affairs from Tsinghua University—where he studied as a Schwarzman Scholar—and a J.D. from Yale Law School. Following his graduation from law school, he clerked for the Justices of the Court of Appeal for Ontario and then for Chief Justice Richard Wagner of the Supreme Court of Canada. He also previously served as Foreign Policy Advisor to the Honourable Erin O’Toole. He writes primarily on the history of Canadian federalism and on public international law. His work has appeared in or is forthcoming in the UBC Law Review, Queen’s Law Journal, Dalhousie Law Journal, Canadian Journal of Law and Society, and Canadian Yearbook of International Law, among other outlets.

Amit Singh 

Major Fellow 2023/2024​

Amit Singh is a legal theorist and litigator. Amit’s research applies philosophical insights to issues of legal doctrine, with a particular focus on property law and Aboriginal and Indigenous law. His work appears in the Canadian Journal of Law & Jurisprudence, McGill Law Journal, Osgoode Hall Law Journal, Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal, Supreme Court Law Review, and other fora. Amit practiced international arbitration and commercial litigation in New York – first at Shearman & Sterling LLP, and then at litigation boutique Holwell, Shuster & Goldberg LLP. Amit is a JD graduate of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of both the Journal of Law & Equality and the Indigenous Law Journal and won the Dean’s Key. In addition to the John (Jack) Major Fellowship, Amit received a Fulbright Scholarship and the Canadian Bar Association’s Viscount Bennett Fellowship for his graduate studies at Yale Law School.

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