UVic Law welcomes three new scholars to faculty in 2024
The faculty is excited to announce that three new scholars have joined the School of Law in 2024. Andrew Luesley, whose appointment began January 1, and Funmilola Ayotunde and Estair Van Wagner, whose appointments both began July 1.
Dr. Funmilola Ayotunde
Assistant Professor
Dr. Funmilola Ayotunde joins the University of Victoria, Faculty of Law, as an Assistant Professor starting July 1, 2024. Prior to joining, she was an Assistant Professor at the College of Law, University of Saskatchewan. Earlier, she worked in different capacities with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission as a lawyer, privacy officer and systemic advocacy investigator. She also has experience working with private organizations as an in-house solicitor and labour relations advisor.
She is a member of the Law Society of Saskatchewan and Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Dr. Ayotunde has an LL.B. from Olabisi Onabanjo University, and an LL.M. and a Ph.D. in Law from the University of Saskatchewan.
Her research focuses on human rights law, transnational advocacy, natural resources development, Indigenous rights, international environmental law, and business and human rights. Her research has explored issues such as transnational Indigenous advocacy and procedural environmental rights, frameworks for multi-stakeholder participation in oil and gas management and protection of host communities’ rights in natural resource extraction.
Andrew Luesley
Assistant Professor
Andrew Luesley joined the University of Victoria, Faculty of Law, as an Assistant Professor in January 2024. He is a PhD candidate at the Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia, where his dissertation is titled: “Unravelling Smart Contracts: Good Faith in Crypto-Commerce.”
Andrew has a B.A. from Thompson Rivers University, and a J.D. and an LL.M from Allard School of Law at UBC. His academic journey has been distinguished by a number of fellowships and scholarships, including the Purdy Crawford Fellowship in Business Law, awards from the Law Foundation of British Columbia, and recognition from the Peter A. Allard School of Law.
Andrew first joined the University of Victoria in 2023 as a Dean’s Graduate Fellow, teaching Contract Law. Prior to this, he was an Assistant Professor at Dalhousie University’s Schulich School of Law, where he taught courses in Business Organizations and Legal Ethics. Professor Luesley’s research interests include commercial law, law and technology, and critical race theory.
Dr. Estair Van Wagner
Associate Professor
Dr. Estair Van Wagner joins the University of Victoria, Faculty of Law, as an Associate Professor starting July 1, 2024. Prior to joining the faculty at UVic, Dr. Van Wagner taught at Osgoode Hall Law School, where she was the co-director of Osgoode’s Environmental Justice and Sustainability Clinic, and the Faculty of Law, University of Victoria Wellington Faculty of Law (Te Kauhanganui Tātai Ture) in Aotearoa New Zealand. Van Wagner completed undergraduate and postgraduate studies in political science, law, and environmental studies at the University of Victoria, Osgoode Hall Law School, and York University.
Dr. Van Wagner has been involved in several SSHRC funded research grants, including as the Principal Investigator of a large-collaborative SSHRC grant examining the relationship between Aboriginal title, Indigenous property and land use systems, and private property on Vancouver Island with Dr. Sarah Morales and Dr. Mike Ekers. She also continues to do research on Maori law and mining in Aotearoa New Zealand as a part of an ongoing collaboration with Dr. Maria Bargh. She is a frequent collaborator with the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate on human rights and homelessness. She researches and teaches at the intersection of property law, natural resource law, planning law, and environmental justice, and her work explores how law is used to structure relations with place and the more-than-human world in both rural and urban settings.