Jocelyn Stacey

Jocelyn Stacey is Associate Professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia, where she conducts critical research on environmental crises, disaster law, and the rule of law. She holds a distinguished academic background with degrees from the University of Alberta (BSc), University of Calgary (LLB), Yale University (LLM), and McGill University (DCL).

Her educational journey includes clerkship for the Honourable Justice Marshall Rothstein at the Supreme Court of Canada, providing her with invaluable practical legal experience before entering academia. This foundation has shaped her rigorous approach to legal scholarship and teaching.

Professor Stacey's research focuses on how law creates, regulates, and prevents environmental crises, with particular attention to environmental assessment law, disaster law, climate change, emergency powers, and the rule of law. Her groundbreaking first book, The Constitution of the Environmental Emergency (Hart Publishing, 2018), explores what the rule of law requires in light of our vulnerability to catastrophic environmental harm. Her work demonstrates how legal frameworks often treat disasters as disconnected, exceptional events, contrary to the lived experiences of those most vulnerable and in spite of our current climate reality.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent thematic trajectory examining the intersection of environmental law, emergency powers, and Indigenous jurisdiction. Her scholarship increasingly focuses on how climate disruption challenges traditional legal frameworks, with particular attention to interjurisdictional accountability, gender dimensions of impact assessment, and Indigenous-led approaches to environmental governance. Her work bridges theoretical legal analysis with practical implications for policy and community resilience.

• UBC Killam Accelerator Research Fellowship recipient
• Served on Research Council for Public Order Emergency Commission (2022-2023)
• President of Pacific Centre for Environmental Law and Litigation
• Member of leadership team at UBC Centre for Climate Justice

Professor Stacey actively supervises graduate students in disaster law, environmental assessment law, and the intersection between Canadian environmental law and Indigenous legal orders. Her SSHRC-funded research investigates how law regulates disaster as disconnected and exceptional events, contrary to both vulnerable communities' experiences and our era of climate disruption. She maintains strong collaborative relationships with First Nations on legal issues related to disasters, emergency powers, and Indigenous jurisdiction, demonstrating her commitment to community-engaged scholarship.

As President of the Pacific Centre for Environmental Law and Litigation, she trains law students and young lawyers in public interest environmental law litigation. Her work with the Centre for Climate Justice and Indigenous Legal Studies reflects her dedication to interdisciplinary, justice-oriented legal scholarship that addresses pressing environmental challenges while respecting Indigenous legal traditions and governance systems.