Sarah Riley Case

Dr. Sarah Riley Case is an Assistant Professor at McGill University’s Faculty of Law, specializing in slavery and law, critical race theory, Black studies, and environmental justice. She organizes the Collaboratory for Black Legal Poethics and has held roles at Harvard Law School, the United Nations, and institutions in Toronto and Osgoode Hall. Her research merges legal theory with activism, focusing on colonialism, reparations, and the intersections of race and ecology.

Education:

• SJD in Law, University of Toronto
• LLM, McGill University Faculty of Law
• JD, Osgoode Hall Law School
• BA in Law, McGill University and Université Paris-Sorbonne

Research Interests: Colonialism studies, critical race theory, TWAIL, Indigenous legal systems, environmental justice, and the art-law nexus. Recent work explores Black liberation, abolitionist frameworks, and reparations for climate-related colonial harms.

Publications Trends: Her articles address systemic racism in international law, the connections between ecological crises and racial oppression, and the legal dimensions of Black protest movements. She uses interdisciplinary methods, including photography and art, to critique settler colonialism and advocate for decolonial futures.

Awards:

• CALT Scholarly Paper Prize (2024)
• American Society of International Law Certificate of Merit (2023)
• Fellowships from the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation and SSHRC

Advising & Grants: Collaborates with UN agencies, legal clinics, and Black-led organizations. Led the Canadian Network for Equity and Racial Justice’s project on abolition and reparative justice. Served on the Task Force on Legal Aid Ontario Modernization.

Labs/Teams: Founder of the Collaboratory for Black Legal Poethics, blending art and legal scholarship to center marginalized voices in law.