She has focused on intellectual property law and legal history
McGill University Faculty of Law has congratulated Professor Tina Piper on her appointment as its first female dean, a role in which she will serve a five-year term commencing on Apr. 1.
In a news release, the law school noted that Piper follows in the footsteps of Professor Shauna Van Praagh, who served as acting dean in 2009 and helped develop the BCL/JD integrated program.
“I am touched and humbled by the confidence placed in me by Principal Saini, Provost Campbell, the Advisory Committee, and the McGill Law community,” Piper said in the news release.
Piper became a member of the Faculty of Law in 2006. She has chaired McGill’s Working Group on Teaching and Learning Reform, established the law school’s Law Teaching Network, and co-founded the law school’s transsystemic property law course.
A key member of the Faculty of Law’s senior management team since 2022, she has served as associate dean (academic). She became the law school’s acting dean in late January 2025 and its interim dean last winter.
“Over the past year, it has been a joy and privilege to discover the incredible range of activities pursued by our students, our Faculty and staff, and our alumni, and how meaningful a role McGill Law has played ─and continues to play─ in people’s lives. I look forward to continuing our work together,” Piper said in the law school’s news release.
More on Dean Piper
According to the Faculty of Law, Piper’s work has focused on intellectual property law and legal history. She co-authored Putting Intellectual Property in its Place: Creative Labour and the Everyday (Oxford University Press, 2013).
She has served as a director of two international non-profits, a visiting professor at universities across the US and Europe, and a resident faculty fellow at the Institute for the Public Life of Arts and Ideas.
A Rhodes Scholar, Piper obtained a DPhil (Law) at the University of Oxford in 2008. Also from the University of Oxford, she earned an MPhil (law) in 2005 and a BCL (European and comparative law) in 2002. She received an LLB from Dalhousie University in 2001.
She graduated with a BASc (Engineering) from the University of Toronto in 1998. She trained as a biomedical-electrical engineer before venturing into legal studies.
