Daniel Jutras

Universities Canada board director

Biography

With degrees in law from Université de Montréal and Harvard University, Daniel Jutras has been UdeM’s rector since June 1, 2020. A specialist in civil and comparative law, his expertise is internationally recognized, the result of a long career devoted to the study of contract law and civil liability, class actions and judicial institutions. As a seasoned teacher and an early player in the integration of a comparative and pluralist perspective in the teaching of law, Mr. Jutras has played a leading role in the transformation of legal education programs in Quebec and elsewhere in the world.

In addition to his academic activities, Daniel Jutras has contributed to Canadian public and political life as an ethics consultant to the Canadian Judicial Council, as a member of the independent advisory committee on Senate appointments and as a member of the independent advisory committee on the appointment of the Governor General of Canada. The Supreme Court of Canada has appointed him as amicus curiae in two of the most important constitutional cases of the last decade. Between 2002 and 2004, Daniel Jutras was also senior counsel to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, the Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin.

Today, he is a member of numerous boards of directors in the university sphere and in civil society organizations such as the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, the Montreal Clinical Research Institute, the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, the Canadian Research Knowledge Network, the Interuniversity Cooperation Office and the U7+ international university network.

At the time of his appointment as UdeM rector, Daniel Jutras held the Wainwright Chair in Civil Law of McGill University’s faculty of law. At the same faculty, between 1985 and 2020, he was in turn vice-dean, director of the Institute of Comparative Law and finally dean, from 2009 to 2016.

His contributions to academic life, Canadian political life and educational innovation have been recognized by his appointment as an officer of the Order of Canada. As a McGill professor, he received an award for excellence in teaching. He was also awarded the Médaille du Barreau du Québec in 1983, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013, the distinction of Advocatus emeritus of the Quebec Bar in 2014 and the Mérite du Barreau du Québec in 2016. In 1982, upon completion of his studies at the UdeM, Daniel Jutras proudly received the Academic Medal of the Governor General of Canada.