Biography
Emeritus Professor David S. Cohen served as the dean of ÌÒñ«ÉçÇø Law School from 1999–2004. Dean Emeritus Cohen came to the Law School after having served for five years as dean of the University of Victoria (Canada) Faculty of Law. After clerking at the Supreme Court of Canada for Mr. Justice Estey, Dean Cohen began his career in legal education in 1980 when he joined the faculty at the University of British Columbia. He has also been a Visiting Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, the University of Toronto and the University of Florida. He has taught in the areas of law and regulatory policy, commercial law and planning, contract law and law and economics.
He has written extensively in a range of areas including contract theory, governmental liability, product safety regulation, dispute resolution and environmental policy and regulation. In Canada he was active in a range of public interest activities including work with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and the Legal Services Society of British Columbia. He was president of the Consumers’ Association of Canada and a member of the federal Environmental Choice Advisory Board. He was a member of the Environmental Standards Committee of the Canadian Standards Association and a member of the Board of the West Coast Environmental Law Association.
Education
- BSc, McGill University
- LLB, University of Toronto
- LLM, Yale Law School
Selected Publications
Book
- Managing Natural Resources in British Columbia: Markets, Regulations, and Sustainable Development, (British Columbia, Canada: UBC Press, 1995) (with A. Scott and J. Robinson)
Book Chapters
- "Tort Law and the Crown: Administrative Compensation and the Modern State," in Tort Theory, (Ken Cooper-Stephenson and Elaine Gibson, eds.) (Ontario, Canada: Captus University Publications, 1993)
Articles
- The Relationship of Contractual Remedies to Political and Social Status: A Preliminary Inquiry, 32 University of Toronto Law Journal 31 (1982)
- Comment on the Plain Language Movement, 6 Canadian Business Law Journal 421 (1982)
- Bleeding Hearts and Peeling Floors: Recovery of Economic Loss at the House of Lords, 18 University of British Columbia Law Review 289 (1984)
- Chief Justice Nemetz’s Judicial Record; Judicial Decision Making and Judicial Values, 23 University of British Columbia Law Review 97 (1988)
- Regulating Regulators: The Legal Environment of the State, 40 University of Toronto Law Journal 213 (1990)
- Procedural Fairness and Incentive Programs: Reflections on the Environmental Choice Program, 31 Alberta Law Review 544 (1993)
- The Economics of ‘Canadian National Railway v. Norsk Pacific Steamship', 45 University of Toronto Law Journal 143 (1995)
- Responding to Government Failure, 6 National Journal of Constitutional Law 23 (1995)