Throughout her career, Lisa Taylor has focused on the intersection of law and journalism.
She holds a Master of Laws from Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University. Her graduate thesis explores the practical operation of the law that protects the identity of sexual assault complainants in the media, and the manner in which that very law curtails the complainant’s own freedom of expression. She advocates greater rule-flexibility and a more robust exercise of personal agency to ensure that sexual assault complainants have the freedom to speak publicly about their own lived experience.
Prior to attending law school, Lisa spent a decade with CBC Radio & Television in a wide range of journalistic roles. After attaining an LLB from Dalhousie Law School, Lisa returned to CBC, ultimately becoming a network justice and legal affairs specialist. She was co-creator and host of two nationally-broadcast series: Sweet Justice, on CBC Radio One, and The Docket on CBC Newsworld (now CBC News Network).
Her work on The Docket garnered a 2004 Gemini nomination. Her journalism has also been recognized by the Atlantic Journalism Awards and the B’nai Brith Media Human Rights Awards. While attending law school, Lisa co-produced the independent documentary Cass, which won the “Best Documentary - Short Subject” and “Best of Festival” awards at the 2000 Yorkton Short Film Festival.
Lisa left the CBC in 2005 to practise law, and to teach. She has previously lectured at King’s College School of Journalism and Mount Saint Vincent University, both in Halifax. More recently, she returned to King’s College as an adjunct professor in Dalhousie’s Faculty of Graduate Studies to develop and teach a new course on digital mobile reporting tools as part of King’s Master of Journalism degree.
In addition to teaching at Ryerson, Lisa leads a two-day writing and storytelling workshops for CBC journalists. Over the past four years, Lisa and her training partner have taught more than 400 working journalists at CBC locations from Vancouver to St. John’s.
Lisa is a former member of the national board of directors of LEAF (the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund), a national charitable organization that works toward ensuring the law guarantees substantive equality for all women in Canada. She currently sits on the Canadian Centre for Court Technology’s Intellaction Working Group.
Research Interests:
• Publication bans
• Legal and crime reporting
• The representation of feminist perspectives in the media
• The tension between the law of defamation and the journalistic work product of restaurant and theatre critics
• The public interest responsible communication defence to defamation
• Press self-regulation
Current Courses:
JRN 100 - Information and Visual Resources for Journalists
JRN 120 - The Culture of News
JRN 121 - Introduction to Reporting
JRN 123 - Law & Ethics
JRN 125 - Introduction to Video/TV Journalism
JRN 199 - Grammar
Professional Affiliations:
Member, Law Society of Upper Canada
Member, Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society
Canadian Association of Media Defence Lawyers (Ad Idem)
