Adelle Blackett

Adelle Blackett is a professor of law and William Dawson Scholar at McGill University. She earned a B.A. in history from Queen's University, civil law and common law degrees from McGill, and an LL.M. and a doctorate in law from Columbia University, where she taught as an associate-in-law.

Adelle's research and community engagement reflect her deep commitment to social justice in the world of work. Adelle founded the Labour Law and Development Research Laboratory (LLDRL). She served for seven years as a member of the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission, unanimously appointed by the National Assembly of Quebec. A former official of the International Labour Office (ILO) in Geneva, she was an ILO expert on international standard setting on decent work for domestic workers (2008-2011), leading to the adoption of ILO Convention No. 189 and Recommendation No. 201; she also led a multi-stakeholder labour law reform process in Haiti (2011-2014).

Adelle is a widely published authority on transnational labour law and development. She has co-edited the Research Handbook on Transnational Labour Law (Elgar, 2015) and guest edited special law journal issues on Regulating Decent Work for Domestic Workers (Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, 2011), and Labour Law and Development (Comparative Labour Law and Policy Journal, 2011). Her forthcoming book on the regulation of domestic work is under contract with Cornell University Press.

Adelle has garnered prestigious research grants, including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council's Bora Laskin National Fellowship in Human Rights Research (2010). In 2014, the Barreau du Québec presented her with its Christine Tourigny Award of Merit and the title of Advocate Emeritus, in recognition of her social commitment and her contributions to the advancement of women, and in 2015, the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers awarded her its Pathfinder Award for her significant contributions to the legal community and the community at large.