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canadianlaWyermag.com/inhouse june 2014
P ro f e s s i o n a l P ro f i l e
From government
to think-tank role
Former legal adviser to DnD takes on role with
international law research program.
BY jAneT GuTTSMAn
A THINK-TANK'S new focus on interna-
tional law offers the perfect combination of
action and refl ection for Oonagh Fitzger-
ald, named director of the International
Law Research Program at the Waterloo,
Ont.-based Centre for International Gov-
ernance Innovation.
Fitzgerald, who joins CIGI after a high-
profi le career in the Canadian government,
says her fi rst priority will be to set clear
guidelines for the new program, which is
designed to expand the scope of interna-
tional law, especially as it relates to business
and fi nancial issues, as well as to build up a
team of scholars, legal experts, and students.
"There's a lot we can do," she says.
"I'll be hiring people and looking for dis-
tinguished fellows to join, and also stu-
dents to participate, either as grad students
or post doctoral students or perhaps even
undergraduate students. It's not simply an
academic pursuit. It's trying to bridge the
gap between knowledge and access to deci-
sion-making. So what I will be looking for
is to fi nd where there are irritants, and gaps
where we can add value and where we can
bring the right people together to fi nd solu-
tions to the problems."
The new program will focus initially on
intellectual property rights, environmen-
tal and sustainability issues, and economic
and investment law, three priorities set by
CIGI's leadership teams. It has fi nancing
for up to 19 fellows, and will work closely
with other programs at CIGI, a non-parti-
san think-tank set up in 2001 with endow-
ments from local tech wizards Jim Balsillie
and Mike Lazaridis, then the bosses of now
faltering BlackBerry.
i've been looking at the
work of CiGi over the last
decade or so and always
wondering will they ever
have the opportunity to connect
it with the legal dimension. And so
when i saw that they had announced
the program of international law
and research it seemed too
attractive to ignore.
OOnGH FiTZGerAlD,
Centre for international Governance innovation
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