The Top 25 Most Influential 2020 winner
Ottawa
Justice, Federal Court of Appeal
David Stratas is regarded as one of the most influential judges sitting on an intermediate appellate court in Canada. His impact on administrative law through his judicial decisions, publications and conferences cannot be doubted. Back in 2017, he wrote an article titled The Canadian Law of Judicial Review: A Plea for Doctrinal Coherence and Consistency, wherein he questioned the decision in Dunsmuir v. New Brunswick, 2008 SCC 9 and called attention to the benefits of employing doctrinal clarity, unity and simplicity in judicial review. In 2019, he published two additional online articles, which were A Decade of Dunsmuir: Please No More and Looking Past Dunsmuir: Beginning Afresh. The latter was particularly impactful, even influencing the discussion of the Supreme Court of Canada in Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65. The Vavilov judgment went on to cite 12 decisions authored by Stratas. He also teaches administrative law, and his annual legal writing course at the Queen’s University Faculty of Law is considered the most popular course there.
