Poonam Puri, Osgoode professor, wins legal writing medal from Ontario government

Poonam Puri, a professor at Osgoode Hall Law School known for her writing on corporate governance, corporate law, securities regulation and white-collar crime, has received the 2020 David Walter Mundell Medal for excellence in legal writing, awarded by Ontario’s government.

Puri has also written on the importance of culture and diversity among corporate boards and has co-authored or co-edited almost a hundred books, chapters, scholarly articles and commissioned research reports, said the Ontario government’s news release.

Since joining Osgoode in 1997, Puri has served as associate dean; as associate dean, research, graduate studies and institutional relations; as chairperson of the Faculty Council; as founder and director of the business law LLM at Osgoode Professional Development; and as co-founder and director of the Osgoode Investor Protection Clinic, which offers pro bono legal assistance to those who have experienced financial harm.

According to her profile on Osgoode’s website, Puri’s teaching interests also include commercial law, business associations and directors’ duties. She has received a 2016 Trudeau Fellowship, five grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, two of Osgoode’s Teaching Excellence Awards and recognition from Canadian Lawyer as one of the top 25 most influential lawyers in the country in 2015 and 2017.

Puri has sat on the boards of the Canada Infrastructure Bank, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Ontario Securities Commission, Women’s College Hospital, and the Greater Toronto Airport Authority (Pearson Airport). She has garnered experience in strategic planning, financial stewardship, operational oversight, labour relations, and stakeholder engagement through this work.

Puri is admitted to the Ontario Bar. she received her LLM from Harvard Law School and her LLB from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law.

In 1986, Attorney General Ian Scott created the Mundell Medal, named after the constitutional lawyer who became the first director of the Ministry of the Attorney General’s constitutional law branch. Doug Downey, the current attorney general, confers the award on the recommendation of a selection committee chaired by George Strathy, Ontario’s chief justice.

“Throughout her extensive and impressive body of work, she skillfully translates her expertise and vision in the fields of corporate governance and securities regulation into practical, innovative and influential policy solutions for regulators, the business community and the public,” said Downey in the Ontario government’s news release.

“Professor Puri’s writing has left an influential mark in the fields of financial market regulation, corporate governance and business law,” Strathy said in the news release. “She deftly tackles these complex areas to make her legal writing widely accessible to a broad range of audiences, including legal professionals, academics and policy makers.”