A pioneering approach to teaching labour law has earned David Doorey recognition as one of Canada’s most influential work law scholars.
For nearly 25 years, Professor Doorey has dedicated himself to making complex legal concepts accessible not only to law students but to the broader public, leaving an indelible mark on how Canadians understand workplace rights.
His distinctive teaching style has drawn countless students into the field of work law, while his textbooks “The Law of Work” and “Canadian Labour Relations: Law, Policy and Practice” have become standard resources in universities and colleges nationwide.
Doorey’s influence extends far beyond academic circles. His blog LawofWork.ca, launched in 2008, stands as one of Canada’s longest-running legal blogs and has been voted the country’s top law blog multiple times. He has become the most frequently cited academic by Canadian media on work law issues.
Since 2002, Doorey has taught labour and employment law to thousands of students. For 12 years, he developed and led Osgoode Hall Law School’s specialist Master of Laws program in Labour and Employment Law. He currently serves as Director of York University’s School of Human Resource Management, Canada’s largest school in the human resources management field.
His scholarly work on labour relations has earned international recognition and has been cited by the Supreme Court of Canada on multiple occasions. He was called to the Bars of Ontario and British Columbia in 1997 and practiced work law in both provinces before dedicating himself to academia.
Among his current initiatives is the High School Work Law Project, which develops materials for teachers to educate teenagers about workers’ rights, further extending his commitment to legal education beyond traditional academic settings.
Doorey’s contributions have earned him numerous accolades, including the H.D. Woods Lecture Award, the Sefton Memorial Lecture Award, the Morley Gunderson Award, and the David Watson Award for significant contributions to legal scholarship.
His research spans diverse aspects of work law, including collective bargaining, labour standards, human rights, climate change impacts on work, and labour in global supply chains. A recent article examines the history of human resources as a discipline and the emergence of “HR Law” as a distinct legal field — the first published work to recognize this development.
Despite his extensive contributions, Doorey’s nomination describes him as “an under-recognized contributor to the field of labour law in Canada” who “has been participating for decades in critical ways towards the development of human resources as a discipline from an academic perspective.”
His induction into the HR Law Canada Hall of Fame recognizes a career spent bridging the gap between legal theory and practical application, making workplace law accessible to everyone.
