UKLFI Charitable Trust and B’nei Brith Canada David Matas Law Society invite you to a webinar on The Relationship between Courts and Parliaments with Prof Ryan Alford  and Yonatan Green, chaired by Sam Goldstein on Sunday 2 April 2023 at 7pm UK time
(9pm Israel, 8pm Europe, 2pm Canada / US East Coast)

At the heart of the current controversy in Israel is the question: what should be the relationship between parliaments and courts in democratic societies? Should there be fundamental rights which parliaments have no power to abridge or power to abridge only by special procedures? Should there be areas of policy in which courts should have no power to intervene? And, if so, which?

This joint webinar of UKLFI Charitable Trust and the Matas Law Society of Bnai Brith Canada will explore how these difficult issues have been addressed in Canada, Israel and the UK, and how well different approaches have worked.

Prof. Ryan Alford is a Professor at the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law, Lakehead University, Ontario. He was previously Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Victoria Faculty of Law, and has also been a Visiting Fellow of the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory.

He  has a doctorate in public, constitutional, and international law from the University of South Africa, a master’s degree from the University of Oxford and a law degree from New York University.  He is called to the bar of Ontario and is an attorney and counselor-at-law of the state of New York.   He has published two books on the subject of the rule of law.

Yonatan Green is executive director of The Israel Law and Liberty Forum.  He is a licensed attorney in Israel and in the State of New York. He obtained a joint degree in Law and Communications from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He previously worked as an associate attorney in the firm of Ephraim Abramson & Co. Law Offices, and as a product manager in Mobileye. He was formerly a policy researcher at the Kohelet Forum.

Sam Goldstein practices criminal law in Toronto. He has appeared at every level of court in Canada including the Supreme Court of Canada. He is also the Director of Legal Affairs of Bnai Brith Canada, the oldest human rights organization in Canada founded in 1875. Sam is also the National Director of the David Matas Law Society named after David Matas a well-known Winnipeg based human rights lawyer. The Matas Law Society is Canada’s only national Jewish law society fighting antisemitism and the rights of minorities in Canada.