Jane Thomson
Research interests
- Family Law
- Private Law and Social Justice
- Property
- Wills and Estates
Biography
Jane Thomson is an associate professor at UNB’s Faculty of Law where she teaches in the areas of property, wills and estates, and family law. Her research explores the limits of policing discrimination within the private law and focuses in the areas of property, wills and estates, trusts and family law. Her research has been cited by the Supreme Court of Canada and she is a regular presenter of judicial education seminars for the National Judicial Institute of Canada in the areas of family and estate law.
Professor Thomson received her LLB from Dalhousie University and her LLM from Harvard Law School. Prior to joining UNB, she served as a law clerk at the Ontario Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada. Professor Thomson is a member of the Law Society of Ontario and has practiced family law in Toronto and Ottawa.
Courses taught
- Family Law
- Private Law and Social Justice
- Property
- Trusts
- Wills and Estates
Selected publications
Professor Thomson is a co-author of Ziff’s Principles of Property Law, 8th ed and The Law of Trusts: A Contextual Approach, 5th ed.
"And Two Cows to My Wife … So Long as She Remains My Widow.” Public Policy and Testamentary Marriage Clauses in Canada. Vol. 103 No. 3 (2025)
“Public Order and Capricious Wills in Quebec: Some Important Lessons for the Rest of Canada” 2025 Supreme Court Law Review, third series, Vol 7. 23
"Both Sides Now: Common Law Relationships as Status in Canada." University of New Brunswick Law Journal 202475 U.N.B. L.J. 25“Welcome the Newest Unworthy Donor?” 2023 61-1 Alberta Law Review 137
Jane Thomson and Ashleigh Keall, "Silent all these years: Public policy, expressive harm and the legacy of Christie v York Corporation". (2022) UNBLJ.
Jane Thomson, “Disinheritance, Discrimination and the Case for Including Adult Independent Children in Dependants’ Relief Schemes: Lawen Estate v Nova Scotia” (2021) 44:2 Dal LJ.
"Discrimination and the Private Law in Canada: Reflections on Spence v. BMO Trust Co." Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice201936 Windsor Y.B. Access to Just. 138
