Bio

Samuel Singer is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa. Professor Singer’s research interests focus on tax administration and dispute resolution, the regulation of non-profits and charities, and critical tax theory. He is also a scholar and advocate on trans legal issues and frequently presents his research to members of the legal profession.

Professor Singer is currently studying taxpayer remedies in the Canadian tax system, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). His ongoing research includes studying the modernization of non-profit and charity law and applying a critical tax policy perspective to major tax policy issues. Professor Singer’s previous tax research topics include tax remission orders, evidentiary privilege for tax professionals, critical analysis of directors’ liability case law,  the tax treatment of trans medical expenses, and charity law reform.

Before academia, Professor Singer worked as the Legal Information Coordinator at the Centre for Community Organizations in Montreal. He articled with the National Judicial Institute, clerked at the Tax Court of Canada, and practiced as a tax lawyer with Stikeman Elliott LLP in Montreal. Professor Singer went on to establish his own law practice, working in tax law, charity and non-profit law, and trans law. He is a member of both the Québec and Ontario Bars.

In trans legal studies, Professor Singer was a guest editor of a special issue of the Canadian Journal of Law and Society on the theme, On the Margins of Trans Legal Change (2020). His article, “Trans Rights Are Not Just Human Rights: Legal Strategies for Trans Justice“, was awarded the Canadian Law and Society Association English Article Prize in 2021 and cited by the Supreme Court of Canada in Hansman v. Neufeld, 2023 SCC 14.  Other contributions include a chapter on trans competent lawyering, reports for the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and an article on preventing misgendering in Canadian courts.

A long-time advocate for trans people, Professor Singer worked at the trans advocacy group, Action Santé Travesti(e)s et Transexuelles du Québec (ASTTeQ) before law school. He later served as the supervisor of the Trans Legal Clinic in Montreal from 2014 to 2017. Professor Singer is also a co-plaintiff in the Quebec trans rights case, Centre for Gender Advocacy c. Attorney General of Quebec, 2021 QCCS 191. In 2022, Professor Singer received the Canadian Bar Association’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGIC) Hero Award.

Professor Singer greatly enjoys sharing his enthusiasm for law and policy through teaching. In 2021, he received the Ian Kerr Award for Excellence in Teaching for the English Language Program and a teaching award from the Association étudiante de Common Law Student Society (AÉCLSS). Prior to joining the University of Ottawa, as a member of the Faculty of Law at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, Professor Singer received teaching awards for both the 2017–2018 and 2019–2020 academic years.

Professor Singer teaches or has taught Taxation, Droit fiscal, Taxation Policy, Business Organizations, and Trans People and the Law.

Publications

Journal Articles

Samuel Singer, “Modernizing Non-Profit Law in Canada: Charting the Regulatory Landscape” McGill Law Journal (Forthcoming 2024).

Samuel Singer and Amy Salyzyn, “Preventing Misgendering in Canadian Courts: Respectful Forms of Address Directives” Canadian Bar Review (Forthcoming 2023).

William Hébert, Samuel Singer, and DT, “Trans Rights, Trans Justice: A Conversation about Key Legal Issues in Canada” Canadian Journal of Women and the Law (2023).

Amy Salyzyn and Samuel Singer, “Open Courts, Privacy and Equality in a Digital Era: The Supreme Court of Canada’s 2021 Open Court Jurisprudence (2023) 108:2 Supreme Court Law Review.

Samuel Singer and Monica Cheng, “Directors’ Liability in Canadian Tax Law: Critically Analyzing the Due Diligence Standard” (2023) UBC Law Review 55:3.

Samuel Singer, “Trans Rights Are Not Just Human Rights: Legal Strategies for Trans Justice” (2020) 35:2 Canadian Journal of Law and Society 293.

Samuel Singer and Ido Katri, Foreword for Special Issue: On the Margins of Trans Legal Change (2020) 35:2 Canadian Journal of Law and Society 147.

Samuel Singer, “Charity Law Reform in Canada: Moving from Patchwork to Substantive Reform” (2020) 57:3 Alberta Law Review 683.

Samuel Singer, “Evaluating Canadian Tax Remission Orders: A Debt Relief Vehicle for Taxpayers” (2019) 42:2 Dalhousie Law Journal 397.

Samuel Singer, “Marginalizing Trans Medical Expenses: Line-Drawing Exercises in Tax” (2013) 31:2 Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice 209.

Chapters

Samuel Singer and Allison Christians, “Critical Tax Studies in Canada” in Critical Conversations in Canadian Public Law, University of Ottawa Press (Forthcoming).

Samuel Singer, (contributor, with Donna Eansor) “Chapter 4: Income from Employment” in Art Cockfield et al., eds, Materials on Canadian Income Tax, 16th edition (Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 2020).

Samuel Singer, “Rethinking Privilege for Tax Professionals: A Tax Policy Perspective” in Chris Hunt, ed, Perspectives on Evidentiary Privileges (Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 2019).

Samuel Singer, “Trans Competent Lawyering” in Joanna Radbord, ed, LGBTQ2 + Law: Practice Issues and Analysis (Toronto: Emond Publishing, 2019).

Robert McMechan, Dean Blachford & Samuel Singer, “Practical Insights – Evidence” Tax Disputes & Resolution Centre (Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 2016).

Loose-leaf Services

Samuel Singer, Taxation of Corporate Reorganizations (Toronto: Thomson Reuters) (Contributing co-editor, with Monica Cheng, Colin Jackson, Geoffrey Loomer, and Carl MacArthur).

Reports

Samuel Singer, “Trans Rights in Canada: Canadian Case Law and Legal Scholarship from 1973 to 2019”, (Commissioned by the Canadian Human Rights Commission, 2020).

Samuel Singer, “Trans Rights, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression in Canada”, (Commissioned by the Canadian Human Rights Commission, 2017).

Other Articles

Amy Salyzyn & Samuel Singer, “Challenging ‘Compelled Speech’ Objections: Respectful Forms of Address in Canadian Courts” (14 December 2021), online: Slaw <http://www.slaw.ca/2021/12/14/challenging-compelled-speech-objections-respectful-forms-of-address-in-canadian-courts/>.

Samuel Singer, “Quebec Must Reverse Course on Bill 2 and Restore January’s Historic Trans Rights Victory”, The Globe and Mail (2 November 2021), online: Globe and Mail <https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-quebec-must-reverse-course-on-bill-2-and-restore-januarys-historic/>.

Samuel Singer & Stephanie Weidmann, “Fighting for Justice: Trans Heroes in Canadian Case Law” Art/iculation (24 September 2019).

Grants

Insight Development Grant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada: Taxpayer Remedies in Canada” (2021-2024) ($71,088). 

BC Legal Research Fund, The Law Foundation of British Columbia: “Mapping Trans Legal Needs in British Columbia” (2020) ($17,000).

Undergraduate Student Research Apprenticeship Award, Thompson Rivers University, “Canadian Taxpayer Remedies: Evaluating Appeal and Relief Mechanisms” (2019–2020) ($6,000).

The OBA Foundation Chief Justice of Ontario Fellowship in Legal Ethics and Professionalism Research, Ontario Bar Association Foundation: “The Ethics of Trans Competent Lawyering and Judging” (2019–2020) ($15,000).

BC Legal Research Fund, The Law Foundation of British Columbia: “Navigating Non-Profit and Charity Law: Charting the Regulatory Landscape” (2019) ($17,000).

Connection Grant, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC): “On the Margins of Trans Legal Change” (2019) ($18,628) (As co-applicant, with Dean Robert Leckey, Faculty of Law, McGill University as principal applicant).

Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Award, Thompson Rivers University: “Reforming Charity Law in Canada” (2018–2019) ($4,000)

Internal Research Award, Thompson Rivers University: “Remission Orders as a Canadian Tax Debt Relief Vehicle” (2018) ($5,000).