Pascale Cornut St-Pierre is associate professor at the Civil Law Section of the Faculty of Law of University of Ottawa. Her research focuses on the ways in which business communities perceive, mobilize and develop the law in the course of their activities. Her works deal mainly with corporate and financial law, but draw heavily on research from the social sciences, such as sociology of law, economic sociology, political economy and critical studies.
Professor Cornut St-Pierre holds a B.A. (2007) and a M.A. (2009) in philosophy from the Université de Montréal, an integrated degree in civil law and common law from McGill University (B.C.L./LL.B., 2013), and a Ph.D. from Sciences Po Law School (2017). Her doctoral dissertation, which focuses on the role of legal work in contemporary financial innovation, was awarded the Prix Jean Carbonnier de la recherche sur le droit et la justice, as well as the Prix solennel André Isoré de droit privé from the Chancellerie des Universités de Paris. It analyses the role and techniques of standard-form contracts, like the ISDA Master Agreement, in the emergence of new financial instruments and the development of their global markets. Professor Cornut St-Pierre’s current research explores other types of financial innovation, including green finance and fintechs, as well as financial illegalities.
Before joining the Civil Law Section, Professor Cornut St-Pierre was a lecturer in sociology of law and in advanced civil law obligations, at Sciences Po Paris and at the Faculty of Law of McGill University. She is an Associate Member of the Perelman Centre for Legal Philosophy and an Affiliated Research Scholar to the Canadian Climate Law Initiative.