Brandon Trask is an associate professor of law at the University of Manitoba and an adjunct fellow at St. John’s College.
Prof. Trask’s research focuses primarily on criminal law and procedure, evidentiary issues, and rights issues, as well as areas pertaining to progressive law and economics. He founded the Rights Clinic at Robson Hall in 2022 and continues to be a co-supervisor of the Rights Clinic’s project work. He is also an active member of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and serves on doctoral students’ supervisory committees.
Prof. Trask is originally from Winnipeg. He worked for the Government of Manitoba as a research and policy analyst in the Office of Canada-US and International Relations as a Millennium Scholar while he was an undergraduate student in the University of Manitoba’s global political economy program. After two years of undergraduate studies, Prof. Trask was admitted to Robson Hall. He graduated with his Juris Doctor (JD) in 2012, after gaining litigation experience through his time as a volunteer with the University Law Centre and through his work as a summer student with Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP.
Prof. Trask then completed his Master of Laws (LLM) at the University of Toronto during 2012-13 under the supervision of Prof. Michael Trebilcock, specializing in the area of law and economics. His LLM thesis focused on possible approaches for dealing with trade-distorting moves implemented by countries.
After articling with the Newfoundland and Labrador Public Prosecutions Division and receiving his first call to the Bar in 2014, Prof. Trask worked as a Crown Attorney in Newfoundland and Labrador and later in Nova Scotia, most recently with the Appeals and Special Prosecutions Section of the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service. While in practice as a Crown Attorney, Prof. Trask was involved with hundreds of cases across two levels of court in Newfoundland and Labrador and three levels of court in Nova Scotia. He also regularly appeared on behalf of the Crown at the Criminal Code Review Board in Nova Scotia.
Prior to joining the Faculty of Law, Prof. Trask taught (via distance) as a course instructor with Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Law and Society Program, teaching over 1,100 undergraduate students between 2015 and 2020.
Additionally, Prof. Trask was formerly a biweekly newspaper columnist. He has repeatedly been a radio panelist and guest and has also been interviewed for national and local television. Prof. Trask has written op-ed pieces for a variety of newspapers, including The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, and The Ottawa Citizen, and has also been interviewed for many newspaper articles and online news pieces.