Faisal Kutty

Professor of Law

J.D., cum laude, University of Ottawa Faculty of Common Law, 1994
LL.M., Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, 2006
Ph.D. (on leave), Osgoode Hall Law School of York University

Member, Ontario Bar

Joined Southwestern Summer 2021

Faisal Kutty brings experience as an attorney, legal educator, and human rights scholar and advocate. He comes to Southwestern after more than two decades of practice and teaching experience at Osgoode Hall Law School of York University in Toronto, Valparaiso University School of Law in Indiana, where he is now Associate Professor of Law Emeritus, and the Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law at Barry University in Florida. He is also an Affiliate Faculty Member with the Rutgers University Center for Security, Race and Rights. In addition to teaching legal writing and analysis, he has taught comparative law, Islamic law, professional responsibility, and contract drafting. He also developed and taught a legal journalism course.

Prof. Kutty graduated with distinction from the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law. While in law school, he served stints as the book reviews and articles editor of the flagship Ottawa Law Review. He also founded one of the first Muslim Law Students’ groups in North America.

Opting to establish his own practice after spending one year at a large Toronto firm following graduation, he founded and served as senior managing partner for what would grow to be an eight-lawyer firm when the academic bug bit and he pursued an LL.M. and later doctoral studies in law.

Prof. Kutty co-founded and then served many years as the legal counsel to the Canadian Muslim Civil Liberties Association. He subsequently helped co-found the Canadian chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (now renamed the National Council of Canadian Muslims). He served as vice-chair and legal counsel for this group during and after the tragic events of 9/11 when the Muslim community was singled out for profiling. Through these groups, Prof. Kutty was involved in many high-profile legal cases and constitutional challenges in Canada.

In preparation to get closer to Hollywood, he served as a Muslim culture consultant for the internationally acclaimed award-winning Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) sitcom Little Mosque on the Prairie.

“I have learned from my nearly three decades in the field that legal analysis and writing are inextricable from our profession. A sharp, analytical mind and strong writing are indispensable in pursuing a career as a transactional lawyer or a litigator.”

Prof. Kutty’s research interests are both doctrinal and pedagogical. His academic articles have appeared in law reviews and peer-reviewed books. He currently serves on the editorial board of the Manchester Journal of Transnational Islamic Law and as a Contributing Editor for Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. He previously served on the editorial board of the Arab Law Quarterly. He has published hundreds of opinion and analysis pieces and is a regular contributor to The Toronto Star, Newsweek, Al Jazeera, and The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

His current professional and academic service also includes serving as a Steering Committee Member of the Islamophobia Research Hub at York University, an Advisory Board Member of the University of Regina Criminal Justice Centre for Advocacy, Research, and Education (CJCARE), and a Board Member of the American Educational Trust.

He has testified as an expert on Islamic law, comparative law, and law and religion in Canadian, U.S., and European courts, including the Court of Justice of the European Union. Prof. Kutty has sat as an external Ph.D. examiner for Monash University. He previously served as chair of the Islamic Law Section of the AALS and as an executive of the international human rights law section. He has also served on the Diversity Committee of the Legal Writing Institute.

In 2007, he was invited by international human rights groups to monitor military trials in Egypt as an international trial observer.

He has won numerous awards over the years, including the Valparaiso University Alumni Association Distinguished Teaching Award and the Martin Luther King Jr. Award for promoting diversity. For the past 17 consecutive years, he has been included in The Muslim 500: The World’s Most Influential Muslims, published by the Royal Strategic Studies Institute, based in Amman, Jordan. Prof. Kutty was also nominated twice over the last few years by the editorial board of Canadian Lawyer as a finalist for the “Changemaker” category of the 25 Most Influential Lawyers in Canada. His TEDx talk, “Why Conversations Matter,” has been well received.

Publications

Articles

Prosecutorial Independence: Applying the Law When Politics Are at Their Hottest, Law360 Canada (LexisNexis) (August 12, 2026).

Protecting Prosecutorial Independence from Political Pressure, Law360 Canada (LexisNexis) (August 11, 2026).

Prosecutorial Independence in an Age of Polarization: When Politics Surrounds the Criminal Process, Law360 Canada (LexisNexis) (August 10, 2026).

What Happens When a Government Can Override Constitutional Rights? Canada Is About to Find Out, Law360 Canada (LexisNexis) (March 31, 2026).

Israel, Qatar, and the Limits of Self-Defense, Lawfare (October 14, 2025).

Rebutting the Case for Israel’s June 2025 Strikes as Lawful Self-Defense, Lawfare (August 26, 2025).

Challenging Group Bias: Benefits of Contact and Dialogue among Jews, Christians, and Muslims, in Building Bridges Among Abraham’s Children: A Celebration of Michael Berenbaum, Edward McGlynn Gaffney, Marcia Sachs Littell & Michael Bazyler, eds., vols. 1–2 (Academic Studies Press, 2025).

In Search of the Elusive Middle Ground Between Blasphemy and Free Speech: From Defamation of Religion to Incitement to Hate, in Constitutional Democracy Under Stress: A Time for Heroic Citizenship (Peter L. Biro, ed., 2020).

Islamic Law in US Courts: Judicial Jihad or Constitutional Imperative?, in Islamophobia and the Law (Cyra Akila Choudhury and Khaled Beydoun, eds., Cambridge University Press, 2020).

Islamic Finance, Consumer Protection and Public Policy, in Faith, Finance, and Economy (T. Akram and S. Rashid, eds., Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2020).

Blasphemy and Apostasy “Laws” in the Muslim World, in Research Handbook on Islamic Law and Society (Nadirsyah Hosen, ed., Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, and Northampton, MA, USA, September 2018).

Review of Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control, 11 J. Int’l L. & Int’l Relations 92 (2015).

The Kutty ‘Islamic Law’ Flowchart, Valparaiso University Legal Studies Research Paper No. 14-9 (September 25, 2014).

‘Islamic Law’ in U.S. Courts: Judicial Jihad or Constitutional Imperative?, 41 Pepp. L. Rev. 1059 (2014); also available as Valparaiso University Legal Studies Research Paper No. 14-8.

Creeping Shari’ah or Conspicuous Islamophobia, Colum. J. Int’l Aff. (December 2014).

Islamic Law and Adoptions, in The Intercountry Adoption Debate: Dialogues Across Disciplines (Robert L. Ballard et al., Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, 2014); also available as Valparaiso University Legal Studies Research Paper No. 14-5.

‘Shari’ah Courts in Canada: A Delayed Opportunity for the Indigenization of Islamic Legal Rulings’, in Debating Shariah: Islam, Gender Politics and Family Law Arbitration (Anna Kortweg and Jennifer Selby, eds., University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 2012), 123.

The Myth and Reality of “Shari’a” Courts in Canada: A Delayed Opportunity for the Indigenization of Islamic Legal Rulings, Islamic Law and Constitutional Liberty, symposium issue of University of St. Thomas Law Journal, Vol. 7, Issue 3.

Hate Speech Sometimes Warrants Censorship, in Censorship (Noel Merino, ed., Greenhaven Press, Detroit, 2010).

No-Fly Lists Do Not Keep America Safe, in Introducing Issues with Opposing Viewpoints: National Security (Lauri S. Friedman, ed., Gale/Greenhaven Press, Chicago, 2010), 89.

Review of Islam, Secularism and Liberal Democracy: Toward a New Democratic Theory for the Muslim Societies, by Nader Hashemi (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2009), The Globe and Mail (July 9, 2009).

Review of The Constitution of Law: Legality in a Time of Emergency, by David Dyzenhaus (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2006), 24 Windsor Rev. Legal Soc. Issues 73 (2008).

Non-Western Societies Have Influenced Human Rights, in Opposing Viewpoints: Human Rights (Jacqueline Langwith, ed., Gale/Greenhaven Press, Chicago, 2007), 41.

The Shari’a Factor in International Commercial Arbitration, 28 Loy. L.A. Int’l & Comp. L. Rev. 565 (2006).

Review of Farce Majeure: The Clinton Administration’s Sudan Policy 1993–2000, by David Hoile, American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, Vol. 19, No. 2 (2001).

Review of American Islam: Growing up Muslim in America, by Richard Wormser (Walker & Company, New York, 1994), Musl. World Bk. Rev., Vol. 17, No. 3, 39 (1997).

Indian Muslims: Rebuilding a Community, Journal Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, Vol. 17, No. 1, 107 (1997).

Review of The Politics of Islamic Resurgence: Through Western Eyes, by Ahmad AbulJobain and Ahmad Bin Yousef (UASR Inc., 1992), Islamic Studies 222 (1993).

Review of Human Rights in Crisis: The International System for Protecting Rights During States of Emergency, by Joan M. Fitzpatrick (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994), Ottawa L. R. 253 (1994).

Op-Eds, Recent Appearances & Digital Media

Prof. Kutty regularly contributes commentary and analysis to national and international publications. Recent work is available through his author and contributor pages below:

Canadian Charter Allows Right to Protest, Including Al-Quds Day Rally, CTV News (March 14, 2026).

“As Canadians We Should Question — Is This Something We Are Comfortable With?”: Lawyer on Bill 21, CTV News (March 23, 2026).

Ian Hanomansing Speaks with Faisal Kutty on the San Diego Shootings, CBC (May 21, 2026).

During Ramadan, Fasting Is About Much More Than Skipping Meals. Here’s Its True Meaning, San Diego Union-Tribune (March 31, 2022). Op-Ed.