New Assistant Professors Bring Diverse Expertise to U of A Law in 2025

The University of Alberta Faculty of Law will be welcoming three new legal scholars in the upcoming academic year.

New assistant professors, John (Jack) Enman-Beech, Azar Mahmoudi and Caylee Hong will bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the faculty.

Jack Enman-Beech

John (or Jack) Enman-Beech (they/he) is a lecturer in the Law of Contract at King’s College London where they have taught since 2022. Enman-Beech has several degrees from the University of Toronto, including one in math, geology, and statistics and is a faculty affiliate of the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society.

Enman-Beech’s work considers the ways contract rhetorically structure people's relationships with social media platforms, gig economy apps, other businesses, and each other. Their work is methodologically diverse, encompassing both doctrinal approaches and feminist, queer and critical theory.

They have been published in the Canadian Bar Review, the Canadian Business Law Journal, the Canadian Journal of Law and Society, the Dalhousie Law Journal, the Journal of Commonwealth Law, and more.

Azar Mahmoudi

Azar Mahmoudi specializes in corporate and commercial law, anti-corruption law, and law and economics, with a focus on high-risk industries such as the petroleum sector. She is committed to advancing ethical practices and promoting transparency across industries.

Mahmoudi’s interdisciplinary work bridges legal theory, behavioral economics, and empirical research to develop innovative anti-corruption strategies. Her work focuses on developing innovative strategies to combat corruption, specifically considering how these efforts intersect with the protection and promotion of human rights.

She holds a Doctor of Civil Law from McGill University, where her research examined anti-corruption clauses in petroleum contracts and their impact on corporate governance and compliance. Mahmoudi earned LL.M. degrees from the University of Richmond and McGill, focusing on corruption in sanctions regimes. She also holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Sociology from the University of Tehran.

Mahmoudi has taught international human rights law and international development studies at McGill and contributed to research on corruption and corrections, particularly in South Africa.

Caylee Hong

Caylee Hong is an anthropologist and lawyer with a focus on corporate law, bankruptcy and insolvency, infrastructure and the environment. In some ways, Hong’s career got a good headstart after a “profound” early experience. While a teenager in her hometown, Prince George, British Columbia, she was selected to attend the Li Po Chun United World College — a prestigious International Baccalaureate institution — in Hong Kong. This early international experience led her to study at University College Utrecht in the Netherlands, before heading to the University of London SOAS to complete her master of laws degree.

From there, she interned at UN-Habitat in Nairobi, Kenya, before returning to Canada to complete a bachelor of laws and bachelor of civil law degree at McGill University. Currently, she is also completing her PhD in Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. Her dissertation examines the long-term impacts of urban oil operations in Los Angeles.

During her time at law school, she was a summer associate at Milbank LLP in New York. After completing her studies in Canada, she clerked for Justice Luc Martineau at the Federal Court of Canada, before returning to Milbank to work with its Project, Energy and Infrastructure Finance Group. She held that position from 2014 to 2017 before starting her PhD at Berkeley, where she also taught as a graduate student instructor.

Now, Hong is thrilled to be returning to western Canada and to make Edmonton her new home. She was drawn to the U of A because of its research and expertise in the energy sector, and because she wanted to be closer to her family. She’s also excited to continue teaching and continuing her research in corporate and environmental law.

Hong was announced as an assistant professor in 2024, and will be joining the Faculty of Law on July 1, 2025.