Jennifer Button

Jennifer is an independent consultant, following a 28-year career as legal counsel with the Ministry of Justice, British Columbia, Canada. In that time, she developed very significant expertise in research, analysis, writing and editing, as well as in teaching. During her tenure at the Ministry of Justice, Jennifer provided legal and policy advice to senior bureaucrats and other government lawyers on such matters as environmental law, gender issues, human rights law, judicial independence, rule of law, and intellectual property. Her primary responsibility for more than 20 years was as one of two constitutional solicitors for the Province. While a government lawyer, Ms. Button volunteered extensively with the Canadian Bar Association, as well as with the American Bar Association-UNDP International Legal Resource Center (ILRC) in Washington, USA. She also went to The Hague as a Visiting Professional with the Trust Fund for Victims of the International Criminal Court. As an independent consultant, Jennifer has been a gender expert for the UNDP in Belarus and prepared reports for the Commonwealth Secretariat (London, UK) and the Dallaire Centre of Excellence in Peace and Security, Canadian Department of National Defence. On two occasions, she traveled to Somaliland, as part of a team under contract to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, to teach principles of constitutional law to the judges and senior staff of the Supreme Court. She has also worked as an election monitor in Ukraine. She holds a B.A. (Hons) and an M.A., a Permanent Teacher’s Certificate (British Columbia), and a J.D. (Juris doctor). She has done training in monitoring and evaluation and project management. She has been assessed at EU level B2.2 in the French language. She has both Canadian and British citizenship. She enjoys using her teaching experience and skills in her work.