Academic Background

LL.B. at West Kazakhstan State University (Kazakhstan), 2001.

LL.M. at Indiana University at Bloomington, 2003.

Ph.D. at Queen’s University Belfast, 2007.

Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Toronto, 2009.

Additional Information

Undergraduate Courses:

LY301 – Evidence and Procedure (Fall 2012)

CC301 - Law, Morality and Punishment (Fall 2012)

CC405 - Crime, Law and Justice in Cyberspace (Fall 2012)

LY 201 - Canadian Legal System I (Winter 2013)

Graduate Course:

CC607 - The Charter and Criminal Justice (Winter 2013)

Research:

Dr. Kovalev's research is focused on comparative criminal justice, criminal law, criminal procedure and human rights. He is particularly interested in the evolution of jury trials and reforms in the criminal justice systems of post-Communist transitional countries. Other research projects include study of jury bias in neo-Nazi skinhead trials and lay adjudication in military justice. His current research project concerns practice of manipulation of juries in Canada and other countries.

Other experience:

Dr. Kovalev has served as an expert on comparative criminal justice, law reform and international human rights for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), American Bar Association/ Rule of Law Initiative (ABA/ROLI) and U.S. Department of Justice. He completed assessments of several draft laws on jury and lay assessors for Kazakhstan and Kyrgyz Republic, and draft Criminal Procedure Code of Tajikistan. Dr. Kovalev is a frequent speaker at conferences, round-tables, seminars and workshops on issues of human rights and criminal justice reforms in post-Communist states. 

Selected publications:

In English

Kovalev, N. (2011). "Jury Trials for Violent Hate Crimes in Russia: Is Russian Justice Only for Ethnic Russians?" Chicago-Kent Law Review, 86, pp. 669-736.

Kovalev, N. and Suleymenova, G. (2010). "New Kazakhstani Quasi-Jury System: Challenges, Trends and Reforms" International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 38, pp. 261-278.

Kovalev, N. (2010). Criminal Justice Reform in Russia, Ukraine and the Former Republics of the Soviet Union: Trial by Jury and Mixed Courts. Lewiston, N.Y.: The Edwin Mellen Press. http://www.mellenpress.com/mellenpress.cfm?bookid=8212&pc=9

Kovalev, N. (2008). "Trial by Jury in Russian Military Courts" The Journal of Power Institutions in Post-Soviet Societies, 8, available at http://www.pipss.org/document1533.html.

Jackson, J. and Kovalev, N. (2006). "Lay Adjudication and Human Rights in Europe" The Columbia Journal of European Law, 13, pp. 83-123.

Kovalev, N. (2004). "Lay Adjudication of Crimes in the Commonwealth of Independent States: An Independent and Impartial Jury or a Court of 'Nodders'?" Journal of East European Law, 11, pp. 123-158.

In Russian

Kovalev, N. (2008). "Arrest po orderu suda: mezhdunarodnyi opyt i perspektivy dlia Kazakhstana" (Judicial arrest warrant: international experience and prospects for Kazakhstan) Jurist, 3(81), pp. 89-91.

Kovalev, N. (2006). "Narodnoe uchastie v otpravlenii pravosudiia v stranakh SNG: sud prisiazhnykh ili sheffenov?" (Lay adjudication in the administration of justice in CIS Countries: trial by jury or schoffen?) Sravnitel'noe Konstitutsionnoe Obozrenie, 2(55), pp. 3-20.

Kovalev, N. (2005). "Sud na sudom prisiazhnykh" (The jury on trial) Pravovaia Reforma v Kazakhstane, 1(27), pp. 3-8.

Recent presentations and talks:

June 2012. Law and Society Association Annual Meeting. Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. Paper title: Lay Adjudication in Europe: New Developments.

June 2011. Law and Society Association Annual Meeting. San Francisco, California, United States. Paper title: Jury Trials for Violent Hate Crimes in Russia.

May 2011. Oral Evidence vs. Written Evidence in Criminal Process. International Conference organized by the University of Bologna in Ravenna, Italy. Paper title: Oral vs. Written Evidence in the Criminal Process of Former Republics of the Soviet Union.

March 2011. Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada. Paper title: Lay Judges (Quasi-Jurors) in the Eyes of Kazakhstani Professionals.

July 2010. Summer School for Turkmen judges and law enforcement officials organized by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Ashgabad, Turkmenistan. Presentation titles: Rights of aliens in criminal proceedings, admissibility of evidence and human rights, privacy rights in criminal proceedings.

June 2010. Canadian Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada. Paper title: In Search of “Quality” Juries: Secret Background Checks and Manipulation of Jury Selection.

May 2010. Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Paper title: In Search of “Quality” Juries: Secret Background Checks and Manipulation of Jury Selection.

March 2010. Russian-American Rule of Law Consortium Conference, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United State. Paper title: Criminal Justice Reform in Medvedev’s Russia: Developments in Jury Trials and Sentencing.

May 2009. Law and Society Association Annual Meeting, Denver, United States. Paper title: New Kazakhstani Mixed Court System: Effective Safeguard or Powerless Institution? Paper title: Russian Jury Under Attack: Can the Institution Survive?

April 2009. Round Table “Draft Criminal Procedure Code of Tajikistan” organized by American Bar Association/ Rule of Law Initiative and the Council of Justice of Tajikistan, Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Presentation title: Analysis of the Draft Criminal Procedure Code of Tajikistan.

Membership in societies and research networks:

Member of the American Society of Criminology, United States

Member of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, United States

Member of The Canadian Law and Society Association, Canada

Member of The Law and Society Association, United States

Co-organizer of the Collaborative Research Network on Lay participation in Legal Systems of the Law and Society Association