IN PROFILE: Mohamed Khimji

 

 

 

Ever since he was a child, Mohamed Khimji wanted to be an actor.

“Acting is actually experiencing trying to be another person,” he says. “It’s challenging empathizing with someone who’s not you.”

But Khimji left dreams of the stage behind. Instead, he went into law and now teaches in the Faculty of Law at The University of Western Ontario. That doesn’t mean he’s left all his flair for the showmanship behind.

“I try to get (the students) engaged and keep them engaged,” he says.

Before coming to Western in January, Khimji taught upper-level courses in corporate law at Dalhousie University for more than five years. He specializes in legal risks in international financial markets, corporate law and commercial transactions.

“I find it intellectually challenging,” he says. “There’s a lot of opportunity for intellectual debate and good research.”

This year, Khimji is working on a project funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) dealing with separate legal personality and limited liability in Canadian corporate law. In other words, the research focuses on the people behind a corporation in a legal case, as opposed to treating the corporation as a separate entity.

Khimji was drawn to Western by the intellectual stimulus provided by the leading business law researchers who give talks at the university. Western’s emphasis on business law and the opportunities for collaboration with other law faculty members and with the Richard Ivey School of Business also appealed to him.

Khimji, who grew up in Tanzania, then moved to England after high school, earned a bachelor of laws from the University of Bristol and a master’s degree from the London School of Economics.
Family living in Toronto drew him to Canada.

Before starting his teaching career, Khimji worked in corporate law at Torys LLP in Toronto. He eventually wanted to move away from the client-driven aspect of legal practice and enter the academic world. “Academia gives you something that legal practice doesn’t, and that’s intellectual independence,” he says.

Independent thought is something Khimji passes on to the students in his classes.

“I think that he has a really unique teaching style because he doesn’t just spoon-feed you the answers; he challenges you to have to come to conclusions yourself,” says Jennifer Organ, third-year law student.

She took one of Khimji’s corporate law courses in the winter term of 2010 and is now working with him on the SSHRC project. Organ wasn’t surprised when she found out her professor once wanted to become an actor.

“I can see that because in class he very much performs,” she says.

Organ could also see Khimji as a musician because he often conveys his love of music in class. Fact patterns – or the facts of a legal case – on exams always include the names of bands, she says.

Khimji admits he’s a bit of an indie music fan.

On his office wall, a concert poster reminds him of one of the best nights of his life. In April, Khimji had gone to Las Vegas to see Camera Obscura – one of his favourite bands. The band’s tour bus just happened to be parked outside the hotel where he was staying and he was able to meet the band and its lead singer, Traceyanne Campbell. 

Khimji enjoys going to concerts and even says he has the “indie look.” On a typical day at work, he wears a T-shirt, a cardigan, skinny jeans and sneakers.

Although he has interests in acting and music, he wouldn’t want to do anything else. He says it’s a privilege to work in a university.

 “I just want to continue doing what I’m doing right now. I find that there’s never enough time to do everything you want to do anyway,” he says.
 

Did you know?

Mohamed Khimji …
… speaks Kutchi and Swahili.
… loves the television series Mad Men.
… enjoys playing tennis.
… remembers all the details of the first Liverpool football game he watched when he was 10 years old. The poster on his office door reinforces the fact that he’s a big fan.