Law (Taylor’s Version): 1st-ever Taylor Swift law course in Canada comes to Queen’s University

The law professor and self-described Swiftie teaching the class is expecting heightened student interest in the course.

Queen’s University students with a Blank Space in their timetables may be pleased to learn that a first-of-its-kind entertainment law course will be offered later this year, centring on pop culture’s favourite Tortured Poet, Taylor Swift.

Swift’s megawatt stardom is already evidenced by her economy-boosting Eras Tour, but her influence also continues to be felt in the academic world. Prestigious U.S. universities like Harvard, Stanford and Berkeley are already offering courses on the pop star in disciplines including English, political science and business. Queen’s University itself offered a course on Swift’s “Literary Legacy” in 2022.

But this latest class promises to be the first Swift-focused law course in Canada, according to Mohamed Khimji, an associate dean of academic policy at Queen’s law school, who will be teaching it come September.

Khimji, a self-described Swiftie and corporate-lawyer-turned-law-professor, said he’s expecting heightened student interest in the class. In an interview with Global News, Khimji talked about the course content and his journey getting the class approved, all while dropping Swift lyrics along the way.

“I’m expecting a lot of enthusiasm and I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “Taylor Swift would say, ‘I need to calm down.'”

Khimji’s announcement of the course coincides with the release of Swift’s latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, a 31-song behemoth of a record on heartbreak and grief.

The class, called Law (Taylor’s Version), will cover core concepts in entertainment law, particularly contract, trademark and copyright law, while using Swift’s numerous interactions with the legal system as case studies.

And no, it will not be an easy A.