I received my PhD in law from Queen’s University of Belfast in 2007 and my LL.M from Maurer School of Law of Indiana University in 2003.

Prior to joining Laurier, I was a post-doctoral fellow at the Munk Centre for International Studies of the University of Toronto (2007-2009).

In June 2016, I was called to the Ontario Bar.

My research is focused on comparative criminal justice, criminal law, criminal procedure and human rights. I am 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 European lay adjudication systems and independence of the legal profession in Post-Soviet states.

I am willing to supervise graduate students in the areas of comparative criminal justice, criminal law and procedure.

In English

• Jackson, J. and Kovalev, N. (2016). “Lay Adjudication in Europe: The Rise and Fall of the Traditional Jury” Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 6(2), 368-395, available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2782413.
• Kovalev, N. (forthcoming in September 2016). "The Canadian Criminal Justice System. Brian H. Greenspan, Barrister and Solicitor, Certified Specialist in Criminal Law", in Goodman-Delahunty, J. and Das, D.K. (eds.) Trends in Legal Advocacy: Interviews with Leading Criminal Defense Lawyers and Prosecutors Around the World, CRC Press.
• Kovalev, N. and Thaman, S.C. (2016). "Special Investigative Techniques in Post-Soviet States: The Divide Between Preventative Policing and Criminal Investigation," in Ross, J.E. and Thaman, S.C. (eds) Handbook of Comparitive Criminal Procedure, Elgar Press.
• Kovalev, N. (2015). “Penal Law Sanctions. National Report on Canada.” In Sozuer, A. (ed.) Second Criminal Law Reforms Congress: Criminal Sanctions, The Gap Between Idea and Use, Volume I. Istanbul University Press.
• Kovalev, N. (2014). “Analysis of the Draft Criminal Procedure Code of the Kyrgyz Republic.” United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
• Kovalev, N. (2014). “Analysis of the Legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic on Special Investigative Measures.” United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
• Kovalev, N. (2014)."Selection of Jurors and Lay Assessors in Comparative Perspective: Eurasian Context" Russian Law Journal, 2, pp. 9-62.
• Kovalev, N. and Smirnov, A. (2014). "The Nature of the Russian Trial by Jury: Jurata Patriae or Raison d'Etat" European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, 22, pp. 115-133.
• Light, M. and Kovalev, N. (2013). "Russia, the Death Penalty, and Europe: the Ambiguities of Influence" Post-Soviet Affairs, 29, pp. 528-566.
• 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.
• Kovalev, N. (2008). "Trial by Jury in Russian Military Courts" The Journal of Power Institutions in Post-Soviet Societies, 8.
• 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.