Langlois is a full-service firm at the forefront of legal excellence, driven by an unwavering commitment to the highest standards of practice, a passion for the law, and a deep dedication to client service. With a team of 350, including nearly 200 legal professionals across our Montréal and Québec City offices, we bring together a wealth of knowledge and experience. We tailor our legal services to fit your needs, delivering solutions that are focused and impactful. We understand that legal matters can be overwhelming, that’s why we also bring a human touch and an attentive ear to your every concern.
Good people. Great Lawyers.
COURAGE
The Essential Characteristic of Medical Malpractice Lawyers: Courage is a fundamental quality that sets medical malpractice lawyers apart. With fearlessness, persistence and tenacity, we pursue justice for those who have suffered as a result of the negligent conduct of medical professionals and healthcare institutions. We believe in pursuing cases to trial no matter how complex and costly the case may be.
READ ABOUT THE IMPACT OUR CASES ARE HAVING ON THE LAW: Surujdeo (2017 ONCA 41), Stirrett (2018 ONSC 2595 and 2020 ONCA 288) Boutcher (2020 ONSC 7694), Bunch – a court approved se ttl ement in a (2023 ONSC 2339).
Bogor o ch & Ass oci ate s LL P is hon our ed to be n am e d by Canadian Law ye r as one o f the Top 10 P ers onal In jury Bo utique Law Fi rm s in O n tario.
Richard M. Bogoroch Managing Partner
Heidi R. Brown Partner
EDITORIAL
Vice President, Editorial
James Burton
Managing Editor
Tim Wilbur
Editor
Jessica Mach
Production Editors
Christina Jelinek, Tara Tovell, Karen Atienza
Writers
Bernise Carolino, Kiezzsa Cruz
ART & PRODUCTION
Designers
Loiza Razon, Juan Ramos, Joenel Salvador, JP Dizon
317 Adelaide Street West, Suite 910 Toronto, ON M5V 1P9
tel: +1 416 644 8740 www.keymedia.com
CANADIAN ADDRESS TO: CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT
317 Adelaide Street West, Suite 910, Toronto, ON M5V 1P9 RETOURNER TOUTE CORRESPONDANCE NE POUVANT ÉTRE LIVREÉ AU CANADA AU SERVICE DES PUBLICATIONS
317 Adelaide Street West, Suite 910, Toronto, ON M5V 1P9
Lawyers under pressure: the new resilience
Change is nothing new for the legal profession, but rarely has it come so thick and fast – or demanded so much resilience from lawyers in every field. In this issue, we see how the ground is shifting beneath our feet, not only in the courts but also in the tools we use to serve clients.
The Ontario government’s sweeping civil justice reforms are a case in point. In medical malpractice and commercial litigation, lawyers will be asked to adapt to a new world of compressed timelines, limited oral discovery, and increased upfront obligations. For medical malpractice counsel, the elimination of oral examinations and the move to lawyer-prepared witness statements threaten to upend the careful fact-finding that has long been the bedrock of these complex
“In the face of relentless change, this unwavering commitment to principle will sustain both our profession and the public’s trust in it”
cases. As Aleks Mladenovic at Thomson Rogers put it (p. 54), “Every medical malpractice case I had won hinged on impeachment – where a physician says one thing at discovery and another at trial. That will now be impossible to achieve.”
Commercial litigators are also forced to rethink their strategies (p. 44). The proposal to resolve most disputes within two years, regardless of complexity, means that cases once measured in years must now be resolved in months. The pressure to adapt is immense, requiring stamina, creativity, and a willingness to embrace new working methods.
Meanwhile, in family law, the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence is transforming the risks and rewards of practice (p. 34). Lawyers must now be resilient not just in the face of emotional and procedural challenges but also as they learn to harness – and sometimes rein in – powerful new technologies. The lesson here is that resilience is not about resisting change; it’s about learning, adapting, and maintaining professional judgment even as the tools of the trade evolve.
In times of upheaval, it is tempting to focus only on survival. But as Cheryl Foy reminds us (p. 56), true resilience means returning to the fundamentals: upholding the rule of law, acting with integrity, and remembering that our highest calling is to serve justice itself. In the face of relentless change, this unwavering commitment to principle will sustain both our profession and the public’s trust in it.
Tim Wilbur, managing editor
Lawyers
Sheilah Martin’s journey from teaching to advocating to adjudicating
CONNECT WITH US
Got a story or suggestion, or just want more information?
@canlawmag
linkedin.com/company/canadianlawyer
facebook.com/CanLawMag
UPFRONT
01 Editor’s desk
Resilience required in turbulent times
04 News analysis
Protecting workers from AI psychosis
PEOPLE
12 Reform with boundaries
New justice minister Sean Fraser champions change
OPINION
16 Beyond billable hours
Legal excellence means breaking the conformity mould on disabilities
56 Back page
Defending democracy and the rule of law is a professional obligation
34 AI in family law
Handling hallucinations, security, and confidentiality risks 44 Racing the clock
Proposed two-year limit sparks concern among commercial litigators
Best Lawyers in Canada 2026
Lawyers in Canada 2026
Lawyers in Canada 2026
We’re honored to announce that McLeish Orlando Lawyers have been recognized by our peers and selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in Canada 2025 and The Best Lawyers: Ones To Watch for our expertise in
We’re honored to announce that McLeish Orlando Lawyers have been recognized by our peers and selected for inclusion in The
Lawyers in Canada 2025 and The Best Lawyers: Ones To Watch for our expertise in Personal Injury Litigation
We’re honored to announce that McLeish Orlando Lawyers have been recognized by our peers and selected for inclusion in Lawyers in Canada 2025 and The Best Lawyers: Ones To Watch our expertise in Personal Injury Litigation Lawyers in Canada 2026 The Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch
Patrick Brown
Joseph Cescon
Lindsay Charles
Salvatore Shaw
William Harding
Brandon Pedersen
The Best Lawyers: Ones To Watch TM
Dale Orlando
TM The Best Lawyers: Ones To Watch
NEWS ANALYSIS
New technology, new accommodation
As employers encourage or even require employees to incorporate AI tools into their work, one lawyer argues that workplace accommodations should be made in cases involving another growing phenomenon: AI psychosis
OVER THREE weeks in May, Allan Brooks, a corporate recruiter in the Greater Toronto Area, wrote 90,000 words in a conversation with ChatGPT that convinced him he had discovered a novel mathematical formula. That formula, he believed, could be used to crack encryption protections for global payments, communicate with animals, and build a levitation machine. Urged on by ChatGPT, Brooks began contacting computer security experts and government agencies – including the US National Security Agency – to warn them of the formula’s dangers.
ability to produce polished-looking replies with inaccurate information – that likely led Brooks to his weeks-long delusional episode. Brooks has no history of mental illness.
Now, Brooks no longer uses ChatGPT. While he still uses competitors like Google Gemini, his experience this spring has made him wary of a growing phenomenon he’s observed: employers pushing workers to use chatbots and other AI tools with little regard to their risks. In Brooks’ view, not only should employers provide training on these tools’ manipulative traits and potential for hallucinations; they should also extend workplace
“There’s no conversation at all about ... the mental health considerations... It’s just ... use it as much as you can”
Allan Brooks, Human Line Project
In August, the New York Times obtained a transcript of Brooks’ conversation with the AI chatbot and asked OpenAI (the maker of ChatGPT) and experts in artificial intelligence and human behaviour to analyze excerpts. The resulting analyses found that ChatGPT had several traits – a sycophantic tone, a tendency to draw on a conversation’s history to “improv” responses, and an
accommodations to those who might be particularly vulnerable to what he went through.
Employers are encouraging workers to use AI tools “to the point where you almost feel like you have to say, ‘Yes, I’m into it,’ because you don’t really have a choice and you don’t want to go against the company grain,” says Brooks.
“There’s no conversation at all about verifying your work, about how chatbots work,
AI PSYCHOSIS IN THE NEWS
May 2025
GTA recruiter’s delusional episode with ChatGPT
August 2025
BBC reports multiple cases of AI-induced delusions
August 2025
Lawsuit filed against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman after teen suicide linked to AI chatbot
about not using them for too long, [about] the mental health considerations or potential repercussions,” he adds. “It’s just, here’s this really crazy tool. Use it as much as you can.”
Brooks’ episode is not an isolated case. In August, the BBC reported that numerous people had reached out to the outlet to share their experiences with AI chatbots, with several convinced that they had discovered a way to make large fortunes and another certain that she was the only person ChatGPT had ever
“It’s my position ... that AI psychosis should be recognized as a disability under the human rights legislation”
Randy Ai, Randy Ai Law Office
fallen in love with. The same month, parents of a teenager who committed suicide filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman in San Francisco, alleging ChatGPT coached the teenager on self-harm methods.
Randy Ai, a Toronto employment lawyer who is representing Brooks in an employment matter, noted that the phenomenon of people developing distorted thoughts after interacting with AI chatbots has
a name: AI psychosis. Under Ontario’s Human Rights Code, employers have a legal duty to make accommodations for people with disabilities when workplace rules or requirements could negatively affect them. Ai argues that in cases where employers are pushing workers to use AI tools, they should also be prepared to make accommodations for those prone to developing AI psychosis.
“It’s my position as a lawyer that AI psychosis should be recognized as a disability under the human rights legislation,” Ai says. “It’s not currently, because there [aren’t] enough cases. But as the case law develops, I’m projecting, as a legal theorist, that it should be recognized. The harm is real.”
Ai notes that some human rights legislation – including Ontario’s Human Rights Code – recognizes mental health issues and addictions as disabilities, and that there have been reported cases of individuals becoming addicted to AI chatbots.
“It’s such a novel issue that is obviously not being discussed,” Ai says. “But if Allan goes to his employer and says, ‘I can’t use AI,’ [and] his employer says, ‘Everybody must use AI’ … then we have an issue.”
He adds, “In this case, Allan should be entitled to go to HR and say, ‘I want an accommodation plan where I can do my task the old way, without using AI technology.’”
While Ai says he isn’t aware of any lawsuits that frame AI psychosis or an addiction to chatbots as a disability, which he attributes to the technology being relatively new, the lawyer says if he were ever to file such a claim, he would use that legal framework.
In a lawsuit filed in August, Toronto employment lawyer Kathryn Marshall similarly sought to apply the Ontario Human Rights Code’s definition of disability to another growing phenomenon: women experiencing medical complications due to IVF procedures. As in the case of AI psychosis, Marshall said she has never seen another lawsuit alleging that complications stemming from IVF qualified as a disability that employers had a duty to accommodate. “It’s an emerging, very new thing, especially given the fact that the Ontario government now funds a round of IVF,” she says.
“These are very, very new pieces of technology,” Ai says of AI chatbots. “A lot of employers and members of the general public are not even aware of AI psychosis, the harm caused by AI.” The next step, he says, is developing “guardrails with respect to protecting workers from addiction, overuse, [and] harmful effects.”
Supreme Court of Canada Justice Sheilah Martin reflects on legal education, decision-making, and who belongs in the profession
JUSTICE SHEILAH Martin has served on the Supreme Court of Canada since 2017, following appointments to the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench and the Alberta Court of Appeal. Trained in both civil and common law, she built her career across academia, private practice, and the judiciary, focusing on constitutional law, criminal justice, and equality rights.
“If the system can make mistakes, we need to try harder in the system,” Justice Martin tells Canadian Lawyer. That early realization – sparked by reading about Steven Truscott’s wrongful conviction – became the driving force behind her legal path. A pursuit of something better defined her trajectory across law schools, courtrooms, and, ultimately, the country’s highest court.
Martin notes her interest in law was rooted not in ambition but in a desire to improve a flawed system. “The justice system that we create has to be better than the people that create it,” she says. As a student at McGill University, she trained in both legal traditions, but it was teaching that first captured her interest: “I loved teaching. I loved being with young minds that were inquiring and questioning and were highly critical.”
That passion for education later intersected with practice. After serving as dean at the University of Calgary Faculty of Law from 1991 to 1996, Martin entered private practice – not to advance her title but to deepen her understanding of law in action. Her first case as counsel brought her straight to the Supreme Court in an intervention concerning the medical treatment of a pregnant woman under state custody. “That was the first time I came to the Supreme Court,” she says.
Her practice spanned constitutional and criminal matters, including interventions on sexual assault legislation, the federal firearms reference case, and pro bono work for
noting her growing involvement in judicial education. A mentor’s encouragement led her to apply. In 2005, she joined the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench.
The shift from advocate to adjudicator was stark. “As a lawyer, I made arguments. But as a judge, I had to make decisions,” she says. “You’re trying to exercise judgment and wisdom and asking yourself with great humility all the time, ‘What if I’m wrong?’”
Martin’s judicial experience expanded across the North, where she served in Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. “I had a fabulous wealth of experience in terms of understanding how justice looks in very
“You’re trying to exercise judgment and wisdom and asking yourself with great humility all the time, ‘What if I’m wrong?’”
women’s rights organizations. She says the law always returned to the human element.
A judicial appointment wasn’t something Martin initially imagined. “I got increasingly more fascinated by the judicial craft,” she says,
different places in the vast country that we have,” she says.
In 2016, she was elevated to the Alberta Court of Appeal, and the following year she was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada.
PROFILE
Name: Sheilah Martin
Current position: Justice, Supreme Court of Canada
Key Dates:
» 1981: Graduated from McGill University (BCL & LLB)
» 1991: Appointed dean, University of Calgary Faculty of Law
» 1996: Began private practice in constitutional and criminal law
» 2005: Appointed to the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench
» 2016: Appointed to the Alberta Court of Appeal
» 2017: Appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada
CROSS EXAMINED
“Statistically, it’s completely improbable that someone would end up as one of nine,” she says. “I felt so deeply honoured to have been chosen, and I felt it as a great weight and responsibility.”
Once on the bench, collegiality and exchange is central. “We strengthen each other,” she says. “We talk about, ‘Well, there’s a gap in your thinking here,’ or ‘Why are you going this way?’” But the work was unrelenting. “Some people use the word ‘crushing’ ... [there are] very few easy cases that go to the Supreme Court of Canada.”
Writing, she comments, is both essential and demanding. “I love to write, and it’s so hard,” she says. “At the end of my judgment,
advocate explain to me why it’s actually the key thing – that’s what a really good advocate does.”
Martin brings the same clarity to her reflections on legal education. The law degree, she says, offers more than courtroom readiness. “If you have legal training, you have a way of thinking about the world and of problems. You hear the other side; you measure pros and cons,” she says. “You’re compelled towards facts and evidence… These are unbelievably good, transferable skills.”
She is also candid about the profession’s ongoing challenges with diversity. But she questions the idea that law is only for a certain kind of person. Too often, she says, people
“[There are] many, many people who have various different personalities who find law an enriching and sustaining kind of tradition”
I want people to say, that makes sense.” That pursuit of clarity, she adds, extends to every decision. “Sometimes people would say, ‘What does this case from the Supreme Court mean?’ And you like to have an answer.”
Martin’s expectations for advocacy are no less rigorous. “Advocacy can be learned,” she says. “Think ahead, tell a story, understand what your decision-maker needs to know before they can decide.” Before the top court, arguments have to do more. “You’re really asking the court to say this is the better approach, normatively.”
Written advocacy, she stresses, is examined with precision. “It’s really important that great care is put into a well-structured, absolutely as clear as possible and as accurate as possible, [factum],” she says. Oral advocacy, meanwhile, offers a rare chance to shift the court’s focus. “The miracle of having heard a piece of info and seeing a really good
opt out because they don’t see themselves reflected. “It’s probably being too shy about yourself and not knowing the diversity in the profession. [There are] many, many people who have various different personalities who find law an enriching and sustaining kind of tradition.”
Martin stresses that her judicial approach avoids grand theory in favour of precision. “Somebody once said, I love having written,” she says. “I try very hard to make it so that people understand exactly what I’m saying, and that hopefully at the end of my judgment, they’ll say, ‘that makes sense’.”
In 2024, Martin was named one of Canadian Lawyer’s Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers. This article was based on an episode of the CL Talk podcast. Visit canadianlawyermag.com/cl-talk to hear this conversation and many other interviews with legal leaders across Canada.
JUSTICE MARTIN: KEY SUPREME COURT OF CANADA JUDGMENTS
RvBoudreault,2018 SCC 58: Struck down mandatory victim surcharges as cruel and unusual punishment, emphasizing individualized sentencing and access to justice.
RvLe,2019 SCC 34: Clarified that police carding in a private backyard is arbitrary detention, with robust analysis of police interactions with racialized communities.
RvHills,2023 SCC 2: Reinforced Charter protections by requiring police to have a solid factual basis before conducting warrantless searches.
Dunmorev.Mehralian,2025 SCC 20: Established a child-centred, fact-driven approach to determining habitual residence in cross-border custody disputes.
Clients and
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
Confronting racial bias in Canadian healthcare
Despite policy promises, racial bias persists in Canadian healthcare. Gluckstein’s Pinta Maguire argues that mandatory data collection and legal advocacy are essential for progress
IN THE US, Black patients are more likely than Caucasians to have an above-the-knee amputation1 when undergoing surgery to remove that limb. There’s no medical reason for the discrepancy, which has a significant impact on future mobility, and it’s only known because of the reams of evidence the US collects on patient care; in Canada, that data is harder to come by.
“We’re a multicultural country and think because of that we’re not racist; we still need to ask hard questions,” Pinta Maguire explains. “Let’s collect this information, drill down on how biases affect healthcare for our diverse population, and combat pockets of racism that are identified.”
Data gaps and a push for accountability
Ontario received a snippet of that race-based data during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across the board, racialized individuals had poorer outcomes than Caucasians, even though the former group skewed younger and the virus was thought to be more deadly for older people. While it led to initiatives to support Black and Indigenous groups under Ontario’s Anti-Racism Act, which stipulates that the government must improve equity in healthcare delivery, the snapshot laid the truth bare: there’s a problem in Canada that’s been ignored for a very long time.
Part of Ontario’s mandate is collecting health information based on race. Unfortunately, it’s voluntary and hospital uptake is lacking. Maguire is hoping that –along with more diverse voices in the upper echelon of the medical system – data collection will become mandatory.
“There are things lawyers can do to move the needle,” Maguire says. “That includes advocating for our clients but also work outside of files, such as pushing politicians to mandate collection and identify trends.”
Tiny cuts, lasting trauma
While racial bias is widely recognized and addressed in policing litigation and criminal sentencing, there’s a notable lack of case law in the healthcare context. Maguire began explicitly naming racial bias in medical negligence claims relatively recently.
It manifests mostly in subtle ways via unconscious bias: whether a dismissive or paternalistic tone or assumptions about a patient’s lifestyle or access to support, the results are hurtful at best and catastrophic at worst.
“These moments add up; for racialized patients constantly dealt these tiny cuts –or who experience a negative outcome – it’s another form of trauma from an institution that’s supposed to help,” Maguire explains, adding that when she does assert it in a case, “the response is often to sidestep the issue.”
“Defence counsel typically focus on the incident resulting in harm and ignore or downplay the role of bias. It can also lead to the practitioner on the other side believing I’m accusing them of being racist. It’s tricky.”
Progress, pitfalls, and a path forward
As co-presenter of a seminar on racial bias and discrimination in healthcare at a medical malpractice conference earlier this year, Maguire realized not many fellow plaintiff-side practitioners are asserting these types of claims. But lawyers should consider every potential head of damage in a viable case.
If the client feels their care was affected by their race, review records for objective evidence; for example, differences in how the person’s pain was recorded by the physician versus the nurse. Common racist tropes are alive and well – many medical students still believe that Black people don’t feel pain the same way Caucasian people do – and a discrepancy in the hospital records can support a claim of racial bias.
Digging into what underlying biases may have affected the provided care and including them in civil claims is “the only way the courts will provide guidance about how things like the standard of care might be affected by cases where bias is present,” Maguire notes.
Even if a situation doesn’t meet the threshold to proceed, Maguire makes a point to inform people of their options, including complaints to the Human Rights Tribunal or the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. In short, there are many inroads to take in combating this issue.
“We have a long way to go, but through legal advocacy and systemic efforts, meaningful progress can be made,” Maguire sums up. “If we shine a light on these issues, even when it’s uncomfortable, we can move towards a healthcare system that truly serves all Canadians.”
Brought to you by 1.https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8733080/
Pinta Maguire SENIOR COUNSEL
Bias-Related Medical Negligence
Complex Cases Require Experienced Counsel
Bias in healthcare is increasingly recognized as a factor in patient harm, creating complex legal challenges that traditional medical malpractice approaches cannot address alone. Proving both substandard care and discriminatory treatment demands counsel with comprehensive medical negligence expertise and an understanding of how bias manifests in healthcare settings.
Gluckstein Lawyers has successfully handled complex medical negligence cases for over 60 years, with a proven track record of securing justice for injured patients. Our team of experts, including Senior Counsel Pinta Maguire, whose background includes both plaintiff advocacy and physician defense, brings the strategic insight needed when medicine, negligence, and discrimination intersect.
Justice Minister Sean Fraser outlines a collaborative approach to public safety while defending core constitutional protections
SEAN FRASER calls it “the most incredible opportunity to have an impact on issues that matter.” But for Canada’s newly appointed minister of justice and attorney general, that impact now comes with boundaries –namely, the kind that let him devote time to his family, even while overseeing one of the country’s most politically charged portfolios.
The long-serving MP from Nova Scotia, who held senior posts under Justin Trudeau, had announced his departure from politics at the end of 2024 – a decision driven by the strain of raising young children while running major files like immigration and housing. But then Mark Carney became prime minister and everything shifted. “It wasn’t until more or less the day before I announced my return that I had in earnest considered ... coming back,” Fraser says. The catalyst was a call from Carney, who offered to redesign the role around Fraser’s personal needs. “He gives me the space to both be a present, engaged father and husband ... and add value as the minister of justice and attorney general.”
Fraser now steps into the justice file at a time when bail reform is dominating headlines. Unlike past governments, which kept the justice and public safety ministries
separate, Carney’s administration is using a shared oversight model. Fraser leads on bail, while others take the reins on law enforcement. “On the policies that are more tied to the specific powers of law enforcement, public safety would likely be the lead, and I’ll have a supporting role,” he says. “On bail reform ... I expect I’ll be the lead.”
The redesign is meant to break the inertia critics have long associated with Canada’s criminal justice reform. But Fraser
need to do it outside of the constraints of the Constitution.”
Still, the government is under pressure to act – fast. With spikes in organized crime and violent offences such as home invasions and auto theft, Fraser acknowledges that public frustration is mounting. “The rules that we have on the books are not fully used to the extent that they could be,” he says. In some cases, the bail system may need to be rebalanced. “We should revisit the authorities
“Just because we want to improve certain outcomes around public safety doesn’t mean that we need to do it outside of the constraints of the Constitution”
is adamant about the line his government won’t cross. “The presumption of innocence, the privacy rights guaranteed to Canadians ... are essential features to a constitutional democracy that I stand by,” he says. “Just because we want to improve certain outcomes around public safety doesn’t mean that we
and the processes that are used to determine who’s going to be released on bail.”
This summer, Fraser and his ministerial colleagues toured communities to test whether the party’s campaign promises are in sync with public expectations. “Are the commitments we’ve made during the
Name: Sean Fraser
Current position: Minister of justice and attorney general of Canada
Key dates:
» 2015: Elected member of Parliament for Central Nova
» 2018: Appointed parliamentary secretary to the minister of environment and climate change
» 2019: Appointed parliamentary secretary to the minister of finance and middle class prosperity
» 2021: Appointed minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship
» 2023: Appointed minister of housing, infrastructure and communities
» 2025: Appointed minister of justice, attorney general of Canada, and minister for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency PROFILE
CROSS EXAMINED
campaign targeting the right kind of social outcome?” he asks. “You should expect to see the result of those conversations turn into legislative reforms ... this fall.”
That reform process, Fraser insists, will not be rushed for optics. “We allow different voices with different perspectives to consider evidence from people who know what they’re talking about and make informed recommendations,” he explains. Parliamentary committee scrutiny, he adds, is where laws should be stress-tested. “I don’t intend to tell committee members... I don’t
appointed as quickly as vacancies become available,” he says. A short bench, he warns, “can delay justice and erode public confidence.”
The department is also preparing updates to sentencing laws and reviewing the Criminal Code’s handling of gender-based and intimate partner violence – issues Fraser calls a “moral obligation” to address. “Though serious penalties can be a deterrent, the likelihood that you’re actually going to be caught and punished is also a deterrent,” he says.
Those changes won’t be effective, he argues, without parallel investments in public
“We should revisit the authorities and the processes that are used to determine who’s going to be released on bail”
have the authority nor the intention to direct the will of individual parliamentarians.”
The provinces, meanwhile, are demanding more federal support. From legal aid and family courts to prosecuting hate crimes, the requests are piling up. But Fraser is cautious about simply writing cheques. “I do want to be careful not to simply say that we’ll put our hands up and allow different levels of government to upload their costs,” he says. Still, he concedes that Ottawa has a role to play. “Where there are shortcomings in the areas of federal responsibility that might be contributing to the challenges we see ... we want to be a willing partner.”
He points to areas the federal government controls directly – RCMP resourcing, border enforcement, and judicial appointments. “We are now down to about 20 [judicial vacancies] nationally,” he says. “My goal here is to fill the vacancies quickly ... and to remain current as we go forward.” For Fraser, court vacancies aren’t just an internal metric. “We need to move swiftly to have the next generation of judges
safety. Complex crimes like auto theft – often involving cross-border syndicates – require a coordinated response. “We want to ensure that in areas where the federal government holds some responsibility ... we have a proper functioning system that can prosecute crimes without unreasonable delay,” he says.
As the fall session starts, Fraser’s message to the legal community is clear: stay engaged. “You should expect to see a range of different opportunities as members of the profession to engage,” he says. He doesn’t just want passive feedback from stakeholders – he wants participation that shapes outcomes. “We want to be informed by the people who use the system ... but we also want to make sure that we’re advancing the reforms in a way that are not just for the people who administer the system but [for] the people who are served by it.”
This article was based on an episode of CL Talk, Canadian Lawyer’s podcast. All episodes can be found at canadianlawyermag.com/ cl-talk.
RECENT JUSTICE ANNOUNCEMENTS
$2.2M for Indigenous families in Nova Scotia
Funding will expand trauma-informed support services for families of missing and murdered Indigenous people.
Drug treatment courts expanded in Saskatchewan
New federal funding supports a court in the Battlefords to divert offenders with addictions into treatment.
UN Declaration progress report released
Ottawa highlights new legal protections and an Indigenous justice strategy to combat systemic discrimination.
Support for abused children in Moose Jaw
$470,000 will fund a new child advocacy centre and expand victim support services in Saskatchewan.
Redefining regional law in Western Canada
Stringam Law’s bold evolution brings large-firm infrastructure to smaller communities
ON A playing field dominated by tradition, Stringam Law is charting a new course. Under the leadership of CEO Kurt Schlachter, KC, the firm is expanding its footprint across Western Canada and embracing a vision that is as ambitious as it is grounded.
“We blend the sophistication of Big Law with the agility and client focus of a community-based practice,” Schlachter says. “What distinguishes us is our insistence on being in smaller centres and maintaining a deep connection to our communities.”
Strategic growth with community at the core
Stringam’s recent success is no accident. The firm’s momentum is driven by three pillars: a deliberate M&A strategy combining organic growth with targeted mergers; a modern, scalable management structure; and a team of lawyers deeply invested in its vision and culture.
Becoming a leading regional firm necessitates expansion into new markets. Two Saskatchewan offices are up and running, and movement into British Columbia for 2026 is in the works. The firm also continues to expand its footprint in its homebase of Alberta, including into Calgary, which Schlachter calls “a bold move.”
“We’ve deliberately stayed outside of the major metropolitan centres but are excited to try our model in a bigger market,” Schlachter says, adding that Stringam’s growth isn’t limited to geography.
The firm is doubling down on core practice areas – business law, real estate, litigation, and family law – while eyeing expansion into agribusiness, intellectual property, and tax. The strategy is intentionally flexible, allowing the firm to identify opportunities within the niche of what they do and do well, while dialling into the needs of the communities they’re entering.
“This allows us to expand, improve our offering, and continue to attract high-calibre clients and top-tier talent internally as well,” Schlachter explains.
Attracting and growing top talent
Historically speaking, regional-based firms in smaller markets were more of a back-up plan than a top choice for new lawyers. But with more seeking Stringam out from the start, the firm is capitalizing on this interest.
“We make an effort to get in front of law students, cultivate interest, and make sure they know our story,” Schlachter says, adding that the firm fosters an open-minded approach. It’s also become a first-choice destination for lateral hires seeking balanced lifestyles, meaningful community connections, and professional growth.
“Whether they come aboard straight out of law school or parachute in later in their careers, at the end of the day fit is based on alignment with our core values and vision.”
Another standout feature is Stringam’s approach to talent. The firm invests heavily in its people, with every lawyer receiving a tailored “success plan” – with annual goals, mid-year
Brought to you by
check-ins, and a flex budget for promotion and professional development. Supported by advanced analytics and client feedback, the goal is to prepare lawyers for partnership and foster a business mindset from the outset.
“We flipped the traditional performance review structure: it’s all about business development with an HR touchpoint instead of the other way around,” Schlachter explains. “Most firms don’t pull back the curtain until a lawyer is ready to step up to partnership, but we want early exposure. It’s unique to us and a strong retention tool.”
Tied to the operational side is a commitment to keep on the leading edge of technology, from AI integrations to state-of-the-art video conferencing that enhances accessibility for clients and team members alike.
Robust internal communications are especially critical in maintaining Stringam’s culture and agility across a widening geographic spread. This avoids fragmentation while allowing Stringam to redefine what a large law firm can be in smaller communities, enhancing client experience and work-life balance for lawyers.
“The challenge is keeping all balls in the air, maintaining the momentum we have and not losing sight of the overall objective here,” Schlachter says. “On the flip side, that’s also a tremendous opportunity.”
A new vision of legal practice
Stringam’s story is rooted in community, driven by innovation, and powered by a belief that regional firms can lead the way in redefining legal practice for the next generation.
“You have to have a lot of faith, a lot of resilience, and a lot of confidence in your goals,” Schlachter reflects. “We could have just maintained what we had before, but our partnership had a vision beyond that. Being empowered to execute it is a privilege and an adventure.”
Kurt Schlachter was appointed Stringam Law’s first CEO in January of 2023. He has broad exposure to several practice areas.
The billable hour perpetuates ableism
Firms risk losing top legal talent by clinging to outdated productivity metrics that undervalue diverse working styles and abilities
OUR
PROFESSION
systematically excludes some of its most talented practitioners through an outdated, ableist conception of productivity. The legal profession’s structure – particularly its reliance on billable hours – creates rigid productivity metrics that prioritize time spent over results achieved. These embedded institutional systems, combined with cultural norms that treat non-disabled experiences as the standard, create conditions where talented lawyers with disabilities cannot perform their best work.
While 27 percent of Canadians identify as having a disability, only 5 percent of Ontario lawyers and fewer than 1 percent of Quebec lawyers self-disclose their disabilities. This dramatic gap suggests that the legal profession remains unwelcoming to lawyers with disabilities, making disclosure feel risky.
Consider the contrast between legally blind lawyer Mohamed Elshafie’s experience at Conway Baxter Wilson LLP, the Ottawa litigation firm where success is measured by outcomes and human dignity is respected, and the horror stories shared by other lawyers facing driver’s license requirements for desk jobs and inflexible in-person mandates. At Conway, accommodations aren’t grudgingly provided – they’re integrated into a culture that recognizes diverse working styles as strengths, not obstacles to overcome.
The legal profession’s resistance to disability accommodation often stems from a false economy of exclusion. Firms worry about costs
and complications, yet lawyers with disabilities are frequently among the most dedicated and innovative practitioners. One striking example from a webinar involved a clerkship requiring part-time work; the person accommodated consistently outperformed full-time colleagues. In addition, statistics show that 18–20 percent of Justice Canada lawyers identify as having disabilities, demonstrating that barrier removal causes representation to approach population norms.
This isn’t just about fairness – it’s about professional excellence. Lawyers with disabilities often bring unique problem-solving skills, resilience, and perspectives that enhance legal teams. They’ve navigated complex systems their entire lives, skills that translate directly to legal practice. Yet our profession continues to use productivity metrics that assume everyone works the same way, at the same pace, in the same environment.
The solution requires a genuine culture change. True inclusion means abandoning the billable hour as the sole value metric and recognizing that lawyers are individuals who may not benefit from cookie-cutter moulds. Some produce their best work in concentrated bursts, while others produce it through steady, consistent effort. Some thrive in collaborative environments; others in quiet, focused settings. A mature profession harnesses these differences; it doesn’t force conformity.
Practical steps are available for firms ready to embrace this shift. Justice Canada’s
centralized accommodation fund model removes the burden from individual departments and signals institutional commitment. Firms must stop outsourcing discrimination through recruiters who screen out candidates based on outdated assumptions about what lawyers “should” be able to do. Most importantly, senior lawyers and firm leaders must model inclusive behaviour, demonstrating that success comes in many forms.
The urgency of this issue extends beyond current practitioners. Canada’s legal profession is aging rapidly, and disability increases with age. The barriers we maintain today will affect tomorrow’s partners and senior counsel. In treating disability inclusion as optional, we’re not just excluding current talent – we’re creating a profession that will eventually exclude ourselves.
Moreover, as DEI initiatives face backlash and “claw back” across various sectors, disability inclusion offers a path forward that transcends political divisions. This isn’t about political correctness but professional sustainability and excellence. When we exclude lawyers with disabilities, we impoverish our profession’s intellectual diversity and problem-solving capacity.
The legal profession prides itself on advocacy and fighting for justice and equality. Ironically, we’ve created internal systems that perpetuate exclusion. We measure dedication by hours logged rather than problems solved, availability by physical presence rather than intellectual contribution, and success by conformity rather than innovation.
The time has come to bend our profession to accommodate human diversity instead of forcing human diversity to conform to arbitrary professional norms. Law firms that embrace this shift will not only be more inclusive but also more successful, innovative, and better positioned to serve clients in an increasingly complex world. The question isn’t whether we can afford to make these changes –it’s whether we can afford not to.
Lorin MacDonald is a Toronto-based human rights lawyer. Recognized as one of CanadianLawyer Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers in 2021, she serves on the editorial board that selects this year’s Top 25.
LAWYERS MOST INFLUENTIAL 2025 Top 25
Celebrating the legal leaders whose lasting impact is redefining the profession through landmark
TOP 25 MOST INFLUENTIAL LAWYERS 2025
THE QUIET FORCE OF PRECEDENT
THE 16TH EDITION of Canadian Lawyer’s Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers proves beyond a reasonable doubt that being influential means changing how the system works.
As someone who’s had the privilege of working closely with some of Canada’s most influential legal minds, Thomson Reuters’ general manager of global large law firms,
Steve Assie, remarks that several qualities distinguish these exceptional practitioners:
• mastery of legal craft
• adaptability and creativity
• relationship-building
• commitment to nurturing the next generation
GEOGRAPHIC REACH OF CANADA’S TOP 25 LAWYERS, BY CATEGORY
“The legal community has an uncanny ability to identify authenticity and character. Influence ultimately gravitates toward good people – those who use their platform not merely for personal advancement, but to elevate others,” he explains. “These lawyers understand that true influence is measured not by what you achieve alone, but by what you enable others to accomplish.”
Kirsti McHenry, Pro Bono Ontario executive director, adds that recognition by peers, including legal media, regulators, and law associations, is a clear marker of influence, as is being invited to speak at notable legal gatherings.
Significant achievements such as leading high-profile cases, contributing to law reform, mentoring, and sustained commitment to the profession all signal lasting impact.
Each year, Canadian Lawyer invites nominations from readers, legal associations, and editorial contributors to recognize those driving meaningful change. This year’s shortlist was selected through a national survey, followed by voting from the publication’s editorial board, who assessed each finalist’s influence on the legal system over the past 18 months.
The final 25 influential lawyers represent five categories where legal impact
is being redefined by action, connection, and purpose.
The work of this year’s winners shows where legal influence is headed:
• Business: These awardees are shaping the future of Canadian commerce. They are overhauling legal service delivery, steering billion-dollar deals, leading precedent-setting litigation, and strengthening Canada’s position in global capital markets. Their work embeds legal strategy into high-growth companies, enables cross-border investment in critical sectors, and brings practical innovation to complex business challenges.
• Changemakers: The winners in this category are setting national precedents on AI ethics, developing trauma-informed legal service models, mentoring future professionals, and creating peer networks for in-house counsel. Their efforts stretch from courtrooms to frontline reform, challenging outdated systems and expanding the role of legal influence.
• Government, non-profits, associations, and judiciary: Those honoured are rethinking how justice is delivered across Canada. They are redesigning court systems, confronting systemic bias, expanding digital access, and leading new approaches to mental health in law and policy. Their work spans legislation, major rulings, AI governance, and civil rights –all with a focus on improving transparency and inclusion at every level.
• In-house: The lawyers recognized for leadership in this area are setting a new standard for corporate counsel. They are leading transformative M&A, integrating ESG into business strategy, strengthening AI oversight, and building legal teams
that reflect Canada’s diversity. Their influence reaches into public policy, operational design, and ethical leadership inside some of the country’s most powerful institutions.
• Human rights, advocacy, and criminal law: These leading lawyers are confronting Canada’s most urgent human rights challenges. They are defending trans youth, challenging antisemitism, advancing gender justice, and leading class actions that test the limits of the law. Their work builds national coalitions, drives reform, and pushes courts to rethink how they respond to abuse, discrimination, and systemic harm.
What influence looks like in 2025
In Canada’s legal profession, the definition of influence is broadening – and fast.
“The most influential lawyers I’ve encountered share one defining characteristic: they are builders,” says Assie.
This manifests in various forms:
• developing emerging talent
• securing transformative clients and matters
• expanding practice groups
• leading firms through periods of growth and change
“What sets builders apart is their magnetic quality,” he adds. “Influence inherently attracts people, and these lawyers leverage that draw to create opportunities for others. They understand that their success is inextricably linked to the success of those around them.”
McHenry notes that influence is also reflected in how lawyers live their values.
“Mentors cultivate and foster their values in others and share their experiences with a new generation — a powerful way to pass on values and support new lawyers,” she says.
METHODOLOGY
Canadian Lawyer’s 16th annual Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers called for nominations between March 24 and April 18 from legal groups, readers, and our panel of writers and editors. Qualifying nominees were then included in a reader survey in the following areas: changemakers; human rights, advocacy, and criminal law; business; in-house; and government, nonprofits, associations, and judiciary. Based on the reader survey results, a short list of nominees was then sent to our Editorial Board members to vote for a maximum of five winners in each category. Board members who are on the shortlist are excluded from voting in that category. The board was asked to select winners who had most significantly influenced the legal system over the last 18 months.
128 nominees
13,053 votes
A broader blueprint for leadership
This year’s winners lead on ESG, tech transformation, mental health, and social equity. These efforts are transforming how law is practised, who it serves, and how talent is cultivated.
TOP 25 MOST INFLUENTIAL LAWYERS 2025
IN PRAISE OF THE TOP 25 MOST INFLUENTIAL LAWYERS
Al Hounsell: “An innovator and trailblazer in legal education. As both professor and colleague, he equips the next generation of lawyers for the tools of today and tomorrow.”
Avi Weiss: “He keeps in-house lawyers informed and connected, responding quickly to trends like AI. His community-focused approach is redefining legal support.”
Beth Beattie: “She has transformed the conversation around mental health in law through courageous leadership, lived experience, and advocacy.”
Brett Colvin: “He’s reimagining how law is practised and modernizing client service. The platform he and his team built is elevating the entire profession.”
Deepa Mattoo: “She speaks for those who can’t be at the table. Her unwavering commitment to amplifying marginalized voices makes her a daily inspiration.”
Doug Nathanson: “A standout leader who brings business acumen and legal expertise to the table. At Sobeys, he’s been instrumental in navigating complex challenges and driving strategic growth.”
Fraser MacLean: “He’s sparked a national conversation on AI in justice, led real change through landmark cases, and mentors young lawyers, all before age 35.”
Geoffrey Morawetz: “The czar of insolvency law in Canada. When this Chief Justice speaks, the entire community listens.”
Maureen Killoran, KC: “She runs a prolific practice, delivers exceptional client advice, and mentors and inspires large teams with grace and modesty.”
Patrick Boucher: “His legal expertise, strategic judgment, and professionalism are unmatched. What makes him exceptional is his generosity as a mentor. I’ve grown immensely under his guidance.”
Ritu Khullar: “Chief Justice Khullar champions equity and new lawyers while leading the Court with outstanding judgment and commitment to the rule of law.”
Roger Taplin: “Few lawyers have had as much impact as he has in shaping how cross-border mining deals are structured. His work has redefined global standards and elevated Canada’s role in the international resource economy.”
Sharon G. Druker, Ad. E.: “She’s been a changemaker for women in the legal profession since I first met her after McGill law school. She mentors young lawyers, sits on countless boards, and champions causes with lasting impact.”
For McHenry, pro bono work and community service are integral to that blueprint.
“It’s a natural opportunity to demonstrate leadership, live by your values, and ensure access to justice is real and available to people who cannot otherwise afford a lawyer,” she says.
Lawyers who do pro bono learn more about their communities and legal needs, and this deeper knowledge draws others to them for insight.
Assie sees these traits clearly in the profession’s rising leaders. He says, “The lawyers who will maintain and grow their influence are those who can bridge generational divides, leveraging their experience while embracing new methodologies and perspectives.”
That includes fluency in emerging technologies such as AI, openness to hybrid work, and a deeper understanding of what new talent expects from legal culture.
“To remain influential and relevant, lawyers must become conversant in these approaches. Those who resist or dismiss these evolving expectations risk being perceived as disconnected from the future talent pipeline of their firms,” Assie explains.
The mentorship effect
Assie’s view on mentorship was shaped early in his career, when he noticed that the most successful lawyers were invariably the most patient and earnest mentors. That insight stuck with him.
Years later, he sees a clear throughline between those early mentors and the recognition they’ve earned in the profession. “This isn’t coincidental. It reflects a fundamental truth about influence in the legal profession.”
Within law firms, especially, mentorship takes on even greater significance. Senior lawyers build the next generation of partners, shape firm identity, and pass on institutional knowledge.
Mentoring keeps leaders sharp, he says. “Teaching others forces you to articulate your knowledge clearly, stay current with evolving practices, and see familiar challenges through fresh perspectives.”
McHenry agrees and sees mentorship as a way to sustain influence over time. “Find mentors, build community, get involved in pro bono work, and find your own path to success and happiness.”
A new era of legal influence
Canada’s legal profession is entering another turning point in how it defines legal talent and leadership. Thomson Reuters’ Assie compares it to the rise of the billable hour in the 1960s.
“That earlier shift occurred because legal practice had become sufficiently complex that time spent became the most reliable measure of value delivered,” he says. “Today, technological advances are making legal practice dramatically more efficient.”
As AI and automation reduce the hours required to produce high-quality legal work, time is no longer the dominant measure of value. Lawyers are increasingly judged by what they deliver.
“Outcomes achieved, problems solved, and relationships built will take precedence,” says Assie.
That turn is also shaped by generational change. “Generation Z brings distinctly different expectations and capabilities that influential lawyers must understand and embrace.”
From hybrid work to AI literacy, younger lawyers view flexibility and mental health as prerequisites. Those who resist these expectations risk losing influence in their firms and across the profession.
The most influential lawyers are those who combine deep legal knowledge with human connection, and lead with:
• emotional intelligence
• strong communication
“Whether I’m in court representing a parent or writing about legal ethics and technology, I try to be thoughtful and practical, to bring clarity, integrity, and compassion. If that work has helped others do the same, I’m grateful”
Fraser MacLean, MacLean Law
• relationship-building
• leadership capabilities
These are not traits that can be outsourced or automated, and they’re fast becoming the legal profession’s new standard.
KEY DRIVERS OF CHANGE
Market expansion
Canada’s legal services market is on track to expand at a 4.5 percent CAGR through 2030, hitting US$35.4 billion. Litigation remains the largest segment, while corporate and commercial law has grown fastest. In 2024, Canada accounted for 2.6 percent of global legal revenue.
Legal tech growth
Canada’s legal technology sector was valued at US$714.6 million in 2023. It’s expected to hit US$1.26 billion by 2030, growing at a rate of 8.4 percent as firms continue investing in automation, data analytics, and AI-enhanced tools.
Generative AI uptake
GenAI use doubled in 2024, with 26–28 percent of legal professionals incorporating it into their workflow. Adoption is projected
to rise again throughout 2025, as firms explore everything from research to drafting support.
Regulatory guardrails on AI
Courts are already issuing guidance and, in some cases, penalties over the misuse of GenAI. Inaccurate citations and hallucinated content have prompted new federal rules requiring human oversight and full disclosure in AI-generated legal documents.
Specialization in demand
Clients are increasingly looking for niche expertise across AI regulation, cybersecurity, environmental law, and Indigenous and reconciliation law. These areas are fast becoming growth engines for Canadian legal practices, particularly in response to ESG and public policy complexity.
Cybersecurity litigation risk
Norton Rose Fulbright’s 2025 Litigation Trends survey found that 36 percent of legal departments reported a rise in cybersecurity and data privacy litigation last year, more than any other area. Nearly half expect continued exposure in 2025, while another third anticipate further increases.
Talent competition and role redefinition
As of May 2025, the unemployment rate for legal professionals was just 2.2 percent compared to 6.7 percent nationally. Law firms and legal departments continue to report challenges hiring mid-level lawyers and legal technicians. Eighty-six percent cite difficulty attracting skilled talent.
“I see influence as leading by example and supporting others in achieving their own full potential”
Sharon G. Druker, Ad. E.
Robinson Sheppard Shapiro LLP
Sector spotlights: The frontlines of legal change
CHANGEMAKERS
Fraser MacLean – MacLean Law
Called to the bar: 2019
At just 35, the associate lawyer has influenced two of the most consequential areas in Canadian law: family law and the responsible use of AI in the justice system. As lead counsel in Zhang v. Chen (2024 BCSC 285), Canada’s first reported case involving hallucinated AI-generated legal authorities, MacLean sparked a bigger conversation than he ever expected on legal ethics in the digital age.
Signature impact
A defining moment arrived in 2024, when MacLean uncovered fake legal citations generated by ChatGPT in a BC Supreme Court matter. The ruling in Zhang v. Chen became a national first and triggered a wave of reforms. Law societies and courts across Canada have since adopted new requirements for disclosing AI use in legal filings, a direct result of MacLean’s advocacy.
“We didn’t go into it thinking we were going to set a national precedent on AI and legal practice,” MacLean says. “But when the issue of fake citations came to light, it quickly became clear that we were facing a new kind of risk to the justice system – one that most of us hadn’t yet encountered.”
His position is principled and clear. “As lawyers, we’ve always had a duty of competence and candour to the court. Generative AI doesn’t change that, but it does add a new layer of responsibility. For me, this has always been about protecting the integrity of the system, not stopping innovation.”
MacLean believes AI has the potential to improve access to justice if applied responsibly. His work on this front has been covered by the media in Canada and abroad, positioning him as the country’s leading legal voice on AI’s risks and responsibilities.
Across emerging technology and family law, he has built a reputation as a trusted advocate. In Zhang v. Chen (2023 BCSC 2206), he secured one of British Columbia’s largest interim support awards in a $90-million family law dispute.
MacLean successfully challenged a foreign USA custody order in SSCM v. ACW (2024 BCSC 1694), overturned summary judgment in Cho v. Kim (2023 BCSC 780), and prevailed in long-running trials involving parenting time, spousal support, and parental alienation.
The human side of the law and the systems that support it continue to guide his legal approach. Family law allows him to advocate for individuals, especially children, while his ethics and policy work gives him the chance to improve the tools and rules that govern practice.
“What ties it all together is the idea of trust. That trust is earned. I see it as a privilege to do this work and a responsibility to do it right,” says MacLean.
Ripple effect
At MacLean Law, he leads wellness programming, including a confidential coaching initiative for young lawyers, an increasingly necessary response to burnout in legal practice.
“To me, influence in 2025 isn’t about being the loudest voice in the room. It’s about using whatever platform or opportunity you have to do some good,” he says.
He also improves firm-wide client service strategy, delivering compassion and clarity to families in crisis. A committed legal
TOP 25 MOST INFLUENTIAL LAWYERS 2025
educator, MacLean lectures regularly at Thompson Rivers University (TRU) Faculty of Law, where he also founded two scholarships for future lawyers. His written work appears in Westlaw, Law360, and national CLE materials, and his precedents have been cited in Payne on Child Support (2024).
Community service reflects the same sense of purpose evident in his professional life. A regular contributor to Union Gospel Mission and Dress for Success, MacLean brings depth and consistency to every aspect of his professional life.
What’s next?
MacLean continues to lead his firm’s mental health initiative and is a member of the management team, where he helps shape lawyer development and client service strategy. He remains active in legal education through national CLE programs and ongoing support for TRU Law.
His community engagement through Union Gospel Mission and Dress for Success rounds out a career defined by service. MacLean views family law as foundational to social stability and believes the justice system must help families move forward with compassion. His work reflects that conviction and sets a standard for the profession to follow.
Sharon G. Druker, Ad. E. – Robinson Sheppard Shapiro LLP
Called to the bar: 1986 in Quebec, 1990 in Ontario
A respected voice in Quebec’s legal community, Druker brings four decades in mergers and acquisitions, finance, and corporate law, along with a commitment to equity, mentor-
MORE PRAISE FOR THE TOP 25 MOST INFLUENTIAL LAWYERS
Arif Virani: “He’s demonstrated unwavering commitment to Canada’s judicial system and public service over many years.”
Benjamin Perrin: “He publicly acknowledged the flaws in policies he once championed, then wrote a book on how to do better. He exemplifies courageous leadership and critical thinking.”
Bennett Jensen: “A national leader defending 2SLGBTQI+ rights. With sharp legal skill and deep integrity, he leads with kindness and courage.”
Carole Dagher: “A major feat – truly inspiring for in-house counsel to have this level of influence on the profession.”
Jean-Michel Boudreau: “His unwavering ethics and dedication have inspired my own work in UN humanitarian agencies.”
Joseph A. Neuberger: “He educates through his podcast, defends clients with innovation, supports Lawyers Feed the Hungry, and mentors junior lawyers in criminal defence.”
Marisa Wyse: “One of the best general counsels I’ve worked with. Smart, decisive, and genuinely a pleasure to work with.”
Mark Sandler: “His leadership at the Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism has been outstanding. A tireless human rights advocate, he’s a worthy recipient.”
Michael Kelly: “A rare mentor. He’s deeply committed to Canada, the environment, and pension security – a true gem of a person.”
Pam Hrick: “She’s brought her intelligence and experience to the LSO as a bencher and is a commonsense, effective advocate at the board level.”
Sarah Qadeer: “She is redefining what in-house legal leadership looks like – transforming the legal function into a strategic engine for innovation, operational efficiency, and business transformation at scale.”
Shara Roy: “From developing ethical AI frameworks to redefining legal risk in the digital era, she brings a sharp governance lens to the evolving intersections of law, technology, and business.”
ship, and governance, to her role as a partner at RSS and head of its corporate services department. She also reinforces professional standards as liaison partner for colleagues facing professional liability or disciplinary claims.
Through her work in private practice, bar associations, and community leadership, Druker is helping to build a legal profsion that is more inclusive, accountable, and future-focused.
Congratulations Doug Nathanson
From all 129,000 of us at Empire Company Limited on being named one of Canada’s most influential legal voices.
As our EVP, Chief Development Officer and General Counsel, Doug helps shape some of the most complex and high-impact initiatives across our business. This recognition reflects the perspective and leadership he brings to our business and to the industry. We’re proud to see that contribution recognized across Canada.
TOP 25 MOST INFLUENTIAL LAWYERS 2025
“I’ve been concerned about pressures placed on various stakeholders in the criminal justice system, about how it seems to be failing a particular group of complainants. I’ve tried hard over the last several years to address what is, in my opinion, misinformation”
Joseph A. Neuberger, Neuberger & Partners LLP
Signature impact
Recognized for advancing mentorship, diversity, and professional ethics within the legal field, Druker co-authored the 2025 RSS mentorship program policy and is a member of the firm’s training and mentorship committee. Whether guiding new lawyers or advocating for women in leadership, Druker brings an authentic approach to mentorship.
“To me, influence means speaking from and sharing your lived experience,” she explains. “At work, I supervise, train, and mentor formally and informally. I contribute to community institutions I care deeply about. It’s about saying, ‘I’ve been around the block a few more times than you. If you’re willing, let me share what I’ve learned. Maybe it can help you.’”
In addition to mentoring McGill law students through the Law Inspiration Network and offering informal guidance to aspiring lawyers at key stages of their careers, Druker co-founded RSS au féminin, which fosters support among women professionals in her firm, and serves as the firm’s representative for two core Barreau du Québec initiatives:
Projet Justicia, focused on advancing women in law, and Projet Panorama, which promotes inclusion across the profession.
“When I had my first child [while working at] a boutique firm in 1999, I was their first pregnant lawyer and since they had no maternity policy, I had to help create it,” she recalls. “When I had my second child as a partner at a different national firm, their policy was only for employees, so I had to negotiate my own. Although these things are common now, we still need to make it easier for lawyers seeking to balance work and family responsibilities so they can remain in the profession.”
Her expertise is both locally and internationally recognized. She co-authors the Canadian chapter of Establishing a Business Entity: An International Guide and the Quebec chapter of Buying & Selling Real Estate: An International Guide, both annual publications of the International Lawyers Network.
In 2020, Barreau du Québec named her an Advocatus emeritus, a title awarded to lawyers with an outstanding career record, whose contribution to the profession and social and community influence are worthy of recognition.
Ripple effect
At the Jewish General Hospital Foundation, Druker is vice-chair of the governance committee and serves on the nominating committee. She is also a long-time supporter of Hope & Cope, a cancer support organization, where she serves as board member and governance chair, and volunteers as a peer mentor.
Her philanthropic involvement runs deep. She fundraises through Federation CJA’s Lion of Judah (Diamond) designation and participates in Women in Networks, which connects women professionals across sectors.
She serves on the professional advisory committee of the Jewish Community Foundation and helps organize legal programming on philanthropic legacy. She is a past president of the Lord Reading Law Society and remains active as a board advisor and chair of the governance committee.
Within the synagogue Shaare Zedek Congregation, Druker chairs the governance committee and serves on the board, executive committee, and sisterhood board.
What’s next?
Druker is the incoming vice-chair of the board of directors and chair of the governance committee of the Fondation du Barreau du Québec. In 2027, she will take on new roles as chair of the governance committee and as a Foundation board member at the Jewish General Hospital.
She also remains active in legal education, serving as a judge for the John Molson School of Business’s annual MBA International Case Competition, and sharing her expertise as a panelist on ethics and nonprofit governance.
“I believe it’s good to have more than one mentor,” she says. “One might guide you through having a family, another might support your public speaking or writing ambitions. As you grow, your mentors grow. And it’s okay to outgrow a mentor. Keep in touch but recognize when you need to reach out to
someone new. Stay open to mini-mentorships in specific areas and for specific skills.”
Whether advancing governance frameworks, mentoring the next generation of legal professionals, or promoting inclusion across institutions, Druker’s influence reflects a sustained commitment to service and ethical leadership.
“Life is short. You’ve got to take calculated risks. If you don’t move out of your comfort zone, you don’t grow,” she says. “I love gardening, but if you don’t repot a plant every so often, it gets root-bound and stops blooming. We’re like that, too. If we don’t stretch our roots, we stop flowering.”
HUMAN RIGHTS, ADVOCACY, AND CRIMINAL LAW
Joseph A. Neuberger – Neuberger &
Partners LLP
Called to the bar: 1993
The managing partner is one of Canada’s most influential criminal defence lawyers. Over a 32-year career marked by courtroom excellence, social advocacy, and public education, Neuberger has helped shape Canadian criminal law while mobilizing the profession around justice, equity, and legal literacy. His litigation record, leadership within community and professional organizations, and contributions to legal discourse position him among the most impactful legal figures in the country.
Signature impact
Neuberger’s trial work continues to influence the evolution of criminal law in Canada. In R v. FZ (2023 ONSC 3159), a precedentsetting case, he successfully defended a male client by introducing expert evidence of intimate partner violence against men. The
ruling identified the husband, not the wife, as the victim of coercive control. It reinforced the importance of gender neutrality in legal interpretation and expanded how abuse is understood in Canadian courts.
His role in this and other complex matters reflects a deep command of criminal defence. That expertise has been recognized by peers, courts, and the media, most recently in Law Society of Ontario v. Corcoran , where his analysis was cited in tribunal findings.
For years, Neuberger has also shaped the development of emerging criminal litigators, many of whom have gone on to become judges.
“I’m quite proud of the impact we’ve had on the careers of individuals who’ve come through our firm. That’s a major one,” he says.
Neuberger’s Not on Record podcast furthers that influence, offering open dialogue on the fault lines within the justice system, persistent myths about criminal law, and the erosion of public trust.
“More than ever now, I see that there is this attack undermining confidence in our justice system, which concerns me greatly,” he says. “We have one of the best criminal justice systems in the world. It’s very wellfunctioning and I think people should be proud of our system.”
Ripple effect
As a founder of the Canadian Jewish Law Association (CJLA), which came into fruition in conjunction with the work of other groups, including the Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism, Neuberger has helped establish a national platform to address antisemitism, hate, and discrimination in all forms.
From the outset, his goal was to go broader than identity-based advocacy. “We wanted to take on a broader role in addressing hate in general,” he says.
His public commentary highlights the threat of rising incivility and disinformation.
“There’s a fair amount of uncivil dialogue and other types of commentary that are
extremely harmful to our values as Canadians,” he says. “I do believe it tears away at the fabric of our society.”
He sees the CJLA as a venue for education, equity, and bridge-building – one that can reinforce shared values across the legal profession.
What’s next?
Neuberger’s advocacy extends into tangible community support. As a longtime supporter and past president of the Toronto Lawyers Association, he has played a leading role for its Feed the Hungry program. The annual Billiards with the Bar event, which he has shepherded for 11 years, has become a cornerstone of those efforts.
“It’s such a wonderfully run program, where essentially 90 cents of every dollar goes to feed the hungry,” he says. “There’s very little wastage of donated dollars, and high-quality food is provided to people.”
In 2024, the event raised over $17,000. With expanded outreach through his social media platform, he hopes to exceed $20,000 this year.
Between his litigation practice, continued leadership in the CJLA, and wide-reaching podcast platform, Neuberger remains a powerful voice for justice, accountability, and legal education in Canada.
Beth Beattie, LSM – Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General
Called to the bar: 1994
The senior counsel is a driving force behind how mental health is understood and supported within Canada’s legal profession. At the Ministry of the Attorney General, she brings deep expertise in civil and mental health law, human rights, and Coroner’s inquests. But it is Beattie’s candour about living with bipolar
TOP 25 MOST INFLUENTIAL LAWYERS 2025
disorder, along with her strategic advocacy, that has positioned her among the most influential lawyers in the country.
Signature impact
In 2024, Beattie co-edited The Right Not to Remain Silent: The Truth About Mental Health in the Legal Profession, a bestselling anthology of unfiltered personal accounts from 15 lawyers and two judges.
Her own essay, detailing her experience with bipolar disorder, helped break a longstanding silence in law. The book has become a landmark contribution, influencing legal culture and modelling inclusion in practice.
She also co-founded Voices for Mental Health, an advocacy group within government that has delivered over 50 sessions on topics such as depression, anxiety, intersectionality, addiction, and imposter syndrome.
Beattie is quick to credit her collaborators. “I’ve played a major role in these initiatives, but I’m not one voice. There’s strength in numbers, and we have each other’s backs. That’s when the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts,” she says.
This work has already received recognition, including the Deputy’s Award of Excellence in 2019. But Beattie remains focused on outcomes. She cites a recent Université de Sherbrooke study revealing that lawyers experience significantly higher levels of psychological distress than the general population. Nearly 60 percent report symptoms of depression, 35.7 percent experience anxiety, and 24 percent have had suicidal thoughts.
“The numbers are remarkable,” she says. “That’s why it’s absolutely urgent to address these issues now, because lawyers are suffering.”
Structural issues persist. Long hours, a culture of overwork, and what former Chief Justice George Strathy described as the “gladiator litigator model” still define many legal environments. Beattie sees signs of progress, however, including regular meetings among large Bay Street firms to share mental health strategies.
She remains realistic about the obstacles. “Many lawyers don’t have time or energy at the end of the day to address their own mental health. The structure of practice makes it hard to get those needs met,” she says. “That’s why the change must come now. We’ve made real progress in starting the conversation; now we have to follow through.”
Ripple effect
For the past five years, Beattie has co-chaired the Law Society of Ontario’s Mental Health Summit for Legal Professionals, now the most attended CPD program in the regulator’s history, drawing over 6,000 participants annually. The summit has become a cultural touchstone, helping normalize mental health dialogue in law offices, courthouses, and law schools.
Her thought leadership blends legal rigour with storytelling, an approach that has encouraged professionals across the system to seek support, offer help, and advocate for systemic change.
The summit’s success lies in its diversity of voices. Judges, in-house counsel, Bay Street partners, solo practitioners, and academics speak candidly from their own experiences.
Beattie also emphasizes the value of everyday honesty, not just about mental illness but about the emotional toll of legal work.
“It’s about building a more compassionate culture,” she says. “You start hearing people say, ‘I’ve got terrible imposter syndrome,’ and others respond, ‘I’ve got that, too.’ That’s how we normalize it – by telling the truth.”
What’s next?
Beattie remains at the forefront of reorienting the profession’s view of wellness and success. She will continue to lead the Mental Health Summit and guide peer-driven initiatives within government.
Her voice remains central as legal workplaces reconsider how to support inclusion, flexibility, and psychological safety.
“Fundamentally, this change is being driven by people speaking publicly, senior lawyers, judges, even younger professionals,
sharing their lived experience,” she says. “Some go even further, offering practical strategies for changing the profession. And that’s where transformation begins.”
“Lawyers are still going to work hard, and I don’t think employers have to worry that their lawyers are going to demand working no more than 40 hours a week. Law offices should focus on making people happier and giving them the space to meet their needs”
Beth Beattie, LSM, Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General
INSIGHTS
As part of our editorial process, Key Media’s researchers interviewed the subject matter experts below for an analysis of this report and its findings.
As our National Director of AI, Innovation & Knowledge, Al Hounsell is transforming legal service delivery from the inside out. He has led the development of a firm-wide AI strategy that is setting a new standard in Canada. He’s improving how legal work gets done through better tools, smarter thinking, and stronger results for clients.
Through his role on the Ontario Bar Association’s AI Task Force and as a frequent voice at global legal summits, he’s influencing the frameworks that will govern technology in law—ensuring innovation moves forward without compromising integrity.
He’s a builder, a connector, and a catalyst for change.
Learn more at gowlingwlg.com/CLTop25
On behalf of Gowling WLG, congratulations Al on being voted among Canadian Lawyer’s Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers.
TOP 25 MOST INFLUENTIAL LAWYERS 2025
TOP 25 MOST INFLUENTIAL LAWYERS 2025
CHANGEMAKERS
Fraser MacLean
Associate Lawyer MacLean Law
Phone: 604 697 2820
Email: fmaclean@macleanlaw.ca
Website: macleanfamilylaw.ca
Sharon G. Druker, Ad. E. Lawyer, Partner, and Head of Corporate Services Department Robinson Sheppard Shapiro LLP
Phone: 514 393 4014
Email: sgdruker@rsslex.com Website: rsslex.com
Al Hounsell
National Director of AI, Innovation & Knowledge Gowling WLG
Doug Nathanson Chief Development Officer, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary Empire Company Limited Website: empireco.ca
Patrick Boucher Partner and Co-Head, National Capital Markets Practice McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Brett Colvin CEO and Co-Founder Goodlawyer
Maureen Killoran, KC
National Co-Chair Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
Roger Taplin Partner; Co-Leader, Global Metals & Mining McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Phone: 604 697 2820
Email: fmaclean@macleanlaw.ca
Website: macleanfamilylaw.ca
raser MacLean has built a reputation as a litigator who thrives on complex family law disputes while keeping client service at the heart of his practice.
An associate at MacLean Law, he has appeared at every level of court in British Columbia, including the Court of Appeal, and has helped shape rulings on parenting, support, relocation, and property division.
MacLean’s record includes one of BC’s largest interim support awards and extended trials involving parental alienation. In 2024, he drew national attention in Zhang v. , 2024 BCSC 285, when he exposed fabricated citations generated by ChatGPT –the first Canadian case to do so. The ruling set directives on AI in legal submissions and positioned MacLean as a leading voice in debates on technology and ethics.
Mentored early by Lorne MacLean, KC; the Hon. Keith Bracken; and Doug Eastwood, QC, he also credits years of competitive hockey with teaching the teamwork and determination he carries into practice. He has launched coaching programs at the firm, along with wellness retreats, and scholarships to support the next generation
Canadian Lawyer ’s Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers for 2025, MacLean continues to balance high-stakes advocacy with a commitment to mentorship, wellness, and client trust.
TOP 25 MOST INFLUENTIAL LAWYERS 2025
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR EDITORIAL BOARD FOR SELECTING THE TOP 25 MOST INFLUENTIAL
CANADIAN LAWYERS
Sarah Teich
Katherine Hensel
Beth Beattie, LSM
Caroline Zayid
Edward Waitzer
Lorin MacDonald
Janice Rubin
Dr. Pina D’Agostino
Donna Purcell
Michael Spratt
Fernando Garcia
Rosanne Kyle Craig Ferris
Quinn Ross Dale Orlando
Andrea Wood
Hilary Young
Tanya Walker
Raphael Tachie Lisa Skakun
Tanya Rothe
Karrin A. Powys-Lybbe
Emmanuel Pressman
Mark Persaud
Laurie Pawlitza Lorne O’Reilly, KC
Eugene Meehan, KC
Peter V. Nguyen
Andrew McLaughlin
Bruce McIvor
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR EDITORIAL BOARD FOR SELECTING THE
General Counsel & Chief Administration and Sustainability Officer
Jeff Davis
Bindu Cudjoe
Gerry Apostolatos
Cheryl Foy
Deborah Greenberg
Ian Hull
Monica Goyal
Sharon Haward-Laird
Using AI safely in family law
As more family lawyers embrace the potential of an AI-assisted practice, Michael McKiernan looks at how they can protect themselves
FOR MANY family lawyers, Fraser MacLean’s first encounter with artificial intelligence would have been enough to put them off incorporating the emerging technology in their own practice.
As counsel for the claimant in Zhang v. Chen, his team at MacLean Law helped uncover fake cases in a court filing by the respondent that ChatGPT had hallucinated. The subsequent ruling by BC Supreme Court Justice David Masuhara, in which he held MacLean’s opposing counsel personally liable for costs, went viral in legal circles in Canada and worldwide.
“Before then, I had little or no experience with AI,” MacLean says.
With that spectacularly vivid cautionary tale in mind, MacLean has spent the 18 months or so since experimenting extensively with various AI tools – including legally focused services such as Alexi and other programs with a broader reach – to increase the efficiency of his practice.
In addition to routine tasks such as proofreading and producing document summaries, MacLean has also begun integrating AI into his litigation preparation process. He bounces around ideas for examining key witnesses or seeks input before a court appearance before a judge, whether at trial or in chambers.
“The other week I ran through my submissions and asked [AI] for the 10 questions a judge is likely to ask me on them. It spat out some pretty good points,” he says. “AI may
not say what you want it to say, and you don’t have to use it. However, there could be pieces of it that are helpful and brilliant.”
Ontario lawyer Russell Alexander was a much earlier adopter of AI and has even authored a book on the subject, documenting the impact of the technology on every aspect of family law practice, from marketing and client intake to the drafting of pleadings and financial briefs.
“I went all-in on AI early on. I think it’s an exciting opportunity for the legal profession,” Alexander says.
As the technology continues to develop, it’s becoming harder for family lawyers to ignore it, he adds.
“Everyone has a foot in the game, and all the major legal service providers have some sort of AI assistant, depending on whatever their niche market is. We’re seeing a flood of
software companies claiming they can make your job more efficient,” Alexander says.
In fact, as the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society warned in its recently released AI Guide, lawyers may even be using AI without realizing, noting, for example, that “Microsoft Copilot is now automatically enabled in Microsoft 365, and Adobe Acrobat requires users to manually disable its ‘AI Assistant.’”
Although family lawyers are not the only ones dealing with legal AI risks, they have been prominent in bringing them to public attention. Soon after BC’s Zhang v. Chen case, Ontario’s family law practitioners got their own AI wake-up call in the divorce case of Ko v. Li, when Justice Fred Myers ordered a
show-cause hearing for possible contempt by the applicant’s counsel after she cited hallucinated cases in a factum. The same judge later dismissed the hearing, acknowledging the lawyer’s immediate apology and the “public shaming” she had endured in the meantime.
At family law boutique Crossroads Law in Vancouver, founder Marcus Sixta explains that it’s impossible to say whether family lawyers are uniquely vulnerable to the dangers of AI.
“That would be pure speculation, but what I would say is that family law is an area that can
“AI may not say what you want it to say, and you don’t have to use it. However, there could be pieces of it that are helpful and brilliant”
Fraser MacLean, MacLean Law
The All-In-One Software Solution for Family Law Firms
FAMILY LAW
be overwhelming for lawyers,” he says. “You’re dealing with highly emotional cases and people, which brings with it a lot of stress. You’re also dealing often with very tight timelines.”
There’s no question that AI tools have the potential to relieve some of that stress, but only when used with caution, Sixta adds.
Here are some practical steps lawyers can take to protect themselves when integrating AI into their family law practice:
Do your research
Before exploring or investing in an AI tool for their practice, “legal professionals need to understand what it can do and what it can’t do,” says family lawyer Brett Carlson, a partner in the Calgary office of Linmac LLP.
In the haze of hype and hysteria that has followed the rise of generative AI, Carlson says lawyers can easily be left with an inflated sense of its capabilities. Simply
investigating how a tool works and understanding its limitations – such as the propensity for hallucinated results – helps dispel the mystique and reduce the risk of overreliance.
“The most important thing for lawyers to recognize is that AI is not the saviour. It can be a great collaborative tool, but it’s not the solution to everything,” Carlson adds.
Keep it confidential
According to Sixta, security and confidentiality are major concerns for family lawyers who upload data to AI programs, particularly when they use open-source AI models that rely on prompts to train and improve results.
“We don’t know exactly how the program is going to use that information in future,” he says.
While the tech company’s data use and storage policies may offer some reassurance, there are no guarantees in an industry that traditionally takes pride in its “move-fast-and-break-things” approach.
“However, you can use them in a way that reduces the risk substantially by removing all the confidential or identifying information from anything that you input and keeping it more general,” Sixta adds.
Put humans above machines
In an increasingly digital world, the old-fashioned safeguards of supervision and verification are among the most crucial for family lawyers.
In some practices, Sixta says AI tools are effectively replacing paralegals, drafting affidavits and constructing financial statements for clients.
“It’s the lawyer’s responsibility to review the work done by a legal assistant or a paralegal before filing with the court. The same applies with AI,” he says. “You can just sit back and let it take over your practice.”
When his team members present memos to MacLean, he insists on having the first page of every cited decision printed out to satisfy him that it is not a fake. But that is
“The most important thing for lawyers to recognize is that AI is not the saviour. It can be a great collaborative tool, but it’s not the solution to everything”
Brett Carlson, Linmac LLP
just the first stage of a review process that ensures any AI-assisted outputs accurately reflect the relevant facts and law.
“You’ve got to double-check all of it,” he says. “Maintain rigorous professional and human oversight at every step.”
Be transparent
According to MacLean, sunlight is the best disinfectant when it comes to AI use in legal practice. He encourages his team to be open with each other about their use of technologies.
“If you ban it, that just pushes it underground. People are going to use it anyway, but outside of the firm’s data and security protocols, which can lead to more problems,” he says.
But courts and colleagues are not the only ones who need to be informed when AI has played a role in a lawyer’s provision of legal services: the person who ultimately pays the bill should also know how their information is being used.
“Our clients haven’t had any issues,” MacLean says. “They understand that this can be a helpful tool for our efficiency. And that in turn helps with keeping things economical for them.”
Best of in-house interviews
Our sister publication, Lexpert, profiles in-house counsel regularly online at lexpert.ca/news/in-house-lawyer. Below is a selection of profiles featured by Lexpert this year
TRACY ROSS
Company: RBC, Royal Bank
Title: Senior vice president and deputy general counsel
EXECUTING CANADA’S BIGGEST BANK ACQUISITION IN RECORD TIME
Royal Bank of Canada’s legal team didn’t just handle the largest banking transaction in Canadian history – they redefined how major acquisitions are executed. According to Tracy Ross, the transaction “was closed over a four-day weekend … which was unheard of, and I’m still surprised that it was done.”
That quote encapsulates what made this deal historic. It wasn’t just the $13.5 billion acquisition of HSBC Bank Canada. The scale, speed, and legal choreography behind it likely impressed the judging panel that awarded it M&A Deal of the Year at the Canadian Law Awards.
Ross makes clear that the complexity wasn’t just about dollars. “HSBC Canada had 10 separate legal entities that we had to integrate into RBC,” she says. That required a full-scale plan involving amalgamations, windups, and regulatory approvals across a highly scrutinized financial landscape. “We had to get regulatory approval from the Department of Finance, the Competition Bureau, securities regulatory bodies,” she says.
Legal restrictions on pre-close client data meant RBC couldn’t preload everything into their systems. Instead, the team engineered a legal and operational workaround under the microscope of regulators.
The operation took over 60 of RBC’s legal group members working around the clock in shifts over a single weekend. “There was a command centre with people from different operations, teams, functions, businesses, making sure that we were there to work with our colleagues to advise on any issues that came up in order to make this happen,” Ross says.
Her team also won for Banking & Financial Services Law Department of the Year and Canadian Law Department of the Year; these awards were presented to the entire legal group. “[The awards] recognized the people who didn’t work on the HSBC transaction,” Ross says. They “had to keep the bank running and had to cover for the people who were working on the deal.”
SARAH VIRANI
Company: The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
Title: Legal counsel
FROM LITIGATOR TO LEGAL INNOVATOR TO THE MENTAL HEALTH FRONT LINES
Sarah Virani never expected that overseeing a hospital’s security team would fall within the job description of a chief legal officer.
Virani’s approach to leadership isn’t about staying in predefined lanes. “One of the things that I’ve done … is gone and sat with security dispatch. I’ve walked the campus with our security guards,” she says. Her reason is simple: “It’s important for me to see what they’re encountering day to day… otherwise I can’t effectively lead them.” It’s an example of how she brings context and direct experience into a legal role that often remains high-level in other institutions.
That principle is central to Virani’s work at
“It’s important for me to see what they’re encountering day to day… otherwise I can’t effectively lead them”
“People tilt their head a little bit when I tell them that security is under the legal portfolio, as opposed to under facilities management,” she says. But at CAMH, where mental healthcare requires close coordination between clinical, legal, and community systems, the structure makes sense.
MIRIAM LEVIN
Company: Starlight Investments
Title: General counsel
CAMH, where innovation and collaboration are built into the hospital’s strategic direction. “CAMH is very focused on moving mental healthcare forward at the moment,” she says. That requires a legal department that can keep pace – not by saying no, but by helping leadership get to yes.
This approach reshapes the core of legal operations. Risk is inherent in healthcare – and unavoidable in mental health and research – but it’s not a barrier. She describes a process where she outlines the top 10 risks her institution might face. “Of these 10 risks that we’ve identified, how many are palatable to us?” she says. “Which one or two … might be deal-breakers?” Once that’s clear, the task shifts to designing around the obstacles. “Can we find a way to either minimize this risk, work around it, be creative with what we’re doing?”
BUILDING IN-HOUSE EXPERTISE OVER TIME TO HELP DRIVE THE BUSINESS
When it comes to what separates great in-house legal counsel from the rest, Miriam Levin doesn’t hesitate. “One of the key criteria is being able to spot risk,” she says. That applies everywhere – from M&A to regulatory shifts to contract review. “It’s a transferable skill,” she explains. “I’m a quick study. I’m naturally curious about the business I’m in.”
Levin recently stepped into the role of executive vice president and general counsel at Starlight Investments. Her move follows nearly a decade of increasingly senior in-house legal positions and an early foundation at Torys LLP. What defines her approach is a clear grasp of how legal strategy fuels business growth. “My role is being a strategic advisor that’s embedded in the business,” she says. “Acting as a key partner to the CEO and the other executives and working together to drive business growth.”
Despite moving from a public company to a privately held firm, Levin found the legal operations framework at both companies to be similar. Today, she leads a lean legal function responsible for a wide gamut, overseeing legal, risk, and insurance. The rest of the work is handled through external counsel on an as-needed basis.
Her message to lawyers aiming for general counsel roles is direct. Jumping from private practice straight into the GC seat is a stretch. She worked her way up through progressively senior in-house roles at the same company over nearly a decade before taking on the top job.
“You don’t get that kind of breadth and variety of work when you’re in private practice,” she says. When the career opportunity at Starlight surfaced, it was strongly aligned with Levin’s experience and ambitions. That alignment wasn’t just about job responsibilities. It was about purpose. Starlight’s stated mission to “invest with impact” is integrated into every aspect of the business.
IN-HOUSE PROFILES
KYLE KUCZYNSKI
Company: Fitzrovia
Title: Legal counsel
STRETCHING ACROSS DOMAINS, BLENDING CONTRACT WORK WITH REAL-WORLD OPERATIONS
Kyle Kuczynski didn’t originally intend to specialize in construction law. But a research assignment at his first firm cracked open the door to a specialty he now finds intellectually rich and practically essential.
Now senior legal counsel at Fitzrovia, Kuczynski sits inside Canada’s largest purpose-built rental developer, a company that doesn’t just build – it acquires land, designs projects, manages construction, leases, and handles property and asset management in-house. With over 9,000 units completed, acquired, or under development, Fitzrovia operates far beyond the conventions of residential development. For a lawyer like Kuczynski,
MELANIE HOAD
Company: Sompo
Title: Vice president, head of legal and compliance
that has meant stepping far beyond conventional legal work.
He started in private practice, first at Pallett Valo LLP where he worked almost exclusively in construction litigation for contractors and suppliers, then later at Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP.
Fitzrovia handles most of its legal files in-house. When a matter is too complex or large, Fitzrovia brings in outside counsel – but not to hand over the file and walk away. “We … take full ownership of the file. We will do a lot of the work ourselves,” Kuczynski explains. “We expect our law firms to be part of our team, as opposed to ‘Here’s the file – take it and run.’”
That collaborative model doesn’t suit every firm, but the ones that adapt, he says, deliver better service. “When you collaborate with someone, and you develop a partnership, they will, in turn, understand our business model… and give us better legal services than they otherwise would have.”
Kuczynski’s litigation instincts remain sharp, but his new responsibilities require him to think
less like an advocate and more like a strategist who sees the entire chessboard, including the external landscape. Changes to Ontario’s Construction Act, now in its third major phase since 2018, alter how projects handle holdback release and lien rights.
SHAPING LEGAL STRATEGY FOR INSURANCE GROWTH
A legal leader’s greatest asset isn’t technical expertise – it’s the ability to translate complexity into clarity and embed legal and compliance thinking into a business’ core. That’s the lesson that emerges from Melanie Hoad’s approach to building the legal and compliance function at Sompo. “Building a foundation of open communication is key … my office door, or my laptop when I’m remote, is always open,” she says.
Hoad’s career began with litigation in private practice, which she calls “a fantastic training ground for problem-solving and advocacy.” But she wanted to move beyond resolving disputes and get closer to business decision-making. Moving in-house, she says, allowed her to “proactively shape those outcomes” rather than just react to problems.
The transition wasn’t a leap, but a series of steps. Hoad first joined the litigation department of a large property and casualty insurer, Chubb, gaining insight into the
business side of insurance. That opened the door to coverage counsel and later a corporate legal role at CNA, each expanding her responsibilities. “Each step allowed me to … grow and deepen my expertise in the insurance industry,” she says.
When she took on a new corporate role, her litigation background sharpened her ability to anticipate risk and shape business practices before issues arise. “It was a steep learning curve,” she says, but the experience helped her see how to prevent negative outcomes through contract language, process, and communication.
When Hoad joined Sompo in 2025, she brought experience from building a legal and compliance team at CNA. The appeal of Sompo was the chance to do it again, but this time with the benefit of hard-won knowledge. “I knew I could duplicate it and do it here,” she says. The company is growing in the Canadian market, so the process will be slower, but the goal is the same: build a legal function that grows with the business.
JEFFREY WESTMAN
Company: Edmonton Police Service
Title: Legal counsel
HELPING OFFICERS NAVIGATE SCRUTINY AND ENSURE POSITIVE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Jeffrey Westman’s transition from private
practice to litigation counsel at the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) wasn’t about escaping billable hours or chasing a promotion. It was about returning to a place where his values –courage, integrity, and a deep sense of family –weren’t just slogans. They were embodied in the work, in the people, and in the purpose.
“For me… values are actually informing everything you do,” Westman says. “When you are doing things that are inconsistent with those values or aren’t somehow intrinsically rewarding, it just becomes more difficult to do.”
Westman’s journey back to EPS – where he once served as an officer – was personal as much as it was professional. After a stint at Bennett Jones LLP in Calgary, he posted on LinkedIn that he was “thrilled to be moving back to Edmonton with my husband and rejoining the Edmonton Police Service as litigation counsel.” The decision wasn’t made lightly. “For many
reasons too personal to share,” he wrote, “I’ve realized that my heart is still in policing.”
In his role at EPS, Westman focuses on litigation that carries reputational risk, especially where public perception is shaped by short clips and soundbites. “The goal… is to tell a story,” he says. “For people to have confidence in the police… they have to understand what police are doing.” And it’s his job to help ensure that understanding comes with context and nuance.
Roughly 75 percent of his work involves preparing for or appearing in court and tribunals. His cases span the civil and administrative spectrum – no criminal matters, he clarifies. Occasionally, Westman encounters an officer who is distrustful of the media or legal process. A critical advantage of working in-house, he says, is the relationship he’s able to build with these officers. “You’re able to approach them more as a colleague… and help them tell their own story.”
For Legal Services — The Right Fit Matters
We give you what you need, not what you don’t. With our flexibility and the right expertise across a wide variety of business law areas, we provide a customized legal solution for you and your business – all without compromising excellence in service or advice.
For legal representation that’s the right fit for you, try our Right-sized Thinking™.
IN-HOUSE PROFILES
CHRISTINE CHEN
Company: University Pension Plan
Ontario
Title: General counsel
THE FIRST GENERAL COUNSEL ON BUILDING A STRONG FOUNDATION FOR A $10.8B
LAUNCH
Christine Chen didn’t just join University Pension Plan Ontario (UPP) in 2021 – she helped build it from the ground up. Within six months of arriving, and in the middle of a pandemic, Chen launched the $10.8 billion fund’s legal operations, despite having no infrastructure, no legal team, and no margin for error.
“Starting an organization from a blank piece of paper, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” she says. “It’s also really, really daunting.”
Personal credit cards filled gaps where systems didn’t exist. Critical agency agreements, governance frameworks, and transitional arrangements with the three founding universities were negotiated under intense pressure. “Without [our external counsel], we would not have launched on time,” she says. At the same time, Chen developed core legal policies, regulatory compliance structures, and governance documentation for the board, and drafted and negotiated dozens of startup contracts
CHALLENGING MYTHS AS A SUPREME COURT OF CANADA INTERVENER
A legal system that fails to confront myths about sexual violence doesn’t just fall short – it can deepen the harm for survivors. That’s the reality exposed by the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent handling of R. v. Sheppard , where the Court of Appeal of Alberta’s decision relied on outdated and damaging assumptions about historic sexual violence at a boarding school.
Angela Marinos, chief general counsel at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR), says the case revealed just how far the courts still must go to dismantle or eradicate such harmful misconceptions. She recalls reading the appellate court decision and being stunned by the persistence of myths: “There were statements in there about how there is no crime of sexual violence, questioning this person who had gone through horrible sexual abuse when they were 12 and 13, their grade seven year… I literally identified
–laying the foundation for UPP’s operational independence.
Chen wasn’t just drafting documents. She was recruiting UPP’s inaugural C-suite, hiring her own legal department, and building relationships with key external partners – all while safeguarding fiduciary obligations for the 37,000 pension members they had at launch, which has since grown to 41,000.
“We were very deliberate in terms of trying to find senior people,” she says. “We needed people who knew what they were doing.”
Her hiring lens was sharp: excellence was mandatory, diversity non-negotiable. “I’m looking for diversity in candidates, not just from a gender or ethnicity perspective, but really thought perspective,” she says.
Today, UPP’s legal team is 11 lawyers strong, majority female and majority racialized. Chen makes clear this isn’t optics, and she expects the same commitment to diversity from external firms. “I ask for the diversity metrics quarterly,” she says. “If there are questions around whether they’re living up to that, then we will have a discussion.”
10 myths and misconceptions, which is unheard of… In most decisions, you’ll find two or three errors max… But 10 – that was just extreme,” she says.
In Sheppard , the Supreme Court of Canada allowed the Crown’s appeal, restored the trial judge’s sentence, and ordered the respondent to report to the authorities within 48 hours to be reincarcerated, with reasons to follow.
For Marinos, the shift from government litigator to human rights advocate has been transformative. At the Department of Justice, she was expected to defend legislation and government decisions, regardless of her personal views.
The work is also more selective. At the DOJ, files landed on her desk whether she wanted them or not. At the RWCHR, Marinos chooses which cases to pursue, giving her “a lot more independence and legal creativity… I don’t have a team of three or four counsel putting their heads together to create the argument. I really like this aspect.”
YURY SMAGORINSKY
Company: Valnet
Title: General counsel and vice president
DOUGLAS CHEN
Company: Baz Group of Companies
Title: General counsel
DRIVING M&A GROWTH
In a media industry often defined by churn, contraction, and click-chasing, Valnet has been writing a different story – one defined by methodical expansion, editorial investment, and legal precision. Yury Smagorinsky, general counsel and vice president of legal affairs at Valnet, sits at the centre of that machine.
Valnet’s acquisition of Polygon, a storied gaming publication formerly owned by Vox Media, marks another calculated move in the company’s aggressive growth strategy. Smagorinsky doesn’t equivocate on the rationale. “Valnet is a very acquisitive company ... it’s in our DNA and we’re always looking to expand and grow our business with key strategic acquisitions,” he says. Polygon, with its distinct voice and entrenched audience, “would complement our already robust portfolio of gaming brands quite well,” he explains, adding that Valnet believes it can “take it to the next level.”
That ambition is backed up by experience. Valnet has closed 15 digital media acquisitions over the past four years, with much of the legal
NAVIGATING COMPLEX LEGAL TERRAIN AS LONE COUNSEL
Douglas Chen didn’t set out to be the only lawyer at one of Canada’s largest privately owned real estate companies – but that’s exactly where he’s landed, and it’s a role that demands both versatility and decisiveness. Since joining Baz Group of Companies (Baz) in January 2022, he has navigated legal matters that span across development, multifamily operations, retirement communities, and property management in seven North American markets.
While his title has changed over the years, the essence of his responsibilities remains constant: overseeing the legal operations of the company and its affiliates. He describes Baz as a real estate investment company made up of diverse real estate verticals. What began as Marlin Spring, a residential development company, has since expanded into multi-family housing in Canada and the US, and a seniors’ living platform called Spring Living.
heavy lifting done internally. Smagorinsky says, “We handled the Polygon acquisition from A to Z …whether it’s the due diligence … drafting and negotiating the asset purchase agreement … [or] the other documents related to the transaction.”
But if the process seemed seamless, that doesn’t mean it was without friction. This wasn’t a typical deal, Smagorinsky notes. “In our typical acquisitions … they don’t tend to be carve-outs the way this is… Vox still remains in business.” That brought new challenges around decoupling shared services and untangling embedded contracts. Still, the team pushed through.
“It’s what we call our bread-and-butter acquisitions,” Smagorinsky says, referring to Valnet’s prowess as an acquirer of premier digital publications. Yet beneath the confidence is a deeper operational insight: the efficiency of Valnet’s legal function isn’t just a matter of technical competence – it’s a strategic advantage. “Having an in-house team that’s deeply involved in the M&A process … pays dividends,” he says.
Before Baz, Chen built his legal foundation in private practice, focusing on commercial real estate law. But it was his move to Restaurant Brands International (RBI) – the parent company of Tim Hortons, Burger King, and Popeyes – that first exposed him to the inner workings of a corporate legal team. At RBI, he handled real estate and franchise law, but over time, he found himself missing the complexity of development transactions. The role at Baz “felt like it was the right opportunity to get back closer to what I had been doing more so when I was in private practice,” he says.
The new role required him to jump into a business environment that moves fast, touches many sectors, and demands legal fluency across disciplines. And with no other in-house lawyers to lean on, Chen had to broaden his legal bandwidth quickly. “As general counsel now... I’m involved in human resources conversations... even our service contracts, with... computer providers, photocopy providers,” he explains.
COMMERCIAL LITIGATION
Shortened dispute timelines problematic: business litigators
Lawyers say a proposal to shorten Ontario’s litigation dispute timelines could prove challenging in the context of business disputes, writes Jessica Mach
SINCE THEY were first published in April, proposed reforms to Ontario’s Rules of Civil Procedure have drawn concerns from lawyers across the bar. For business litigators, one key concern is how the proposed rules would truncate litigation timelines so that disputes have to be resolved within two years – a change that could substantially shift how, where, and even if parties decide to pursue litigation.
“I do think it’s a little unrealistic, particularly in the commercial world, where you have potentially hundreds of witnesses, thousands of documents,” says Craig Lockwood, a partner at Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, of the two-year timeline.
“The proof will be in the pudding, in the sense that we’ll have to see how it plays out,” Lockwood adds. “But it strikes me that you’re going to have to cut corners in order to get that two-year window to be functional across the board … it doesn’t really take into account the business realities.”
Brian Kolenda, a partner at Lenczner Slaght LLP, says that while such a timeline is not unusual for certain types of complex, high-stakes business disputes – like those on the commercial list – many others “would ordinarily take seven years to resolve.”
“The cost and timing of that process is now going to be compressed,” Kolenda says. He adds that that will “require clients to think very carefully about whether they’re prepared to incur those costs or approach differently the question of potential resolution of a case.”
The proposed reforms were unveiled in a 122-page report by the Civil Rules Review Working Group, a committee launched by
tions, changing document production obligations, and introducing new pre-litigation protocols. In the spring, several lawyers’ organizations wrote to Downey to express apprehension about the proposed rules. One of those organizations, the Federation of Ontario Law Associations, raised concerns that most of the CRR Working Group’s members served “big businesses and
“You’re going to have to cut corners in order to get that two-year window to be functional across the board”
Craig Lockwood, Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
Ontario Attorney General Doug Downey and Ontario Superior Court of Justice Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz in 2024 to improve the provincial justice system. The CRR Working Group is distinct from the Civil Rules Committee, which has historically been tasked with reviewing adjustments to the Rules of Civil Procedure.
The proposed changes are sweeping, with suggestions like eliminating oral examina-
institutions” and therefore failed to take into account the needs of other types of lawyers, like those who practised personal injury and insurance law.
Ironically, Lockwood, a member of Osler’s litigation group, whose clients include major companies, suggests that the court’s efforts to streamline proceedings could work better for insurance matters than commercial disputes – particularly complex cases
involving multiple parties and issues arising over decades of events.
Lockwood says he suspects that one of the most controversial proposals – eliminating oral examinations during discovery –would be key to cutting the corners necessary for meeting the two-year dispute timeline. While oral examinations typically occur outside the courtroom, Lockwood says, they can be lengthy; removing them from the equation could significantly shorten the dispute process.
However, Lockwood says this prospect is troubling in the context of commercial litigation. For example, he argues that fraud cases can’t be meaningfully litigated without discovery.
“You need an opportunity to test the other side’s evidence,” he says. “You need to explore the depths of what they produced,
what they haven’t produced. You need to basically test the veracity of their story, and oral discovery is really the only opportunity to do that.”
Another time-saving measure that could pose problems is the proposal to resolve procedural issues through conferences rather than motions. In its report, the CRR Working Group noted that Ontario’s current “motions culture” effectively allowed litigants “to become entangled in endless battles over the process that will govern how the dispute will be litigated.” The working group said this norm was costly and often introduced substantial delays.
“My suspicion is there’s going to be a very high bar to get motions heard, because [the courts are] going to view them as an impediment to expedient justice,” Lockwood says.
NOTABLE PROPOSED CIVIL RULES REFORMS
Addressing the “burden of discovery” by requiring parties to only disclose documents that they intend to rely on as well as all known adverse documents
Eliminating oral examinations in favour of sworn witness statements
Requiring parties to reach a final resolution within two years of initiating a case
Resolving procedural issues through conferences rather than motions
COMMERCIAL LITIGATION
ONTARIO CIVIL RULES REVIEW
January 2024 Ontario Attorney General Doug Downey and Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario Geoffrey Morawetz launch the Civil Rules Review to reform the Rules of Civil Procedure. A working group is appointed to develop reform proposals.
May 2024 The working group publishes its first report identifying the scope of potential reforms.
April 2025 The working group publishes a second, 122-page report with specific reform proposals. The Civil Rules Review Phase 2 Committee’s co-chairs were Justice Cary Boswell of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and Allison Speigel of Speigel Nichols Fox LLP.
“That seems fine in the abstract, but motions practice is fundamental to what a commercial litigator does, in the sense that motions are oftentimes more important than the ultimate trial because they narrow the issues, they refine the issues, they shape the litigation,” he adds. “If you remove those sorts of gatekeeping metrics from the equation, it’s going to make for a difficult process.”
According to Kolenda, the pressure of having to resolve a dispute within two years is exacerbated by other changes proposed by the CRR Working Group, like requiring parties to produce documents much earlier in the litigation process than they currently do. That could change how litigants approach
“Because of the demands of this very quick process with very tight timelines, it will require all sides to be ready to litigate more quickly,” Kolenda says. “In some cases, that will mean that parties will have a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their case early on, and … will want to be prepared to settle quickly.”
In other cases, Kolenda foresees parties being more eager to go to trial because all the extra work they did early in the process affirmed their belief that they have a strong case.
He adds that the proposed rules likely won’t have a uniform impact on all commercial matters. But because a compressed litigation timeline with significant upfront obligations will cost a lot of money within a short period, many businesses will likely “be more motivated to try to resolve disputes consensually before engaging in the litigation process,” Kolenda says. “I think clients will have to think long and hard before they just issue a claim.”
While neither Kolenda nor Lockwood is convinced that these changes will push more parties to arbitration, Lockwood predicts they will encourage certain litigants involved in class actions to leave Ontario altogether.
“Historically, Ontario has been a very popular jurisdiction for class action by virtue of our bench and our jurisprudence,” Lockwood says. “If litigants feel that they’re not going
“This very quick process with very tight timelines … will require all sides to be ready to litigate more quickly”
Brian Kolenda, Lenczner Slaght LLP
disputes, Kolenda says: plaintiffs would likely have to do much more work before they even file a claim, to meet the tight deadlines, while defendants would be smart to start strategizing how to defend themselves if they believe a dispute could become litigious.
to get the same rights in Ontario that they otherwise would – if they’re going to lose oral discovery rights – they may well choose to litigate in another jurisdiction entirely.
“I do worry a bit about the cooling effect it’s going to have on the development of the common law in Ontario,” he adds.
WILLS, TRUSTS, AND ESTATES LAW BOUTIQUES
TOP 10 WILLS, TRUSTS, AND ESTATES LAW BOUTIQUES 2025-26
THE TRUSTED HANDS THAT HOLD THE QUILL
CANADA’S LEADING wills, trusts, and estates law firms are addressing an era of unprecedented complexity and change in the field.
According to STEP Canada chair Richard Niedermayer, K.C., TEP, the forces reshaping practice today include:
• massive intergenerational wealth transfer that is redefining estate planning priorities
• a more mobile client base that brings greater cross-border and multijurisdictional complexity
• growing awareness of the need for domestic arrangements, such as cohabitation and marriage contracts, among younger entrepreneurs and wealth inheritors
• the rise of digital assets and AI, alongside constant volatility in tax and legislation
“The best practitioners are those who have a deep legal specialty in the area but who also engage with other advisors, such as tax, accounting, financial/banking, investments, and insurance, to provide a holistic approach to a client’s needs,” he remarks.
Canadian Lawyer’s fourth edition recognizes the top 10 wills, trusts, and estates law firms nationwide. In all, there were 30 nominees, based on firms where the majority of work comes from wills, trusts, and estates law.
Readers ranked their top firms from a preliminary list, with a chance to nominate a firm that was not included. Final results combined reader votes on a weighted points
system with Lexpert peer survey results, feedback from senior members of the bar, and regional diversity considerations.
The 2025–26 results reflect the voices of Canada’s legal and professional community. The majority of voters were practising lawyers, joined by trust officers, advisors, and other professionals who work closely with estate matters. Their combined perspectives underscore that the leading boutiques were chosen not only by peers at the bar but also by the wider network that relies on their expertise. This year’s honourees stand out for a combination of qualities that define excellence in wills, trusts, and estates practice:
• depth of expertise across planning, litigation, trusts, estates, and tax, with the ability to manage both straightforward and complex matters
• client-centred advocacy that blends technical skill with compassion, supporting people through grief, conflict, and sensi-
Source: STEP, Attitudes to Wealth 2025
tive family dynamics
• practical problem-solving advice that cuts through complexity and delivers usable solutions
• leadership within the profession through mentorship, education, and knowledgesharing that elevates the entire bar
• trusted reputation and community connection that make these firms reliable referral points and anchors for clients and peers
Why wills, trusts, and estates law firms remain vital
Wills, trusts, and estates law firms sit at the heart of Canada’s legal market managing the intersection of personal wealth, family dynamics, and generational transition.
A Scotiatrust survey of affluent Canadians over 50 found that while 90 percent have a will, only 69 percent say it is up to date. Even more concerning, 41 percent do not have a power of attorney for financial matters, and
WEALTH TRANSFER PRIORITIES
Considering the survey respondents’ client base as a whole, how many of their clients intend to:
Note: Graph displays average proportion of clients engaging in each behaviour per respondent (n = 642).
47 percent lack a power of attorney for personal or medical care.
These gaps leave families exposed to financial and emotional turmoil, while also underscoring the demand for professional guidance. Other key findings include:
• 91 percent say they are confident their executor will have the skills and time to carry out the role.
• 63 percent acknowledge it’s emotionally difficult to be the executor of an estate.
• 62 percent have named their spouse or child as executor, opening the door to uneasy family dynamics.
Succession and demographic forces
Succession and demographic forces are reshaping the practice of wills, trusts, and estates, according to STEP’s 2025 Attitudes to Wealth survey.
A significant intergenerational wealth transfer is underway, fuelling demand for legal expertise that manages both assets and family expectations. Most clients aim to pass on their wealth to family, prioritizing financial security for future generations, though a minority seek to limit wealth accumulation or give everything away.
However, communication between wealth creators and beneficiaries often falters due to privacy concerns, fear of entitlement, or a desire to avoid conflict, and many practitioners see a need for more education around trusts to support succession and continuity.
Making its debut on the Top 10 list this year is Toronto’s Fern Law, recognized for its balanced approach to the tensions of modern succession planning while also guiding families through the disputes that can follow.
Partner and founder Kristine Anderson, with over 20 years of courtroom experience, explains, “We focus on achieving outcomes and crafting a solution that is fair to our clients and is one that everyone can live with, rather than a scorched earth approach to litigation.
This means we are not the right fit for some clients who want to take a bulldog approach.”
Blended families and fairness across generations
Blended families present significant challenges in estate planning, say Anderson and the Fern Law team. Stepchildren, competing loyalties, and obligations from prior relationships can complicate decisions, and even the drafting stage requires care.
“You have to be extremely careful about using words like ‘children’ or ‘issue’ in the will as you may be inadvertently leaving out stepchildren or step-grandchildren.”
Estate planning in these situations demands deep, candid conversations to balance the expectations of all family members and legal obligations to former spouses.
Powers of attorney can also be contentious, especially when biological children may resent supporting a second spouse. “Unfortunately, we see too many situations where the second spouse has to beg for support or has to litigate the issue. This could be prevented with a clearly articulated estate plan.”
Another growing trend is parents loaning money to children, which raises questions about whether to forgive those loans or adjust inheritances later. These scenarios underscore the sensitive calculations required for fair succession planning.
METHODOLOGY
In June, Canadian Lawyer asked readers from across Canada to vote on the wills, estates, and trust boutiques. They were asked to rank their top firms from a preliminary list, with a chance to nominate a firm that was not included.
To be considered in the vote, firms were required to have the majority of their business come from their work from wills, trusts, and estate law. The final rankings were determined through a points system in which firms were rewarded on a sliding scale for the number of votes by ranking.
The quantitative results were combined with the Lexpert peer survey results, where applicable, along with feedback from respected senior members of the bar and regional diversity considerations.
Guiding clients through difficult choices
Succession planning raises stark questions for families with young children. Anderson says many parents struggle most with deciding who would become guardian if both parents died together. She guides them past this hurdle by explaining that naming someone in the will is not set in stone and will still be subject to court oversight. The courts apply the bestinterest-of-the-child principle, which gives families flexibility if circumstances change.
Anderson herself also represents a distinct group of clients – successful, single women without children or partners.
“These clients struggle with deciding
“We are litigators, so we love going to court, but rushing off to court is not the solution to every problem”
Kristine
Anderson, Fern Law
whom to leave their estate,” she says. “I meet clients where they are, and we work through several scenarios with real numbers until we land on a scenario that feels right. Respecting their process is part of the client service.”
Litigation with empathy and practicality
Litigation is a major part of Fern Law’s practice, but the team’s approach resists unneces-
TOP 10 WILLS, TRUSTS, AND ESTATES LAW BOUTIQUES 2025-26
“Estate disputes are deeply personal, and because we concentrate on this area of law specifically, we are immersed in it every day and bring real passion to our advocacy”
Benjamin P. Carver, Carver Estate Law & Litigation
sary escalation. The firm’s strategy emphasizes encouraging open communication with opposing counsel, identifying client interests and need rather than rigid positions, documenting resolution terms to avoid future misunderstandings.
“Fern Law’s approach does not suggest that we aren’t fierce advocates for our clients, but the overly aggressive obstructionist approach to litigation typically only benefits lawyers by increasing the legal fees the client has to pay,” Anderson says.
Disputes and litigation growth
Families often avoid or delay conversations about inheritance out of fear of conflict, increasing the risk of disputes later. A STEP survey found that only four percent of clients communicate very effectively with their families about wealth, while 41 percent said communication was only somewhat
CANADIAN LAWYER’S READERS WERE QUICK TO HIGHLIGHT WHAT SETS THESE FIRMS APART. HERE’S WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY ABOUT THIS YEAR’S TOP 10.
Hull & Hull LLP: “Ian Hull and his team show real commitment to the estate bar through mentorship, professional development, and responsiveness on time-sensitive matters.”
Casey & Moss LLP: “They stand out not just for expertise, but for consistently leading with empathy, trust, and support for clients in tough family situations.”
Bales Beall LLP: “They handle highly contested disputes with efficiency and focus on results, drawing on family law insight to resolve complex dynamics.”
Arkin Furrow Estate Law LLP: “They pay close attention to detail and approach every issue with a problem-solving mindset.”
Goddard Gamage LLP: “They combine litigation and solicitors’ work with real care for clients and remain recognized leaders in the field.”
Fern Law: “Kristine Anderson and her team deliver practical, effective advice and have earned lasting trust with referrals.”
Whaley Estate Litigation (WEL) Partners: “A leader not just for client satisfaction but also for education, public awareness, and community support.”
Carver Estate Law & Litigation: “Ben Carver and his team went above and beyond in a complex dispute, winning the case through meticulous research and courtroom skill.”
Legacy Tax + Trust Lawyers: “They bring depth across planning and litigation, with the tax expertise needed for complex estates and trusts.”
Horne Coupar LLP: “They combine knowledge and experience with practical advice, exceptional service, and strong community commitment.”
effective, and the rest acknowledged major shortcomings. Avoidance, cultural barriers, and a belief that succession planning can be put off all add to the silence. Distrust in heirs or concerns about mismanagement, along with worries about spendthrift behaviour, irresponsible heirs, or conflicts with children’s spouses and partners, are recurring triggers.
Combined with poor communication, these dynamics create fertile ground for disputes that increasingly end up in litigation.
Nova Scotia’s Carver Estate Law & Litigation has made its reputation in precisely this space. The firm has earned recognition in the province and beyond for its focus on estate disputes.
Ranked Tier 1 locally for trusts and estates, the first-time Top 10 awardee combines planning and administration with a strong litigation practice. Principal lawyer Benjamin P. Carver says the firm’s approach reflects the reality that estate work often turns contentious.
Carver notes a clear trend in the disputes landing before the courts.
“The most common disputes now involve wealth transfers made outside the will,” he says. These include joint accounts, beneficiary designations, and last-minute property transfers, where large sums of money can be moved quickly, often with little advice or oversight, and usually surface only after death. “The result is frequent litigation over capacity, undue influence, and resulting trusts,” he adds.
Balancing cost, fairness, and relationships
Estate litigation is both costly and emotional, Carver says, and the firm’s approach reflects that reality. “Relationships are at the heart of almost every estate dispute, and they shape how we approach resolution.” The firm carefully weighs more than just financial considerations when advising clients, factoring in family relationships, privacy concerns, and reputation. “When a practical resolution is possible, we move toward it quickly; when it is not, we prepare to see
“Publishing is highly encouraged and strongly valued in our firm. It keeps all of our lawyers on top of key developments in the practice area and also promotes our practice”
Bryan Gilmartin, WEL Partners
the matter through to hearing,” Carver explains. Clear and candid communication with both clients and opposing counsel is a hallmark of the practice, and in Nova Scotia’s close-knit legal community, Carver adds, “Professional courtesy is essential even when legal issues are vigorously contested.”
Carver highlights the advantages of a focused practice over larger or generalist firms. Each lawyer at the firm began in a larger firm setting, but Carver says the boutique model better serves individual clients. He notes, “With fewer conflicts, responsive service, and concentrated expertise, we are often the firm of choice for conflict referrals and for clients from all parts of Canada who find themselves involved in Nova Scotia estate proceedings.”
In Toronto, Whaley Estate Litigation Partners (WEL Partners) has built its reputation as a litigation-only boutique, focusing squarely on estate, trust, and fiduciary disputes across Ontario. From capacity issues to elder abuse and undue influence, the firm is unapologetically dedicated to disputes. Its work reflects the complexity of modern estates, the gaps in legislation, and the importance of sustained thought leadership in shaping the field.
Rising complexity in estates
Partner Bryan Gilmartin notes a clear shift in the types of cases the firm is seeing. “The complexity of assets is on the rise,” he says.
With more Canadians holding property and investments abroad, disputes are now tied to assets scattered across jurisdic-
tions. Identifying and dealing with those assets is often difficult, especially when they are not properly addressed in a will.
Gilmartin adds that while this can be a challenge, it is also a welcomed opportunity to collaborate with practitioners in those jurisdictions to resolve the issues.
The firm’s reputation for publishing is not incidental, as it ensures lawyers stay current on key developments and promotes the firm’s profile in the field. WEL Partners’ website has become a widely cited source of information in estates litigation, reflecting the firm’s commitment to education as much as advocacy.
“Frequent publishing also maintains and grows our collective knowledge base, which directly transcends the quality advice we provide to our clients,” he says.
Legislative gaps in guardianship
Gilmartin points to emerging issues that could reshape the practice.
In Ontario, there is no legislative mechanism to recognize guardianship orders made in foreign jurisdictions. This gap is increasingly problematic as foreign-owned assets in Ontario become more common. When an owner of such assets becomes incapable and falls under guardianship abroad, the appointed guardian’s authority cannot be recognized in Ontario.
“Our courts have wrestled with this issue given an increased demand for access to these assets, often to assist with paying for the incapable person’s care and treatment costs,” Gilmartin explains.
INSIGHTS
As part of
Richard Niedermayer, K.C., TEP Chair
STEP Canada
A common law solution has recently been developed and applied, offering a potential workaround to the legislative gap. But, as he notes, “It remains to be seen how broadly and effectively this will be applied and what further issues will arise.”
With its focus on disputes and its depth of publishing, WEL Partners stands out as judiciary-adjacent and resource-rich. By blending frontline advocacy with thought leadership, the firm is shaping how estate disputes are fought today and how the practice evolves tomorrow.
Innovation and client service
Practitioners are rethinking how they engage with clients, shifting from a purely technical role to one that emphasizes stewardship and long-term planning. The STEP survey reveals that nearly half of respondents (47 percent) believe advisors should raise issues of responsible wealth management when they align with client goals, while 39 percent think lawyers should take a guiding role and 10 percent favour a proactive stance. This shows a clear expectation that firms will lean in rather than wait for instructions.
At the same time, innovation is rapidly transforming how wills, trusts, and estates law firms deliver value. Generative AI use in law doubled in 2024, and another doubledigit surge is expected in 2025, according to a Thomson Reuters survey. Lawyer use of AI rose from 14 percent to 26 percent year over year. For boutique firms, AI is already streamlining document drafting and research, freeing more capacity to focus on complex client needs. Demand for digital tools is accelerating and the global estate planning
our editorial process, Key Media’s researchers interviewed the subject matter expert below for an analysis of this report and its findings.
TOP 10 WILLS, TRUSTS, AND ESTATES LAW BOUTIQUES 2025-26
“It has become abundantly clear that the future of law must embrace AI. The efficiencies it brings into our workflows allows us the opportunity to provide greater client service and focus more on what we as lawyers do best”
Suzana Popovic-Montag, Hull & Hull LLP
software market is projected to grow from US$1.5 billion in 2024 to US$4.2 billion by 2033. These trends indicate that clients increasingly expect accessible, technologyenabled service, and firms that embrace both AI and specialized planning platforms will be best positioned to meet this demand.
Balancing
tradition with innovation
Hull & Hull LLP’s lawyers gather every week for a “Lawyers’ Lunch” to discuss new case law, file management, and creative strategies for dealing with client matters. This long-standing tradition reflects the firm’s commitment to learning and open exchange.
Founded in 1957, Hull & Hull is a leading name in estate, trust, and capacity litigation, with work ranging from mediation to appearances before the Supreme Court of Canada. The firm’s reputation is built on client service, education, and innovation.
Managing partner Suzana PopovicMontag says, “We are deeply committed to balancing innovation with tradition, ensuring that our practice remains at the forefront of the legal field while honouring our rich heritage.” The firm holds weekly AI training sessions, uses CoCounsel for document review, and leverages Otter.ai and Zoom for meeting summaries. However, Popovic-Montag is clear that technology
must enhance rather than replace human judgment. She stresses that AI cannot substitute for critical thinking or emotional intelligence, and Hull & Hull invests in a closed, reputable system to ensure reliability and trust.
Litigation with empathy
Empathy is central to Hull & Hull’s litigation approach. Popovic-Montag notes, “I have learned that no matter how technical the legal issues may be, at the heart of almost every case is a human story, often involving grief, fractured relationships, and longstanding tensions.” The firm provides early, realistic advice to manage client expectations and prevent disputes. Their dual role as litigators and planners allows them to anticipate risks and explain both legal and human consequences.
Education and mentorship are also core to the firm’s culture. Hull & Hull publishes guides, hosts a long-running podcast, and encourages collaboration and mentorship. The firm’s reputation for fairness and courtesy is well established, even as client needs evolve with changing family dynamics. By addressing issues early and focusing on practical solutions, Hull & Hull preserves both assets and relationships, exemplifying excellence in wills, trusts, and estates law in Canada.
Carver Estate Law & Litigation
Phone: 902 608 7725
Email: inquiries@carverlaw.ca
Website: carverlaw.ca
Fern Law
Phone: 416 748 4258
Email: kristine@fernlaw.ca
Website: fernlaw.ca
Goddard Gamage LLP
Phone: 416 928 6685
Email: info@ggslawyers.com
Website: ggslawyers.com
Horne Coupar LLP
Phone: 250 388 6631
Email: jill@hc-law.com
Website: hornecoupar.com
Hull & Hull LLP
Phone: 416 369 1140
Email: spopovic@hullandhull.com
Website: hullandhull.com
Whaley Estate Litigation Partners (WEL Partners)
Phone: 416 925 7400
Email: kim@welpartners.com
Website: welpartners.com
Arkin Furrow Estate Law LLP
Bales Beall LLP
Casey & Moss LLP
Legacy Tax + Trust Lawyers
Conclusion: meeting the demands of complexity and change
The 10 law firms recognized by CL exemplify the highest standard of excellence in wills, trusts, and estates law in Canada. Renowned for their expertise in planning, litigation, tax, and administration, these firms skillfully guide families through complex and challenging situations. Each combines technical proficiency with compassion, offering support during life’s most difficult moments. Beyond their caseloads, these firms serve as mentors, educators, and leaders, embodying the qualities that make Canada’s estate bar a trusted cornerstone of the legal community.
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
Ontario reforms spark medical malpractice backlash
Plaintiff lawyers warn that Ontario’s civil justice overhaul would upend medical malpractice litigation, writes Tim Wilbur
ONTARIO’S SWEEPING civil justice reforms, championed by Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz and Attorney General Doug Downey, are drawing sharp criticism from plaintiff-side medical malpractice lawyers. The overhaul, co-chaired by Ontario Superior Court of Justice Cary Boswell and Allison Speigel of Speigel Nichols Fox LLP, promises faster, simpler litigation. For those litigating medical negligence, though, they say the changes threaten to undermine the very core of their practice.
Plaintiff lawyers challenge new rules
Aleks Mladenovic, partner at Thomson Rogers LLP, says the lack of medical malpractice expertise among those drafting the reforms highlights a fundamental flaw in the process: “None of the subcommittee members are practising members of the bar who do medical malpractice work in any capacity.” He argues the new rules were “driven not by just the issue of delays but the issue of costs, which, of course, is frankly not an issue in medical malpractice cases,” since plaintiffs never bear the costs because they pay lawyers on a contingency basis and the Canadian Medical Protective
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
PHASE 2 REFORMS IMPACTING MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
No oral discovery:
Oral examinations for discovery are eliminated, replaced by binding, lawyer-prepared witness statements.
Association (CMPA) “is publicly funded and very well financed.”
The most contentious change for medical malpractice litigators is the elimination of oral examinations for discovery, which would be replaced by lawyer-prepared witness statements and a narrower approach to document disclosure. Mladenovic predicts that these statements would be drafted by lawyers for their clients, making meaningful impeachment at trial impossible. He stresses that every medical malpractice case he had won hinged on impeachment – where a physician says one thing at discovery and another at trial. “That will now be impossible to achieve,” he says.
CMPA, “when it goes wrong, we should have the highest access to justice because we paid for it. Doctors have their premiums paid by the public.”
He also rejects the idea that the current discovery process is responsible for delays. “Examinations for discovery do not delay cases.” If the goal is to speed up litigation, he says, the answer is simple: “Impose timelines. You could say [that] the parties must conduct examinations for discovery within 12 months of the close of pleadings. And guess what will happen? We’ll all just do it.”
British Columbia’s approach offers contrast
Upfront evidence:
Parties must disclose primary evidence and witness statements at the outset of litigation.
He describes the new approach to document disclosure as equally problematic. The “known adverse document” rule, which requires parties to produce only the documents they intend to rely on and those they know to be adverse, is, in his view, unworkable.
Limited document disclosure: Only documents a party intends to rely on, plus “known adverse documents,” must be produced.
Pre-litigation protocols: Early communication and document exchange are mandatory before filing a claim.
Paul McGivern, a medical malpractice lawyer at Pacific Medical Law in Vancouver, echoes these concerns, even though such reforms are not yet proposed in British Columbia. “The ability to do examinations for discovery [is] absolutely critical
“If they don’t know what a known adverse document is, how in the hell am I supposed to know that?”
Aleks Mladenovic, Thomson Rogers LLP
“The committee even admits that they don’t even know what that means. At one point, they say, ‘Admittedly we haven’t been able to agree on what constitutes a known adverse document’... If they don’t know what a known adverse document is, how in the hell am I supposed to know that?” he says.
Mladenovic says that while the reforms may be worthwhile in other areas, medical malpractice litigation is fundamentally different from other types of civil cases. “Medical malpractice cases should definitely be exempted from these rule changes. There’s no question in my mind,” he says. Since healthcare is publicly funded, including much of the money funding the
to any prospect of succeeding on a medical malpractice claim,” he says, dismissing litigation through affidavits as “nonsense.” He argues that relying on written statements would let defendants avoid key admissions.
McGivern points to BC’s approach, where parties can secure trial dates soon after pleadings close, keeping cases focused and reducing delay. “Then everybody is working towards a date that we’re going to get in front of a trial judge,” he says – a “huge time-saving mechanism” that prevents procedural drift and wasted resources.
He notes BC’s seven-hour limit on discoveries, with the option to request more time if needed, as a reasonable compromise.
“Seven hours, plus the option of going to chambers or going to a pretrial judge and just saying, ‘Look, I need more time, and these are the reasons I need more time,’ is a reasonable compromise,” he says. For McGivern, “We need an opportunity to do our jobs, to get focused on what are the issues, how can we resolve these issues, and we can’t do our jobs without the option of doing discovery.”
He adds that in BC, medical malpractice cases are already carved out from certain
handcuff plaintiffs and defence counsel in medical malpractice matters, where the interactions between doctors and patients are routinely complex and controversial, and doctors often claim that the written records do not reflect what was actually done or said,” he says.
Defence counsel urges caution
Domenic Crolla, a partner at Gowling WLG who represents the CMPA, takes a more measured tone. In an email, he wrote, “The
“The ability to do examinations for discovery [is] absolutely critical to any prospect of succeeding on a medical malpractice claim”
Paul McGivern, Pacific Medical Law
reforms that apply to other personal injury cases. “They’re not like motor vehicle cases. They are very different. They’re much more complex. They’re much more involved. You need an opportunity to get all the expert reports that you want. And we recognize you’re going to spend a lot more money than is spent on motor vehicle cases,” he says.
Both lawyers dismiss the “upfront evidence model,” which relies on lawyer-prepared witness statements, as ineffective. McGivern calls it “probably mostly a waste of time and a waste of money,” noting it increases costs for plaintiffs with limited resources and does not shorten timelines. “It is going to increase costs because these people are going to have to sit in front of their lawyers and produce all of this documentation,” he says.
Mladenovic is even more scathing: “Self-serving statements written by professional advocates that can never be truly tested until trial? The [working group] clearly has no idea how badly this would
CMPA has expressed in its submission to the Civil Rules Review that it understands and supports efforts to streamline litigation. The proposal in the Phase 2 Consultation paper made a number of proposals, including the elimination of oral examinations for discovery. If this proposal is accepted in its entirety, then binding witness statements, documentary disclosure, and written interrogatories will need to provide a thorough
record to allow the parties to examine the merits of the case.” However, he noted, “The CMPA (as did many other organizations) recommends retaining limited oral discovery in appropriate medical liability cases to preserve its important role in testing evidence and as a fact-gathering tool for all parties.”
Crolla also pointed to alternatives: “There are other litigation discovery mechanisms that, if properly implemented, can also promote the important goals of factual discovery and issue narrowing.” He supports a phased implementation and scheduled review, warning that “as with any substantive change, there is a level of uncertainty with the transition process.”
While open to reform, he wrote that the CMPA insists changes must be carefully designed. “While extensive front-loading can simply shift costs, the CMPA supports ... the implementation of a medical liability Pre-Litigation Protocol to increase early communication and document exchange, narrow issues and parties, and critically assess merits before filing,” he wrote.
The future of reforms
For all parties, medical malpractice has unique dynamics that must be considered when implementing change. Whether Ontario’s civil justice reforms take that into account, and whether other provinces follow Ontario’s lead, is still an open question.
Phase Two Report released.
Final recommendations and government response expected.
Review of Rules of Civil Procedure launched.
Phase One Report released.
CIVIL JUSTICE REVIEW TIMELINE (ONTARIO)
Lawyers safeguard democracy’s foundations
As threats to justice grow bolder, the courage of Canada’s legal community will determine the fate of our rights
“THE FIRST thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers, ha ha ha,” a new acquaintance quipped when I revealed my profession. It’s a line from Shakespeare’s Henry VI, and while it’s often tossed around as a joke, its context is anything but funny. In the play, Jack Cade, a would-be dictator, dreams of a regime where bread and drink are cheap, money is abolished, and everyone dresses alike. His henchman, Dick the Butcher, suggests that the first step to this utopia is to kill all the lawyers. Cade agrees. Why? Because lawyers, to these would-be tyrants, are the last bulwark against autocracy – a profession standing in the way of unchecked power.
It’s a telling moment that has echoed through the centuries. If lawyers frustrate despots, does that make us natural defenders of democracy and the rule of law? The answer must be yes. It’s not just a possibility – it’s a professional obligation.
In Canada, our professional rules make this clear. The Law Society of Ontario instructs us: “A lawyer should take care not to weaken or destroy public confidence in legal institutions or authorities by irresponsible allegations.” Our call-to-the-bar oaths require us to uphold the law, act with honesty and integrity, champion the rule of law, and safeguard the rights and freedoms of all. These aren’t just ceremonial words – they are the foundation of public trust in our profession and the justice system.
The American Bar Association’s Model Rules echo this, demanding lawyers uphold the legal process. Yet, recent headlines show
how legal skills can be weaponized. As the New York Times reported, a Harvard-trained lawyer masterminded the US administration’s campaign against top universities, using every legal lever – from funding threats to civil rights probes – to force compliance. Is this what our training is for – to undermine the very institutions that support a free and open society?
If lawyers won’t defend the ideals of justice and the rule of law, who will? Being a professional means more than serving clients; it means principled leadership and a commit-
understanding of what’s at stake. I hope he’s wrong, but if he’s right, it explains a lot. If you’re a lawyer who doesn’t grasp the rule of law, fix that – now. If we don’t understand and advocate for it, our clients won’t either, and democracy will continue to erode.
At his annual press conference, Chief Justice Wagner expressed confidence in Canada’s justice system, emphasizing judicial independence. When asked about law firms resisting political intimidation – a nod to US developments – he reminded us that lawyers are officers of the court, obligated to support judicial independence, the rule of law, and the independence of the bar. This is not a theoretical responsibility. It is a daily, practical one that requires courage, vigilance, and a willingness to speak out.
So, ask yourself: How deeply do you appreciate the rule of law? Do you foster and protect it – or are you willing to help subvert it for a client? Whether you’re in private practice or in-house, you have the power to defend or undermine our system of justice. How are you using that power? If you’re not practising with a willingness to defend and advance the rule of law, we’re all in trouble.
The stakes could not be higher. The rule of law is not a given; it is a living principle that
Whether you’re in private practice or in-house, you have the power to defend or undermine our system of justice. How are you using that power?
ment to the system itself. We are not mere technicians, bending rules to the will of the highest bidder. We are stewards of a fragile system that, once broken, is difficult to restore. Is the rule of law under threat in Canada? There are troubling signs: a growing complacency, a weak appreciation that democracy depends on foundational principles – chief among them, the rule of law. Worse, some don’t understand those principles at all.
Earlier this year, legal commentator Jordan Furlong declared, “The battle for the rule of law is on,” urging lawyers to deepen their
must be defended every day, by every lawyer. If we abdicate that responsibility, we invite the very chaos and tyranny that Shakespeare’s characters so darkly joked about. Let’s not give anyone a reason to laugh at the idea of killing all the lawyers. Instead, let’s give them reason to respect – and rely on – our unwavering commitment to justice.
Cheryl Foy is a member of the editorial board, a university governance expert, and a former general counsel and corporate secretary. At the Canadian Legal Summit, she will appear on a panel on ethics, civility, and leadership.
Empowering Legal Minds. Transforming the Future.
Proud Event Sponsor of the Canadian Legal Summit 2025—bringing innovation, insight, and collaboration to the forefront of Canada’s legal community.
Join over 400 legal professionals, thought leaders, and innovators at the Toronto Event Centre on October 9, 2025.
As the event sponsor of the Canadian Legal Summit 2025, LEAP is proud to stand at the forefront of innovation in the legal profession. From AI disruption to shifting client expectations, we’re here to help firms navigate today’s challenges and seize tomorrow’s opportunities. Visit LEAP at Booth 6 + 7 to discover how our cuttingedge software empowers your practice, streamlines operations, and future-proofs your team.
To learn more about our AI offerings, visit: www.leaplegalsoftware.ca/ai/
Shaping the Future of Legal Innovation in Canada
“At LEAP, we believe the most powerful innovations are not just about code and algorithms, but about people. We’re committed to building tools that empower lawyers to connect more meaningfully with their clients and build practices that are not only market leading but more efficient and intuitive.”
