Of Counsel

As the former President of the Ontario Bar Association, Law Society Medalist, and an exemplary career in law, Orlando Da Silva enters 2019 well positioned as he seeks election for Bencher with the Law Society of Ontario. In this episode of Of Counsel, Orlando takes us on his remarkable path into law. A son of [...]

With a long and accomplished career in politics, including acting as the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Peter MacKay is one of Canada's most widely recognized lawyers. During his tenure in Ottawa, Peter was instrumental in developing and shaping the criminal justice system in Canada as we know it today. In this [...]

Emilie Taman and Micheal Spratt are a powerhouse couple in Canadian law. In addition to their remarkable accomplishments in Court, Micheal and Emilie's influence is far reaching with their ground breaking and award winning podcast, The Docket. In 2018, Emilie was named one of Canada's Top 25 most influential lawyers by Canadian Lawyer Magazine for [...]

Carissima Mathen grew up wanting to dance on Broadway, but today, she serves as the Vice-Dean (Academic) and Full Professor of Law at the University of Ottawa Law School. Prior to her distinguished career in academics, Carissima acted as Counsel and later as Director of Litigation for the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund.  Carissima’s [...]

In the course of practicing for over 40 years, Donald Bayne has entrenched himself as one of the best criminal defence lawyers Canada has ever known. Despite this, his humility, compassion for human suffering, and pursuit of justice is as vibrant as it was when he first became a lawyer. Don's remarkable journey in his [...]

This week, our podcast brings you Professor Lisa Kerr, from Queen's University Faculty of Law in Kingston. Lisa's expertise takes us into the concrete corridors and confines of prison law, and the law of sentencing in Canada. Her experience with Prisoners' Legal Services and extensive pro bono work in this field offers us a unique [...]

Jordan Furlong is a forecaster of the legal market's future. Law firms and legal organizations retain him to advise their lawyers how to build sustainable and competitive legal enterprises that can dominate the new market for legal services. After graduating from Queen’s Faculty of Law in 1993 and completing his articles at Blake, Cassels & [...]

Alan D. Gold is one of Canada’s foremost criminal lawyers. He has appeared as counsel before all levels of court in Ontario, as well as in other provinces, and for over 50 cases in the Supreme Court of Canada. He is certified by the Law Society as a Specialist in Criminal Litigation and was the first [...]

Julie Stanchieri is one of Canada's leading family lawyers, and lead counsel to Stanchieri Family Law in Toronto. Beyond her remarkable case specific achievements, Julie has a deep understanding and perspective of how family law affects  those who look to the Court for assistance in times of crises. She is a lawyer who cares deeply [...]

As someone who who came from a background of surviving on the street as a youth, it's no surprise that Jordana Goldlist now defends the downtrodden of society with a passion and wisdom very few in the criminal bar possess. Like many of our guests of our show, Jordana's story is truly exceptional. Since her [...]

In this episode of Of Counsel we bring you Howard Levitt. From an early age, Howard's gift of disruption set him on a course to become one of Canada's leading employment lawyers. In a recent Globe and Mail profile of him, hiring Howard was compared to bringing a bazooka to a gun fight. He is [...]

In this episode of Of Counsel, we are joined by Canada’s leading animal rights and welfare lawyer, Camille Labchuk. For over well over a decade, Camille has dedicated her life to animal justice and advocacy. Through her efforts, she has exposed animal cruelty in farming, documented commercial seal killing on Canada’s East Coast, and protected [...]

In this episode of Of Counsel, we are joined by legendary criminal defence lawyer, Brian Greenspan. Over the past 45 years, Brian has defined himself as one of Canada’s best.  Repeatedly ranked as among the country’s most influential lawyers and  he has represented celebrities, sports stars, and entertainers who happen upon the criminal justice system. [...]

For our listeners who have patiently awaited the next episode of our podcast, you won’t be disappointed. We are joined by one of Canada’s most influential lawyers, Rocco Galati. Rocco has held the Canadian government to account time and time again for excess of power and neglect of duty. Perhaps best known for his instrumental role stopping [...]

In this Of Counsel episode, we interview the editor and creator of Precedent Magazine, Melissa Kluger. As a lawyer who embraced her inner voice to do what she always wanted, Melissa tells us her story of becoming an entrepreneur. In a time when established and well-funded publications are struggling and failing, Melissa has managed to [...]

This episode's guest is former Attorney General of Ontario, Micheal Bryant. Michael's personal story in law is one that spans the entire spectrum of the justice system. After clerking at the Supreme Court of Canada with former Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin, and obtaining an LL.M. as a Fulbright scholar at Harvard, Michael moved seamlessly into the [...]

The Honourable Justice David Stratas sits on Canada's Federal Court of Appeal. He is our first actively sitting judge on our podcast. Prior to his direct appointment, Justice Stratas enjoyed an accomplished career on Bay St., where he was widely recognized as one of Canada's top commercial and administrative litigators. Accomplishments include induction into the Fellow of [...]

This episode of Of Counsel is particularly special. For the first time ever, we did a live interview before a large group of listeners at the Canadian Defence Lawyers Annual National Conference with the former Dean of Osgoode Law School, Lorne Sossin. Lorne discusses his achievements at Osgoode during his tenure, the advancement of legal education, [...]

Recognizing a need for alternative pathways for graduated law students to successfully advance to lawyers, the Law Society launched the Law Practice Program in 2014. The initiative was bold and met with controversy among the bar. Many saw the program as redundant, substandard, and exacerbating the problem of unemployment among recently called lawyers. In only [...]

Annamaria Enenajor is a legal phenom and inspiration among her peers. She holds her BA from the University of Toronto, her Masters of Science from Oxford, and her civil and common law degrees from McGill University where she graduated Gold Medalist. Following her education, Annamaria clerked for Justice Marie Deschamps and Justice Richard Wagner of [...]