Tech savvy How Jordan Atin is revolutionizing estate law p.13
Screen share Powerful secrets to meaningful remote mentorship p.17
Flying colours The in-house counsel who moonlights as an abstract painter p.34
The new rules of law and style Summer 2021 $9.95 precedentmagazine.com
THE PRECEDENT SETTER AWARDS 2021
Inside: Meet this year’s winners
Caitlyn Kasper Aboriginal Legal Services
EXCLUSIVE ONLINE NETWORKING FOR LAWYERS
The following lawyers were recently featured on the Precedent A-List a-list.lawandstyle.ca The Precedent A-List is your online source for awards, promotions, new hires and other legal news
Wildeboer Dellelce welcomes associate Sarim Ali
WeirFoulds welcomes associate Dara W. Azari
Hicks Morley welcomes associate Michael Babe
Gilbert’s announces new partner Paul Banwatt
Pallett Valo LLP welcomes associate Eric Blay
McLeish Orlando announces new partner Lindsay Charles
Koziebrocki Law welcomes associate Ada Chidichimo Jeffrey
WeirFoulds welcomes associate Alyssa Clutterbuck
WeirFoulds welcomes associate Marc Di Pierdomenico
Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP announces new partner Susan Fader
McLeish Orlando welcomes associate Jonathan Farine
Rosen Sunshine announces new partner Sari Feferman
Morris + Stoltz + Evans welcomes lawyer Kelly Hayden
Minden Gross LLP welcomes associate Eli Hoffman
WeirFoulds welcomes new partner Wojtek Jaskiewicz
Get more news online at a-list.lawandstyle.ca
Bereskin & Parr welcomes associate Bruna D. D. Kalinoski
Fogler, Rubinoff welcomes associate Jordan Kamenetsky
Pallett Valo LLP welcomes senior counsel Alan Kay
SpringLaw congratulates Deidre Khayamian on her call to the bar
Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP announces new partner Julia Lisztwan
Minden Gross LLP welcomes associate Colin Loney
Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP welcomes new associate Michael Low
Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP announces new partner Joanne Luu
Hicks Morley welcomes associate Diana Mansour
Gillian Hnatiw & Co. welcomes lawyer Anna Matas
Dutton Brock welcomes associate Alanna F. Narain
Fogler, Rubinoff welcomes associate Marko Petrovic
Dutton Brock welcomes associate Samantha Posluns
Hicks Morley welcomes associate Larissa Putt
Paliare Roland welcomes associate Jessica Roher
Wildeboer Dellelce welcomes associate Colin Romano
Paliare Roland congratulates Linda Rothstein on receiving the Advocates’ Society Medal
WeirFoulds welcomes associate Tushar Sabharwal
Tupman & Bloom announces new partner Melissa Saunders
Savard Foy LLP welcomes associate Riaz Sayani
Smart & Biggar welcomes associate Julia Schur
WeirFoulds welcomes associate Natalia Sidlar
Wildeboer Dellelce welcomes associate Natalie Tershakowec
Paliare Roland welcomes associate Kartiga Thavaraj
Beard Winter LLP announces new partner Jillian Van Allen
Wildeboer Dellelce welcomes associate Sarah Wahba
Robins Appleby LLP announces new partner Heela Walker
Waddell Phillips announces new partner W. Cory Wanless
Robins Appleby LLP announces new partner Tara Welat
Hicks Morley welcomes associate Clare Wooland
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On the cover Photography by Saty + Pratha
Summer 2021. Volume 15. Issue 2.
“ I strive to create space for members of historically marginalized groups to be heard.”
PHOTOGRAPHY BY SATY + PRATHA
Precedent Setter Award winner Pam Hrick p.21
Cover story
The 2021 Precedent Setter Awards
Meet six sensational lawyers who, in their first 10 years of practice, have mastered their fields and spearheaded meaningful change in the community p.21
PRECEDENTMAGAZINE.COM 5
Contents
17
34
29 Brief
Debrief
Editor’s Note
Best Practices
The Insider
Letters
Opinion
Secret Life
Our readers applaud the creative lawyers who appeared in our last issue p.10 Our People
We asked our contributors to tell us what they’re looking forward to this summer p.11
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PRECEDENT SUMMER 2021
Jordan Atin’s rise as a legal-tech entrepreneur p.13 You might be working at home, but you can still be a caring mentor p.17
The magic of starting your own firm p.29 How this lawyer launched a successful sideline as a painter p.34
IMAGES BY (CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT): SAM ISLAND, SANDI FALCONER, STEPH MARTYNIUK
How to hold a photo shoot in a pandemic p.9
SUMMER 2021. VOLUME 15. ISSUE 2. PUBLISHER & EDITOR
Melissa Kluger SENIOR EDITOR
Daniel Fish
MARKETING COORDINATOR
Liana Ramos
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS & ILLUSTRATORS
Sandi Falconer Sam Island Steph Martyniuk Aaron McConomy Saty + Pratha IT CONSULTANT
Gaby Grice
MacMedics.ca
ART DIRECTION
DIGITAL IMAGING SPECIALIST
Brian Morgan Rachel Wine ACCOUNTING
Paul Jerinkitsch Imaging FACT-CHECKERS
Paul Cass
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Danielle Groen Matthew Halliday Simon Lewsen Luc Rinaldi Conan Tobias Daniel Waldman
Allison Baker Martha Beach Catherine Dowling
Legal innovation
PROOFREADERS
Lazarus James Jennifer Marston Anna Maxymiw Sarah Munn
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PRECEDENT SUMMER 2021
The only place you’ll find both:
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Editor’s Note
Rain or shine The magic of taking beautiful photographs at the height of the pandemic
Welcome to the magazine’s annual Precedent Setter Awards edition. We’re proud
to recognize a new batch of six outstanding lawyers in their first 10 years of practice. We not only wrote profiles of each winner, but we also managed to take their pictures. In any given year, getting six busy lawyers together on the same day for a photo shoot is a mighty logistical challenge. This year, with strict COVID protocols in place, we faced many extra hurdles. The photo shoot took place in late March at a west-end Toronto studio. Five of the winners were photographed inside and one outside. Our amazing team ensured that everyone was safe and comfortable. Oh, and did I mention the forecast called for rain? All day? Normally, I attend the photo shoot, which gives me the opportunity to hang around and chat with each winner. This year, to limit the number of people in the room, I stayed home. One of our art directors, Rachel Wine, was on set. Afterward, we had the following exchange about the somewhat wild outdoor portion of the photo shoot. Me: So was it raining when everyone arrived? Rachel: There was a light drizzle when we arrived. It only started to really rain once it was time to shoot. Me: How did you pull it off in such lousy weather? Rachel: Honestly, it was a bit chaotic at the start. The backdrop we were using kept getting caught in the wind and knocking me over. We had a hard time keeping the camera in focus. And we were juggling umbrellas to keep the equipment and the subject dry. It wasn’t a cute scene.
Free gift for new calls It’s call-to-the-bar season! If you know someone who is about to become a lawyer in Toronto, please pass on the good news that they qualify for a free subscription to Precedent magazine. In fact, all lawyers in the city can receive Precedent for free! Visit precedentmagazine.com/my-account to get started. Need help? We’re easy to find. You can email us at subscribe@precedentmagazine.com or give us a call at (416) 929-4495. And congratulations to all the new calls of 2021!
PHOTO BY IAN PATTERSON
That might sound like a stressful day, but Rachel never loses her enthusiasm for the job. She brings energy, patience and creativity to each new challenge. I’m so grateful to her and the many talented people who show up on set to make sure Precedent continues to capture gorgeous photos, even if it’s a bit chaotic behind the scenes. Thank you. And thank you to all our winners. I’m amazed by your work to improve your practices, your communities and the law itself. You inspire me — and I know you will inspire our readers at a time when we could all use a ray of hope.
Melissa Kluger
Publisher & Editor melissa@precedentmagazine.com @melissakluger
PRECEDENTMAGAZINE.COM 9
Letters
Think you missed a program? We’ve got you covered!
Check out our replays! Live Chat with your peers while you learn.
OUT OF OFFICE I always enjoy the interesting content in Precedent. I’m particularly fond of the magazine’s Secret Life department, which focuses on the lives of lawyers outside of work. Your recent piece on how the litigator Lionel Tupman is also an accomplished bagpiper (“Pipe dreams,” Spring 2021) caught my attention. I’ve worked with Lionel in a professional capacity, but I had no idea he has such an impressive hidden talent. Erin Durant Partner, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
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PRECEDENT SUMMER 2021
While reading Precedent’s in-depth interview with the former Heenan Blaikie managing partner Norm Bacal (“Ask me anything,” Spring 2021), I was inspired. Bacal followed the advice of his wife, Sharon, and wrote a book about the firm’s demise. Opening ourselves up to advice and criticism from others, especially those who know us best, is critical. The act of publishing the book was brave, to say the least. It took guts, knowing full well that some of his former partners would be angry and hold a grudge. Pivoting his career path at that stage should be inspiring to those who feel “stuck” in their current career and are looking for a new direction.
article did an awesome job in reflecting who they are: smart, charming and creative. I was inspired, in particular, by how the two lawyers have integrated their heritages, their love of the law and their passion for travel and food into each item in the home. How can young lawyers build a legal career and a fun life in Toronto? I have definitely learned some good tips from this piece. Julie He Articling student, Fasken
The hottest stories on precedentmagazine.com
Warren Bongard President and co-founder, ZSA Legal Recruitment
Most views Inside a lawyer
The creative couple
Most likes This Bay Street litigator
I loved the piece about Jenna and Kai Kramer’s stylish downtown condo (“Thinking inside the box,” Spring 2021). Knowing both of these lawyers personally, I found that the
couple’s one-bedroom condo is a stalwart defender of a free press Most retweets Norm Bacal has
seen it all
Better days ahead After a long wait, summer has arrived. So we asked our contributors to tell us what they’re looking forward to this season
“My husband and I rescued a puppy in October,” says Steph Martyniuk, a photographer based in Toronto. “I’m looking forward to teaching her to swim in the lake at our cottage — hopefully, with all of our friends and family present after we get the vaccine!” Her work has appeared in the New Yorker, the Globe and Mail and the New York Times. For this issue, she photographed an in-house counsel who’s built an admirable following as an abstract painter (“Fine art,” p.34).
Luc Rinaldi, a freelance journalist in Toronto, has writ-
ten for Toronto Life, Maclean’s and Reader’s Digest. In this issue, he contributed two profiles to the Precedent Setter Awards, our annual celebration of outstanding lawyers in their first 10 years of practice (“Curtain call,” p.21). “This summer,” he says, “I’m looking forward to playing a live show with my band again. Even if it has to be in a wide-open field.”
Take one look at our cover and you’ll see the artistic talent of Saty Namvar and Pratha Samyrajah. The photography and filmmaking team managed to capture stunning images of this year’s Precedent Setter Award winners, all in a COVID-safe environment. Their work has appeared in, among other publications, ELLE, the Guardian and Vogue Japan. “This summer, we most look forward to sharing a lazy lunch with vaccinated loved ones,” says the pair, who are also life partners. “With music mixing in with the sounds of grass and the sun baking down.”
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Brief
THE LATEST FROM THE LEGAL WORLD
BEST PRACTICES
Will power Lawyers have been writing wills the same way for centuries, so Jordan Atin launched a company that’s revolutionizing the practice area by Simon Lewsen illustration by Aaron McConomy
“ New lawyers can no longer drop by our office if they need guidance.” Daniel Waldman on the challenge of mentorship in the COVID era p.17
In 1992, Jordan Atin, who was then an articling student at Fasken
Campbell Godfrey, learned that he wouldn’t be hired back. He was disappointed, but not surprised: the economy was in recession, after all, and jobs were scarce. So, in 1993, he founded his own practice. “When you start a firm, you don’t have the luxury of choosing your cases,” he says. “I did everything: criminal, corporate, family and IP.” When a woman brought an estate-law matter to him, he took that on too, even though he hadn’t studied the area. He needed the work. The case itself was unusual. The woman had recently divorced her husband, who, in a fit of spite, had revised his will and left all his assets to his sister. Then, he took his own life. “He even left his exwife a note saying, ‘You’re not getting anything,’” recalls Atin. As he researched the case, however, Atin realized that the will failed to
PRECEDENTMAGAZINE.COM 13
Brief mention the man’s most valuable assets. There was a life-insurance policy and RRSP, for instance, that still listed his ex-wife as the beneficiary. And there were real-estate holdings that were jointly registered in his ex-wife’s name. The man’s hastily drawn-up will would cover the most basic assets — such as the cash in his chequing account and his personal belongings — but it didn’t nullify his insurance policies, nor did it alter the ownership of his real estate. “In the end,” says Atin, “my client got nearly everything of value.” That case taught Atin an important lesson: if he was going to practise estate law, he’d have to dig deep into the financial profile of every client. “In lawsuits, the number-one claim against estate lawyers is that we do inadequate investigations,” says Atin. “Not all of us are asking the right questions or gathering the right information.” Atin started to develop a specialty in estate law, and in 1999, he took a job as part-time counsel at Hull & Hull LLP, one of the foremost boutiques in the field. Under this arrangement, he would continue his solo practice, but he’d have an office at the firm, and he’d lend his research skills to cases it took on. “Jordan is an intellectual giant,” says Ian Hull, a founding partner of the firm. “When analyzing a problem, he can factor in analysis and caselaw I’d never think of.” After two decades in estate law, Atin decided to modernize the practice area. “Aside from a word processor,” he says,
“The number-one claim against estate lawyers is that we do inadequate investigations.” Jordan Atin
“the process of making a will hasn’t changed in 500 years.” Knowing that estate lawyers often collect inadequate information, he wondered if a custom computer program could standardize the client-interview process and reduce the likelihood of
oversights. So, in 2015, Atin and Hull cofounded a company, called Vested Software, and got to work on an application that would guide lawyers through the willmaking process. In 2019, eState Planner hit the marketplace. Here’s how it works: During client meetings, lawyers load the program and share their screen. Then, responding to virtual prompts, they interview the client and build both a family tree (which features detailed notes on each individual) and a detailed list of assets (including those that are jointly owned). The software ensures that lawyers ask all the relevant questions, not just those that pop into their heads. The final step is to drag and drop each asset to the place it’s destined to go when the client dies. All of the data is elegantly visualized, and the program generates the estate documents instantaneously. These days, Atin’s schedule is packed. He’s a full-time parent to Spencer and Holly, ages 22 and 16. (His wife, Katie Hoffman, died in March of 2019.) He handles a full caseload. And Vested Software requires plenty of attention, too. The company has seven full-time employees and eState Planner has garnered subscriptions from 240 firms, a sizeable chunk of the Ontario market. “We continue to update the software as the laws change,” says Atin. When he retires, a long time from now, it’ll be up to date, reasonably priced and easily available — a legacy to the next generation of lawyers.
Timeline of an estate lawyer
Year of call 1993
1994: After the firm’s first year in business, Atin’s partner quits law altogether. Atin Professional Corporation is born. 1995: Atin takes his first estate-law case and finds his niche. “I love the field,” he says. “It’s all about giving people peace of mind.”
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PRECEDENT SUMMER 2021
1999: Atin joins Hull & Hull LLP as part-time counsel, while continuing his solo practice. “I give advice to Hull & Hull lawyers but don’t work directly on their files,” he says. “All I do is think and talk. It’s the greatest role for a lawyer.” 2006: Alongside Barry Fish and Les Kotzer, Atin publishes The Family War, a non-lawyer’s guide to estate litigation. The book, along with dozens of academic articles, establishes Atin as a thought leader in the field.
2012: Atin begins teaching a course at Osgoode Hall, called Wealth, Death and the Lawyer, which deals with estate law around the world. 2019: Atin and Ian Hull release eState Planner, a software application that streamlines the process of writing a will. In short order, 240 firms purchase a subscription.
ILLUSTRATION BY AARON MCCONOMY
Jordan Atin Counsel, Hull & Hull LLP
1993: After completing law school at Osgoode Hall and articling at Fasken Campbell Godfrey, Jordan Atin co-founds Atin and Parker, a small full-service firm.
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Brief OPINION
Reach out The pandemic has dealt a devastating blow to mentorship in the profession. How can we stage a comeback? by Daniel Waldman illustration by Sandi Falconer
In my second year of practice, the upper
brass at my firm sent out a memo that assigned formal mentors to my entire associate cohort. The message included a Second Cup gift card, along with a suggestion that we take our mentors out for a coffee. Not a bad idea. Bonding over an espresso in a relaxed setting would be an ideal way to kick off the relationship. Those were the good old days, however, when Zoom wasn’t a thing and masks were only for Halloween. Today, there are no inperson meetings of any kind: no coffees, no lunches, no chance encounters in the hallway. This new reality has been particularly hard on those at the outset of their careers. Over the past year, countless students and junior lawyers have told me that they feel isolated and disconnected at work. The legal profession’s proud culture of mentorship has suffered a steep decline. As senior lawyers, we must do better. At a bare minimum, we should make a habit of reaching out to the juniors in our practice to let them know we’re available to lend a hand. Sequestered at home, new lawyers can no longer drop by our office if they need guidance. And it’s unfair to expect them to email us every time they have a question; no one wants to annoy the boss. The onus is on us to initiate contact. We should also schedule regular check-in meetings. Sure, we don’t have the luxury of chatting over meals and lattes, but we can still set aside time to meet with our juniors over video — not phone — on a regular basis. During these meetings, we should turn off our phones, remove distractions and make sure our mentees know they have our complete attention. Now for the hardest part. We have to keep juniors involved in our daily practice. In the past, if we were about to jump on an impromptu conference call with a client, we could step into the hallway, poke our head
into a junior’s office and extend an invitation to sit in on the meeting. In our current world, mentorship is not so simple. To invite a junior to an unplanned client meeting on Zoom, we have to reach out over email, include the correct video link and, if our mentee doesn’t see the message right away, start the call a bit late. This is awkward and time-consuming. But it’s also worth the effort. How else will junior talent be able to observe and learn on the job? As the pandemic continues to upend the workplace, mentorship cannot fall by the wayside. And don’t just take my word for it: in a recent Ontario Superior Court decision, Justice Frederick Myers stressed this precise point. In that case, he had dismissed an unopposed motion because the law student on the file had badly bungled the affidavit.
He directed his disappointment, however, at the principal who “allowed a student-atlaw to swear and submit the affidavit that is before me.” He went on, “Partners, employers, and mentors may not even realize how much their juniors are suffering from the lack of ready access to more experienced colleagues whether for formal training, informal feedback, or even serendipitous educational opportunities that may arise from casual chats in office corridors.” That’s exactly right. If we don’t fulfill our roles as mentors and guides, the most junior members of the profession may be left behind when the dust finally settles. Daniel Waldman is a senior associate in the litigation group at Pallett Valo LLP. He writes about career satisfaction and business development for Precedent.
TURNING PROBLEMS INTO PRECEDENTS.
Smart Litigation. stockwoods.ca
PRECEDENTMAGAZINE.COM 17
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How this workplace lawyer achieved her long-term career goals In 2010, Esi Codjoe was proud of her career. As a sixth-year lawyer, she was working as legal counsel at the Ontario Nurses’ Association, where she mediated labour disputes, appeared before tribunals and trained union leaders on equity issues. The role lined up with her lifelong commitment to fairness and justice. But she also had other career goals she wanted to achieve in the future. Codjoe wanted to work in academia and, as her career progressed, hoped to land a more senior legal position. To help reach those objectives, she enrolled in the labour relations and employment law specialization of the Osgoode Professional LLM, a rigorous graduate program that she could complete on a parttime basis. The coursework strengthened Codjoe’s legal mind. Her instructors introduced challenging material, while her peers sparked provocative debates in class. “In your day-to-day practice,” she says, “you don’t always get the opportunity to think as deeply as you’d like to about what the law means.” After she completed the program, Codjoe started to turn her ambitions into reality. On the academic front, she spent four years as a part-time professor at Ryerson University. In 2017, after a few other career moves, she became a vice-chair at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, a true leadership role. And today, she works at Turnpenney Milne LLP, a top workplace-law boutique in Toronto. In her view, the professional master’s program helped make this career path possible. “Osgoode enriched my creative and critical thinking,” says Codjoe. “To get that scope of ideas and perspectives, to think deeply and expansively, was a valuable experience.”
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ONWARDS. Stockwoods is happy to hear that our colleague Stephen Aylward has received a Precedent Setter Award. Steve’s extraordinary practice in commercial litigation, administrative and public law is a shining example of the elegant solutions Stockwoods aims to bring to all of our cases. We’re also proud of his pro bono efforts for the public, and the value of his published work to the profession.
AND UPWARDS. Stockwoods was pleased to learn that Pam Hrick – our colleague until just a few months ago – has received a Precedent Setter award too. Pam has brought the skills she honed at Stockwoods with her to an exciting new role as Executive Director of the Women’s Legal Education & Action Fund. Her tenacity and intelligence remain a striking example of what we strive to bring to all our work. All of us here at Stockwoods know she’ll accomplish even more in her new role with LEAF.
THE WINNERS OF THE 2021 PRECEDENT SETTER AWARDS
CURTAIN CALL THE BEST LAWYERS
triumph on two stages. In their practices, they produce legal work at the highest level. The top litigators win paradigmshifting cases in court, while the leading solicitors help clients solve the thorniest problems behind the scenes. But these lawyers also drive change in the community. You’ll find them advancing diversity and standing up for the rights of the vulnerable. The winners of this year’s Precedent Setter Awards have devoted their careers to that dual purpose. All in their first 10 years of practice, they shine in the legal arena and, at the same time, work to strengthen the social fabric. Turn the page to meet the next generation of legal leaders. By
The judges:
DANIELLE GROEN,
RANJAN AGARWAL
LISA FELDSTEIN
MATTHEW HALLIDAY,
Partner, Bennett Jones LLP
Principal, Lisa Feldstein Law Office
SIMON LEWSEN, LUC RINALDI
Photography by SATY + PRATHA
Hair and makeup by CAROLINE LEVIN / P1M
Set design by KRISTEN LIM TUNG
CAROLE DAGHER
Vice-president, legal, Loblaw Companies Limited
LINDSAY SCOTT
Partner, Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP
Dina Awad Partner, Dentons Canada LLP YEAR OF CALL:
2012 LAW SCHOOL:
McGill University
D
i na Awa d g r e w u p in Lebanon during a deadly civil war. In the early 1990s, her family fled to Canada. At eight years old, she had to learn a new language and adapt to a foreign culture. “That experience formed my worldview and my approach to making the world a more equal place,” says Awad. Now a 37-year-old partner at Dentons Canada LLP, she recently launched a program that pairs child refugees with colleagues at the firm who have been trained to provide pro bono guidance as they navigate the legal system. Her quest for equality, though, extends well beyond helping refugees. From January 2019 to January 2021, she chaired the Roundtable of Diversity Associations, a 21-member umbrella organization that advocates for a more diverse, inclusive profession. Under her leadership, the group expanded its membership and strengthened its relationship with the Law Society of Ontario to ensure that equity remained top of mind. “I was part of decisionmaking conversations that helped bring others to the table,” she says. “Representation is a huge first step.”
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PRECEDENT SUMMER 2021
Today, Awad sits on the Ontario Bar Association’s policy and public affairs committee, an influential arm within the organization. The group has a wide-ranging mandate, but one of its key priorities is to help OBA members get more involved in politics and public service. Awad is once again in a position to provide a platform to underrepresented voices. This advocacy falls on top of her legal work, an equal split between commercial litigation and regulatory law, primarily in the environmental and health spaces. Awad is currently on maternity leave — she and her husband, national karate champion Chris de Sousa Costa, had their first child in April — and her talents are dearly missed at work. According to Michael Schafler, a partner and board member at Dentons Canada, Awad is a consummate problem solver. “She won’t come to you and say, ‘Here’s the law, here’s the problem,’ but rather, ‘Here’s the law, here’s the problem and here are my recommended courses of action,’” he says. Schafler can count on her to handle the toughest legal dilemmas. “For her, it’s like there are 25 hours in the day. She just gets things done.” — LR
S
i x y e a r s ag o , a 20-year-old single mother facing eviction was caught at Toronto Pearson Airport with a suitcase lined with cocaine. Cheyenne Sharma, a member of the Saugeen First Nation, had no criminal record; she’d transported the drugs for rent money. Thanks to a 1996 reform to the Criminal Code that was meant to reduce the over-incarceration of Indigenous people, she could have been considered for house arrest — except that the Harper government had banned conditional sentences for crimes like Sharma’s. She spent more than five months in jail away from her daughter. Sharma challenged the ban on conditional sentences as an infringement of her constitutional rights. To help her make that case, Stockwoods LLP came on “low bono,” with the file partly funded by Legal Aid Ontario. Stephen Aylward, an associate at the firm, got to work, building the appeal around a simple argument. “Once a program has been enacted by Parliament to mitigate racism, any bill that undermines it is a violation of Section 15 of the C harter,”
says Aylward, referring to the section that guarantees equality under the law. The court agreed. Last July, eight months after Aylward argued the case, the Ontario Court of Appeal declared the ban on conditional sentences unconstitutional. “Steve’s flat-out brilliance makes him a go-to person when you have a really challenging file,” says his co-counsel Nader Hasan, a partner at Stockwoods. Aylward applies that ingenuity to his entire caseload, which is divvied up between corporate, regulatory and constitutional work. Aylward understands intimately that Canadian society is not built for everyone who lives in it: due to an inherited retinal condition, he is legally blind. He works closely with Fighting Blindness Canada, providing mentorship to young people with vision loss — and demonstrating that his condition won’t keep him from performing at the very highest level of his profession. “I want to prove it’s not a limit,” says the 33-year-old. “In many ways, having a disability is a driver.” — DG
Stephen Aylward Associate, Stockwoods LLP YEAR OF CALL:
2014 LAW SCHOOL:
University of Toronto and University of Oxford
PRECEDENTMAGAZINE.COM 23
Caitlyn Kasper Senior staff lawyer, Aboriginal Legal Services YEAR OF CALL:
2012 LAW SCHOOL:
Osgoode Hall
C
a i t ly n K a s p e r g r e w u p in Sutton West, Ont., a small community near Lake Simcoe. Her mother taught history and English at the local Sutton District High School. “She was the first Indigenous woman to graduate from that high school,” says Kasper. “When she was 21, she went right back there to teach.” In Kasper’s Anishinabek family, virtually everybody works in the public sector — as police officers, educators and social workers. And so when she graduated from Osgoode Hall, in 2011, she moved to Kenora to article at Legal Aid. By 2014, Kasper, a single mother, had relocated to Toronto — along with her daughter, Biinizi, now aged 14, and her son, B iidaasige, now 10 — to work at Aboriginal Legal Services. As a senior staff lawyer at the community legal clinic, she’s an expert on police violence. For instance, she often represents the families of Indigenous victims in mandatory inquests that take place when a death has occurred in police custody or detention. The primary goal of these proceedings is not to assign legal blame, but to determine the cause of death and prevent similar cases from occurring in the future. Kasper crossexamines witnesses and experts to obtain supporting evidence that
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she can point to when advocating for meaningful change. “To avoid getting burned out,” she says, “I process my frustration and let it fuel me.” Right now, burnout is the furthest thing from her mind. At 34, she’s appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada three times. Last year, she intervened in R v. Chouhan, which centred on peremptory challenges, a courtroom procedure that allows defence counsel and prosecutors to reject potential jurors with no explanation. The federal government recently passed legislation that eliminated the practice, partly because it leads to the underrepresentation of Indigenous people on juries. Kasper arrived at the nation’s highest court to argue that the legislation was constitutional. Jonathan Rudin, the program director at Aboriginal Legal Services, watched Kasper’s submissions and was impressed with her performance. “I have seen many young people flummoxed by the Court,” he says. “But when the judges started questioning her, she answered smoothly and confidently, like she was expecting the questions all along.” In the end, the court upheld the elimination of peremptory challenges, a clear victory for Indigenous people. — SL
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h e n A a ro n B a e r a r r i v e d at Aird & Berlis LLP as a first-year summer student, he noticed that some legal processes were very inefficient. Every time a transaction was about to close, he watched as clients paraded through a boardroom stuffed with documents and signed them one by one. The whole ordeal took hours. “I remember thinking, This makes no sense,” he says. “We are literally paid to be inefficient.” Baer is now a 31-year-old partner in the firm’s corporate group, and he’s worked tirelessly to stamp out these kinds of time-wasting legal procedures. He achieved that goal, in large part, by bringing modern technology into the office. He introduced software for closing transactions, for instance, that made day-long boardroom closings a thing of the past. And in 2018, he completed a secondment at the legal-tech company Diligen, whose software can review contracts for potential legal issues far faster than any human. He then helped Aird & Berlis incorporate the software into its corporate practice. “Aaron is efficient,” says Fiona Brown, a partner at the firm. “He regularly creates processes to complete work better and faster.”
This June, Baer is taking that expertise to Renno & Co., a fastgrowing law firm that offers legal services to tech companies and startups. He’s also launching a business called 4L Academy. His plan is to offer a training program on both legal tech and substantive law to summer students, articling students and lawyers in their first five years of practice. This new venture dovetails with Baer’s long-time commitment to the most junior members of the profession. As a young lawyer, he often felt like he lacked the competence to handle high-stakes assignments on strict deadlines. To assist those in a similar position, he’s been an active mentor at Aird & Berlis. And at Ryerson University — where his wife, Carly Basian, manages the financialaid department — he hosts weekly mentorship sessions with firstyear students at the brand-new law school. He answers questions on practical topics, such as how to conduct a job search or how to prepare for exams. “I’m truly passionate about training,” says Baer. “I’m trying to provide the support I didn’t have when I was a law student.” — LR
Aaron Baer Partner, Aird & Berlis LLP YEAR OF CALL:
2014 LAW SCHOOL:
Western University
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h e n t h e j o b p o s t i n g w e n t u p last November for the role of executive director and general counsel at LEAF, a leader in Canadian feminist litigation, Pam Hrick didn’t think she qualified. Sure, she had clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada. She’d built a practice over five years at Stockwoods LLP that included constitutional law, administrative law and judicial review. She’d represented sexual-assault complainants pro bono and was even a member of LEAF’s own committee on technology-facilitated violence against women. But executive director and general counsel? She figured that was for someone further in her career. Still, the posting caught Hrick at an auspicious time. “Like a lot of folks, I’d been doing some thinking during the pandemic about whether I was using my passions and any talents to the greatest extent possible,” says the 37-year-old. Hrick has long been oriented toward social justice: raised in London, Ont., by a single mother, she’d seen up close the strength of women as well as the institutional barriers they face. So she sent LEAF an application — and walked away with the gig. Now she’ll lead the organization in its work to
Pam Hrick Executive director and general counsel, LEAF YEAR OF CALL:
2014 LAW SCHOOL:
Queen’s University
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achieve equality for women and gender-diverse people through litigation, education and law reform. “Pam is a powerhouse, particularly when it comes to her fight against unfairness and injustice,” says Luisa Ritacca, the managing partner at Stockwoods. In March, Hrick handled her last file as a Stockwoods lawyer, serving as co-counsel to Start Proud and Guelph Queer Equality, two organizations acting as intervenors when the Ontario government appealed a decision that struck down its “Student Choice Initiative.” This initiative would allow post-secondary students to opt out of paying fees that fund services the government deems “non-essential” — services like food banks as well as student centres for women, trans folks and gender-diverse people. “I was delighted to work on this file and litigate for the LGBTQ2S community to which I belong,” says Hrick, who is married to visual artist Kristyn Watterworth. (At press time, the court hadn’t ruled on the case.) Beyond her legal work, Hrick also chairs the board of The 519, an LGBTQ2S service and advocacy organization. “I strive to create space for members of historically marginalized groups to be heard,” says Hrick, “and amplify their voices.” — DG
Cindy Kou Associate, Gowling WLG YEAR OF CALL:
2012 (New York), 2013 (Ontario) LAW SCHOOL:
McGill University
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i n dy Ko u h a s b a s e d h e r c a r e e r on one guiding principle. “If the law is supposed to govern everyone,” says the associate at Gowling WLG, “then everyone needs to thrive in their interactions with the law.” To convert this ideal into reality, she has worked tirelessly to help clients navigate the legal system and fought hard for a more inclusive profession. Let’s start with her work on behalf of clients. At 34, Kou represents a broad range of clients, with a focus on the construction and technology sectors. To shepherd that client roster through the legal landscape, she has become an early adopter of what’s known as “legal design.” This approach to legal practice has one overarching goal: to empower clients who might be intimidated by the legal system. “Many clients feel nervous around lawyers and contracts,” says Kou. One way that she makes the law more accessible is to break down the confusing jargon found in most legal agreements. Her commitment to making law more accessible goes beyond client-facing work. Since 2014, Kou has participated in a number of
Gowling’s diversity and inclusion initiatives. In 2019, she started to co-host the firm’s Diversonomics podcast, which examines diversity and inclusion throughout the profession. Over the past year, the show has delved into the society-wide reckoning with systemic racism. “We pivoted to use the podcast in the last season to spotlight systemic anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism in Canada,” says Kou, “and the role lawyers play in creating, maintaining and dismantling systemic barriers.” Outside the firm, meanwhile, she’s co-founded a scholarship for Asian women at McGill’s faculty of law. Kou stresses that there’s an enormous amount left to do on the inclusion front, but she will continue to champion the cause. “She’s become one of the most important voices on these issues at the firm,” says Parna Sabet-Stephenson, a partner at Gowling and Kou’s mentor. “We’ve gone to her for critical input because everyone recognizes her knowledge. And you know, this is work that isn’t billable, that you have to do in addition to everything else. The passion is really remarkable.” — MH
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Debrief life beyond the law
THE INSIDER
A bold move Many lawyers in private practice are d issatisfied at work, but they cling to the safety of their job. Meet three lawyers who left their firm to start new practices — and are happier than ever by Conan Tobias Illustrations by Sam Island
“ Happy accidents are usually the best part of the process.” Natalia Ackers on the joy of abstract painting p.34
From the moment he went to law school, Brandon Siegal had been
laser-focused on Bay Street. In 2011, opportunity finally knocked. After spending the first five years of his career at the Department of Justice, he received an offer to join McCarthy Tétrault LLP as an associate. “I had the chance to jump up to the big leagues,” he recalls. “That was what I thought I wanted.” Naturally, Siegal took the job. In short order, he built a practice in tax litigation. He represented sophisticated clients and worked alongside some of the finest legal minds in the city. He was living out his dream. But within a few years, he started to run up against the bureaucracy that comes with working in a large shop. “Most decisions are made by committees,” he says, “in which I could not always participate.” He lacked the authority to determine which cases to pursue. His files, meanwhile, had gotten so large that he lost some of his passion for litigation.
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Debrief
“It’s incredibly exciting and satisfying to always be the decision-maker.” Brandon Siegal
So, in 2015, he left the stability of McCarthys and opened his own independent firm. “Now, I am responsible for all decisions,” he says. “It’s incredibly exciting and satisfying to always be the decision-maker.” Quite often, lawyers find themselves hemmed in by the restraints of their organization, unable to take their career to the heights they want to reach. The solution, in many of these cases, is to leave and start something better. This course of action comes with risks, of course, but it’s not an impossible task. Indeed, Siegal’s career path illustrates this precise point. As the founder of Siegal Tax Law, he handles some of the most high-profile tax disputes in the country. Over the past six years, he’s represented Pepsi Canada, Corus Entertainment and LawPro, proving that it’s possible to build an elite client roster without the backing of a blue-chip legal brand. He also drives the direction of his practice. “Today,” he says, “I’m in a situation where I can be flexible in doing what I want to do.” How did Siegal arrive at such an enviable place? To start, he had to master his craft. And he’s the first to admit that he didn’t accomplish that by himself. He cut his teeth at the Department of Justice and McCarthys, workplaces that delivered rigorous training. Developing a legal skill set took time and hard work. The actual logistics of starting a firm, meanwhile, were not as onerous as he had expected. In decades past, new firms had to amass an extensive paper library and take out an expensive lease on office space. These days, there are simpler options. Siegal subscribed to a handful of legal-research services, which was far cheaper and more manageable than creating his own library. He also moved into a co-working space at First Canadian Place that included access to a reception, a mailroom and a boardroom. All at a reasonable price.
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Siegal assumed that he would eventually upgrade to a permanent office. But he quickly abandoned that plan. As it turned out, his clients didn’t care all that much about his office. And Siegal discovered that he was just as productive at home. “I tell people that I do 95 percent of my work from my home,” he says. “That’s the same revelation that a lot of lawyers are having now during COVID.” He netted his first batch of clients through referrals, sent his way by connections he made in the first decade of his career. As he got to work, he relished the freedom to handle the files his way. Because he doesn’t have an army of associates to keep busy, for instance, he performs the document review on each case himself. Most large firms assign this task to the junior members on the team, but Siegal’s clients are comforted by the fact that a senior lawyer is performing this vital work with expert hands. Best of all, his low overhead has driven down his hourly rate. “I’m able to charge a rate closer to that of a senior associate,” he says. “The actual costs to the client are not increased that much if I do all of the work.”
Taking the leap Meet the lawyers who are thriving in their own practices
Brandon Siegal Siegal Tax Law
By 2015, Kavita Ramamoorthy had built a stellar career
in litigation. At the time, she was a partner at an intellectual-property boutique, where she handled highstakes disputes on behalf of major pharmaceutical companies. Much like Siegal, however, she felt disconnected from the decision-making process at the firm. “Even when you’re a partner, you don’t necessarily get a say in how the business is run,” she says. “That’s true in big and small firms alike.” Eventually, she reached a blunt conclusion. “If I’m not completely happy, I should be trying to figure out why — and changing that situation.” In 2017, a solution appeared. Around that time, one of her law-school friends, Neil Fineberg, struck out on his own, launching a small firm in her exact practice area. He asked Ramamoorthy to join. Though she was cautious, she decided to make the move. “Neil was very persuasive,” she says. He had a concrete business plan and a path to developing a client list. Ramamoorthy was also confident that, after more than a decade in her field, she could generate her own book of business. That would not have been the case at an earlier stage in her career. In her telling, the world of pharmaceutical litigation is hostile to newcomers. “You’re talking about products that could be worth millions of dollars,” she says. “You want to make sure you’re giving your clients confidence that they can entrust you with this type of high-stakes litigation.” Fineberg Ramamoorthy LLP has been a resounding success. What began as two partners and one associate has blossomed into a team of eight. Now at the helm of
Kavita Ramamoorthy Fineberg Ramamoorthy LLP
Daniel Nauth Nauth LPC
Debrief
her own firm, Ramamoorthy has total control over her work, including the files she accepts and the legal strategies she deploys. Her impressive client list includes several top generic drug companies, such as Sandoz, Pharmascience and Accord Healthcare. “With our own shop, we decide how to run the business,” says Ramamoorthy. “I hope part of what clients see in us, and hopefully value, is the priority we put into relationships — making sure that we’re giving them not just our best knowledge, experience and expertise, but also making sure they know that if they phone me, I will pick up. That’s important, especially when you’re trying to build.” In 2018, Daniel Nauth was feeling unhappy. Fourteen
years removed from law school, he was working at the
Toronto office of Dorsey & Whitney, a major American corporate law firm. Not only did he lack autonomy over his work, but also his life. “I was just kind of over Big Law,” he says. “It wasn’t fulfilling. It didn’t jibe with who I was and what I wanted.” Nauth’s career up to that point had been a whirlwind. After graduating from law school at Queen’s University, he had short stints at Goodman and Carr LLP (which he left one year before the firm’s implosion in 2007) and Stikeman Elliott LLP. After he got a call from a recruiter, he moved to New York to join Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, a large international firm. He wrote the New York bar exam, earned his licence and hoped to find fulfillment in his work. Then the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 triggered a global economic meltdown and cost Nauth his job. Unemployed, he returned to Canada. That’s when he saw his ability to practise in New York as a competitive advantage. He could handle the American side of cross-border transactions, working from an office in Toronto. He eventually landed at Dorsey & Whitney, where he did this exact work. After his six years at the firm, though, he was feeling dissatisfied. He was also optimistic that, if he went out on his own, he had the reputation to land clients. “Not many firms do what I do,” he says. “There was an opportunity for me to carve out business. I was already doing it at Dorsey, so why not do it for myself?” That is precisely what he did. He rented a small office and founded Nauth LPC. Since leaving Big Law, there are certain deals he doesn’t have the capacity to handle — such as U.S. public M&A transactions — but there’s more than enough work to keep him busy. And he’s more satisfied than ever with his career. “I like control over my life,” he says. “It’s one thing to go into a weekend knowing I have lots of work to do. I can manage my life around that. It’s another thing to have no visibility over what the work pipeline looks like over the weekend.” These days, he might get the odd emergency call, but at least it’s from a client that he has a relationship with. “I don’t have full control,” says Nauth, “but it’s more palatable because it’s something I’ve built.” Now five years into his solo practice, Brandon Siegal
couldn’t be happier with his decision to leave large-firm life. “My biggest fear of leaving a big firm was losing my reputation — the sense that, in being on my own, I would be viewed as taking a ‘step down’ from being at an established firm,” he says. “The most rewarding, and surprising, part of starting Siegal Tax Law is the realization that I have cemented my reputation. It’s an incredible feeling when you see your logo on the letterhead. You’re able to say, ‘Wow. I built this.’”
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Debrief SECRET LIFE
Fine art by Luc Rinaldi photography by Steph Martyniuk
Natalia Ackers Aramark Canada
As a teenager in the 1990s, Natalia Ackers spent hours
in her bedroom drawing. Her ability to sketch the logos of her favourite grunge bands, Pearl Jam and Nirvana, demonstrated real talent. In high school, her art teacher kept her superb assignments as examples for future students. Yet Ackers never considered a career in the art world. “My parents were, like, ‘That’s nice that you’re good at art, but you’re going to be a professional of some sort,’” she recalls. “Once I left high school, art was in the rear-view mirror.”
After completing an undergraduate degree in psychology, Ackers trained as a lawyer. About four years into her legal career, she became the assistant general counsel at Aramark Canada, which provides, among other things, food and uniform services to a wide range of organizations. Ackers has now occupied that role for a decade. For much of this time, her passion for art lay dormant. But in 2016, it staged a surprising comeback. Ackers and her husband, a firefighter, spent a weekend painting abstracts. “It opened Pandora’s box,” she says. For the first time since she graduated from high school, she started to paint on a regular basis. At first, painting was a release, a distraction from the demands of work. “In law, things have to be done the right way,” says the 41-year-old. “There is no bending the rules.” Abstract painting requires skill, but there are no clear-cut rules. “Happy accidents are usually the best part of the process.” Today, Ackers has turned art into a bona fide side gig. From a studio in her basement, she produces abstract paintings that burst with colour. In the first year of her budding artistic career, her work was featured in a café gallery in Bloor West Village. Ackers has also sold canvases at art fairs and to her followers on Instagram. “I would love to transition to painting as a full-time career, but that’s a risky move,” she says. “So I’ve made a little deal with myself: if I can match my salary in painting sales, I get to quit my day job!”
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