Top Canadian Lawyers In 2018

Justice David Stratas

Judge, Federal Court of Appeal, Ottawa, Ont. Stratas penned perhaps the most talked-about choice in the region of employment legislation this year. It will affect federally regulated employers and workers for a long time to come. His February Federal Court of Appeal decision in Wilson v. Atomic Energy of Canada flies in the face of 40 decades of law allowing federally regulated employers to dismiss workers without cause. Prior to the conclusion, the consensus was the workers that are governed by the Canada Labour Code could only be terminated for just cause. Many federally controlled organizations such as banks, telecommunications firms, and transport businesses see the choice that a success, due to its long-term effects. The court needs to be a tie-breaker with this issue, composed Stratas. As a result of its effect, Joseph Wilson filed for leave to appeal with the Supreme Court of Canada in late March. A decision on leave is impending. What Republicans needed to say: He's the greatest administrative law jurist of the era. The single one going deep into philosophy, making sense of it all. Thoughtful, scholarly, practical, and so hard working. Connected to the last, it appears the cases with a real impact from the Federal Court of Appeal are written by him. Plain talking decisions really hammer the important points home, look more to real estate lawyers.

Pascale Fournier

Professor & research chair, legal pluralism and comparative law, University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, Ottawa, Ont. Fournier has achieved international recognition for her groundbreaking work on gender, faith, and the law, using fieldwork interviews with women from several countries to emphasize the complex interplay between religious and secular law. She's received numerous national and international awards and nominations in 2014. Fournier became a fellow of the prestigious International Women's Forum for her job as a pioneer in the legal profession; getting the Canada-Arab Chamber of Commerce Award for academic excellence and contribution to humanity. Fournier represented the University of Ottawa as an effective pioneer in the Governor General's Canadian Leadership Conference and was appointed by the National Assembly of Quebec to the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission. What voters had to say: Outstanding mind, according [to] Harvard's Prof. Kennedy.

Mark Tamminga

Partner, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, Hamilton, Ont. Tamminga has devoted his career to automating lawful practices. His information technologies focus started in 1986 while he was still a law student and has been given the job of systemizing the production environment for mortgage files. Since that time, Tamminga's aptitude for legal technology has only grown with Gowlings LLP. Three decades back, he was named Gowlings' Innovation Initiatives leader. He is in charge of automating the Gowlings recovery services clinic. He has designed and built lots of additional practice systems in the areas of debt collection, loan placement, and civil litigation. His role has required re-thinking that the thornier aspects of large business operations: managing cultural change, inducing client-side thinking, and building the reimbursement mechanics, which drive new behaviour. Exactly what the panel had to say: Tamminga has shown real vision in tackling tough issues that many law firms are not quite prepared to carry on.

Sheila Block

Partner, Torys LLP, Toronto, Ont. Among the sharpest litigators in the country, Block has served as lead counsel on a newly dismissed $5-billion class action lawsuit against CIBC and a $100-million suit brought by approximately 8,000 residents of Barbados from Manulife. She was also staunch counsel for former Manitoba associate chief justice Lori Douglas in the question of this judge's role in a scandal involving her deceased husband, one of his former clients, and salacious photos of herself submitted online. Block also received an honorary LLD from the Law Society of Upper Canada this past year. An advocate dedicated to teaching law in Canada and around the globe, she's coached advocates for the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal in Rwanda and the Special Court on Sierra Leone. What Republicans needed to say: Elle demontre son interet a la fois pour l'education du publique et des affaires. (She's shown her interest to the education of the public and business.)

Louise Arbour

Counsel, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Montreal, Que. An international lawyer who has just settled in Canada, Arbour has earned a place on the Canadian Lawyer's Top 25 Most Influential record again this season. She's a winner of the 2015 Simons Foundation Award, realizing world leaders who form and create an environment for a much safer and more just world. Arbour has spoken out from protracted use of solitary confinement and has been inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. She has been a Supreme Court of Canada judge, an global war crimes prosecutor, and a law school professor. Her ability to pick up things quickly led her to various roles nationally and globally. Arbour says economic disparities between and within counties is that the number-one inexcusable human rights issue at the moment. Always craving new and challenging environments, only last year she finally did something she had never done: joined a law firm in Montreal where she proceeds to fight for individual rights. What voters had to state:Her magnificent contributions speak for themselves. International celebrity.

Frank Iacobucci

Senior counsel, Torys LLP, Toronto, Ont. This retired justice has set the bar for authorities treatment of the mentally ill. His 2014 landmark report outlined 84 sound ways of helping to prevent shooting of mentally ill people by the Toronto Police. The implementation of this report would go a long way toward avoiding disastrous confrontations between police and emotionally disturbed individuals. Some of the recommendations include the use of body-worn cameras and enhanced use of tasers. The report is a strong message that the status quo is no more okay. As a Torys counselor, Iacobucci is used to advising government and company on important legal and policy matters. What Republicans needed to say: Has anybody actually done more? and Energetic, never stops.