Top Lawyers In Canada In 2019

Orlando Da Silva

President, Ontario Bar Association, Toronto, Ont. Da Silva's heartfelt public confession of a long and deep depression and attempted suicide has opened discussion on mental health over the legal community such as never before. While there's a deep-rooted stigma against mental illness facilitated by a dominance of type A personalities, Da Silva's courageous leadership has helped develop technical support programs for attorneys who struggle in silence. Like this was not enough, Da Silva has gone one step farther and asked attorneys to call him personally if they need support. His fans underline that Da Silva's efforts are critical in an industry that promotes bravado and often mistakes mental illness to get a personal weakness. What Republicans needed to say: Mr. Da Silva's bravery in grounding increasingly acknowledged mental health issues in the legal profession within their own personal experience will advance these concerns among lawyers and cause positive ends, cool real estate lawyer in toronto‌.

Justice Murray Sinclair

Chairman, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Winnipeg, Man. An uncommon write-in candidate winner with this year's Best 25, Sinclair was among the list this past year, making headlines in June with the launch of the overview of the record of the TRC and 94 recommendations to redress the cultural genocide of Canada's residential college system. Over six decades, Sinclair directed the TRC hearing the tales of over 7,000 survivors of sexual, physical, and psychological abuse. Sinclair, that had been the first aboriginal judge in Manitoba, was initially appointed to the provincial court where he became associate chief in 1988 and then raised to the Court of Queen's Bench in 2001. He was co-commissioner of Manitoba's Aboriginal Justice Inquiry in 1988 and presided over a 2000 inquest into the deaths of 12 babies at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre. Sinclair expects to complete the commission's full report in the near future, after which he will decide whether to return to retire or court and advocate for native rights fulltime.

Mark Tamminga

Partner, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, Hamilton, Ont. Tamminga has devoted his career to automating lawful practices. His information technology focus started in 1986 while he was still a law student and has been given the task of systemizing the manufacturing environment for files. Ever since that time, Tamminga's aptitude for legal technology has just grown with Gowlings LLP. Three years ago, he was named Gowlings' Innovation Initiatives leader. He's responsible for automating the Gowlings recovery solutions clinic. He has designed and built a number of further training systems in the areas of debt collection, loan placement, and civil litigation. His role has demanded re-thinking the thornier aspects of large business operations: managing cultural change, inducing client-side believing, and building the compensation mechanisms, which induce new behaviour. Exactly what the panel had to say: Tamminga has shown real vision in tackling tough issues that lots of law firms are not quite prepared to carry on.

Wayne Myles

Counsel, Cox & Palmer, St. John's, N.L. Myles' recent claim to fame is that the $3-billion international merger of Barbados-based Columbus International Inc. with England-based Cable & Wireless Communications PLC.. His M&A experience, combined with his dedicated customer connections, have not only resulted in the largest deal in the telecommunications company's history, but demonstrated that major international deals are being deftly handled by an Atlantic Canadian law firm. He also 's also acted as lead counsel and strategic advisor on several acquisitions, licensing, and funding of many subsea and terrestrial telecommunications businesses in the international seafood processing and marketing sector. Myles also advised on aviation issues, on many domestic and international business bankruptcy and restructuring projects and on energy and transport matters. What voters had to state:[An] outstanding attorney with international vision. Huge advantage to any trade.

Lorne Waldman

Waldman & Associates, Toronto, Ont. Waldman is a good guardian of refugees, immigrants, and human rights. He's won a number of important successes, such as health care for refugees in Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care v. Canada and a woman's best to wear the niqab while producing her citizenship oath in Ishaq v. Canada together with his associate Naseem Mithoowani. In addition, he contended at the Supreme Court of Canada at J.P. v. Canada and G.J. v. Canada, that Canada's anti-human smuggling provisions must include asylum seekers participating in mutual aid. Along with Peter Edelmann, he acted on behalf of the CBA in the Harkat case prior to the SCC at 2014. On the international stage, he symbolizes Mohamed Fahmy (alongside Amal Clooney), the Canadian journalist working for Al Jazeera. He's also been a vocal opponent of Bill C-51 and changes to Canada's citizenship legislation. What voters had to say: Lorne educated us all, especially today, to preserve democracy and to preserve the rule of law.