Ida Bianchi has been a lawyer since 1995, practising primarily in the areas of family law and child welfare law. While in private practice, she acted for parents, children, and children’s aid societies. She has also held policy and research positions at Legal Aid Ontario and the Law Commission of Ontario. She has served as counsel on several Commissions established by the government of Ontario to investigate tragedies impacting vulnerable communities, including the Motherisk Commission which examined the impact of tainted evidence in child welfare proceedings. She is currently senior crown counsel at the Ministry of the Attorney General for Ontario working on family law policy and programs.

Megan Pfiffer is a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto with research interests in public law, and legal, political, and moral philosophy. Megan received her JD from Queen’s University where she was awarded the Silver Medal in Law for achieving the second highest academic standing in her graduating class, as well as the Dean’s Key Award for best embodying the signature values of Queen’s Law. She then articled at a leading Toronto litigation firm and clerked for Justice Rosalie Abella at the Supreme Court of Canada. Prior to beginning her doctoral work, Megan completed the BCL at the University of Oxford with distinction, earning the Onora O’Neill Prize in Philosophy, Law and Politics.

Mercedes is a lawyer and founding partner at Perez Leinveer Procope LLP with extensive expertise in administrative and constitutional law, civil litigation and appeals. She has represented clients before a range of administrative tribunals and at all levels of court in Ontario, Federal Court, and the Supreme Court of Canada. Mercedes specializes in mental health/ capacity law, disability rights, elder law, sexual assault and Charter litigation. She has advocated for hundreds of clients before the Ontario Review Board and Consent and Capacity Board and is active in appeals from decisions of these tribunals. She has received numerous amicus curiae appointments from the Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Appeal and has been lead counsel in complex, high stake and precedent setting litigation, including coroner’s inquests and public inquiries.

https://pbplawyers.com/

Charles is a Partner with Glaholt Bowles LLP and specializes in international and domestic construction arbitration. His work focuses on large scale infrastructure projects including refineries, pipelines, power generation facilities, rail, mining and tunneling. Charles has experience with arbitrations under ICC and UNCITRAL rules, as well as ad hoc rules. Charles has represented owners, general contractors, subcontractors, engineers and EPCM firms both nationally and internationally. Charles has also represented both Canadian and American Surety companies with respect to enforcing obligations under indemnity agreements and defending claims on performance bonds and labour and material payment bonds.

Naseem Mithoowani practices exclusively in immigration and refugee law through Mithoowani Waldman Immigration Law Group. She has years of experience teaching as an Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, her alma matter. Naseem has been named one of Canada’s top 40 lawyers under 40 by Lexpert Magazine, and has been profiled several times by leading legal publications.

https://mwlawgroup.ca

Geoff Carpenter is lawyer, mediator, arbitrator and parenting coordinator practicing in Oakville. He is certified as a specialist in family law by the Law Society of Ontario and serves as a Dispute Resolution Officer, Deputy Judge and is a long-time panel member for the Office of the Children’s Lawyer.

Geoff has argued at every level of court in Canada, including two cases at the Supreme Court of Canada. He was lead counsel for the Respondent in Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia, the groundbreaking case on the possible recognition of a novel tort of family violence.

Lena Wang is certified as a Specialist in Construction Law by the Law Society of Ontario and has experience representing clients on a variety of complex disputes on infrastructure, industrial and commercial projects. Lena has represented clients at trial and on appeal and regularly advises parties in the industry with respect to construction contracts.

Lena is a frequent speaker and published writer on construction law and is a co-author of the Annotated Ontario Construction Act (Thomson Reuters, 2023). Lena is Chair of the Advocates Society’s Construction Law Practice Group.

https://www.glaholt.com/professionals/bio/lena-wang

Tara is a partner at Waldman & Associates LLP, a leading boutique immigration firm.

Tara represents individuals and families before the Immigration and Refugee Board and in applications to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. She frequently assists clients in complex matters, including inadmissibility and exclusion from refugee status.

Tara regularly appears before the Federal Court of Canada in Applications for Judicial Review and Motions. She has participated in high profile cases before the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.

https://waldmanlaw.ca/our-team/tara-mcelroy-2/

Jeremy Martin is a partner in Cassels’ Litigation and Dispute Resolution group. He specializes in class actions, with a subspecialty in product liability.

In addition to regular appearances before trial and appellate courts in Ontario, British Columbia and the Federal Court, as part of his practice Jeremy has spearheaded numerous domestic and international product recalls, crisis management situations and ADR frameworks.

Jeremy is frequently consulted by insurers, legislatures and non-partisan bodies for his expertise on class actions, and his work on civil procedure has been adopted as law by the Supreme Court of Canada. For these and other contributions, the Ontario Bar Association awarded him the 2021 Heather McArthur Memorial Young Lawyers’ Award for exceptional achievements in the development of the law.

Recognized by Lexpert and Best Lawyers as one of the leading class action defence counsel in Canada, Jeremy has been elected as Chair of the Class Actions section of the Ontario Bar Association and an executive of the Class Actions Group of the Advocates’ Society. He is a six-time co-author of Ontario’s leading textbook on civil procedure, a frequent speaker at class action conferences across North America, and has lectured on civil process at Windsor University, Western University and Osgoode Hall.

When not practicing or teaching, Jeremy can be found at a ballpark or bookstore, embarrassing his daughters with terrible puns.

Jeremy Martin

Daniel Sheppard has a broad public law practice at Goldblatt Partners LLP, where he represents workers, unions, civil society groups and public bodies. Dan has extensive experience in constitutional matters, and has acted in many cases respecting freedom of religion, expression and association, voting rights, fundamental justice, and search and seizure. He has also litigated issues related to equality rights, and the division of powers. Dan’s work has touched upon a wide range of areas, including criminal, labour, human rights, access to information and privacy, and public international law. He served as Senior Commission Counsel on both the Public Order Emergency Commission (Rouleau Commission) and the Foreign Interference Commission (Hogue Commission).

Daniel Sheppard