Jill Witkin was appointed a judge of the Ontario Court of Justice in 2023. Prior to that she worked as counsel at the Crown Law Office (Criminal) and was the Chair of the Criminal Law Division’s Sexual Violence Advisory Group. She was Deputy Crown Attorney at Old City Hall courthouse from 2009 – 2015 and before that she was Team Leader of the Child Abuse Team. As a prosecutor, she did a great deal of high-profile trial and appellate work involving cases of sexual assault.

Jill is an Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School. She was the past director of the Ontario Crown Attorney’s Association summer school courses “Sexual and Domestic Violence” and “Sexual Offences”. She speaks on various aspects of criminal law and procedure at a variety of educational conferences for the legal and quasi-legal profession and she has done a great deal of police training. She has conducted workshops in Uganda, teaching justice participants how to effectively interview children and adduce a child’s evidence in court.

Jill is the proud mother of three Gen-Z’ers.

Michael Lynk is Professor Emeritus of Law, Western University, where he taught labour law, constitutional law and domestic and international human rights between 1999 and 2022. He is the co-author of Trade Union Law in Canada (Thomson Reuters) (with Peter Engelmann and Michael Mac Neil) and Protecting Human Rights in Occupied Palestine (Clarity Press) (with Richard Falk and John Dugard). In 2016, Professor Lynk was selected by the United Nations Human Rights Council as the 7th UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory. In this unpaid capacity, he submitted regular reports to the Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly on human rights trends in the OPT. He served in this position until 2022.

Deborah Glatter is a legal educator and management consultant. She provides training and advice to lawyers at all stages of their careers and designs human capital management tools for law firms. Deborah is a Law Society of Ontario accredited Continuing Professional Development provider.

Background

After practicing law for a decade, Deborah joined the Law Society of Ontario’s Department of Education where she designed courses and licensing examinations for the Bar Admission Course. She then joined a national law firm where she was a partner and responsible for the professional development and management of its associate lawyers.

Credentials

Deborah’s professional qualifications include a diploma in Adult Education from St. Francis Xavier University, two Harvard Law School Mediation Certificates, a Certificate in Solution Focused Counselling from the University of Toronto, a yellow belt in Legal Lean Sigma, and a certificate from Harvard Business School in “Teaching with Cases Online”. She is a certified culture coach with the Waterstone Culture Institute.

Pro Bono (Current)

• Coach, Law Society’s CAN (Coach and Advisor Network)
• Project Abraham board member. Project Abraham is an NGO assisting refugees resettle in Canada.

Pro Bono (Past)

• Dispute Resolution Officer, Superior Court of Ontario
• Member, Law Society’s Dispute Resolution Design Team
• Member, Law Society’s Justicia Committee

Dr. Inbar Peled researches and teaches in the areas of identity studies, criminal law, and professional ethics. Her award-winning dissertation, entitled “Professionalizing Discrimination,” explored the legal response to discriminatory policing and won the Law and Society Association 2024 dissertation prize, as well as the York university-wide dissertation award.

As a human rights lawyer working with equity-deserving communities, Peled has spent the past decade studying identity-based discrimination and considering paths to transformation in the legal systems of multicultural societies. Peled holds a PhD from Osgoode Hall Law School, where she was a Vanier scholar, an LL.M from Columbia University, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar, an additional master’s degree from the University of Toronto, and an LL.B from Tel Aviv University.

Sydney Osmar is a partner of Hull & Hull LLP, having joined the firm in 2018. Sydney is a dedicated advocate for her clients, assisting them to resolve matters involving all aspects of estates, trusts and capacity law, including will challenges, dependant support claims, fiduciary accounting disputes, guardianship applications, and capacity related disputes. Sydney also defends estate lawyers in proceedings involving allegations of solicitors’ negligence.

Prior to joining Hull & Hull LLP, Sydney articled with the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee. Sydney contributes to the profession through speaking at legal education programs, frequently blogging and podcasting on estate and elder law related issues, and internally, by providing mentorship to students and junior lawyers at the firm. Sydney has also completed the Osgoode Hall Law School Intensive Trial Advocacy Workshop and holds a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, where, throughout her tenure at Osgoode, she served as a student caseworker, division leader and board member for the Community and Legal Aid Services Program.

Sajida Mehdi has an extensive practice working inhouse at a number organizations, providing commercial legal support in various industries including financial services, consumer products/goods, transportation/logistics and professional services. Sajida has legal experience working at pubic organizations, companies operated by private equity firms and privately owned businesses.  Her commercial practice includes providing legal advice on regulatory matters, contract drafting and review, compliance, procurement support, commercial leasing, real property sale/disposition and merger and acquisition oversight.  Sajida received her law degree from Osgoode Hall, and her undergraduate studies were at York University where she earned a honours degree in Sociology.

Mr. Fitzgerald is a leading practitioner in the areas of mergers and acquisitions and securities law with significant experience in a wide range of both public and private transactions, including public offerings, private placements, negotiated transactions, hostile take-over bids, shareholder activism and complex corporate reorganizations. Mr. Fitzgerald has extensive experience with large, multijurisdictional transactions and provides advice to boards of directors and their committees, often in the context of transformative events. Mr. Fitzgerald also provides advice to public companies on their disclosure, corporate governance and other corporate and securities law obligations.

Karen Papadopoulos is Crown Counsel at the Crown Law Office – Criminal, Ministry of the Attorney General. She is an experienced trial and appellate litigator, with a specialization in leading large-scale appeals before the Court of Appeal for Ontario and the Supreme Court of Canada. She taught Trial Advocacy at Osgoode Hall for many years, and is a director of the Ministry’s Appellate Advocacy course. Prior to joining the Crown Law Office, Karen practiced as an attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. She regularly presents on a number of criminal law matters to members of the bar, the judiciary, and students. In 2023, Karen received the Osgoode Hall Law School Alumni Gold Key Award in the Public Sector.