Vanisha H. Sukdeo, BA, LLB, LLM, PhD. currently works as a Course Instructor at Osgoode Hall Law School and in the Social Science Department at York University, teaching Business Associations and Corporate Governance and Business Law. Her research is located at the intersection between corporate law and labour & employment law.  Vanisha was Called to the Ontario Bar in 2007 after completing her articles with a union-side labour law firm and in-house at a union. She completed her Doctorate at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Ontario. Vanisha received her LLM from Osgoode, LLB from Queen’s University, and her Bachelor of Arts from York University where she majored in Political Science. Vanisha is the sole author of four books and has also written journal articles and book chapters on a range of topics within both corporate law and labour & employment law.

Bob Tarantino is Counsel at Dentons Canada LLP and focuses his practice on the interface between the entertainment industries and intellectual property law. He advises clients at every stage of the creative process from ideation to monetization.

Bob holds graduate degrees in law from Osgoode Hall Law School and the University of Oxford, including a PhD from Osgoode Hall Law School and has been an adjunct lecturer at Osgoode Hall, Queen’s University’s Faculty of Law and Western University’s Faculty of Law and previously served as the acting co-director of IP Osgoode’s Intellectual Property Law and Technology Intensive Program. Bob is the co-author of Canadian Film & Television Business & Legal Practice (published by Thomson Reuters), and has also been recognized as one of Canada’s leading lawyers in the area of entertainment law in the Lexpert / American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada, Who’s Who Legal: Canada and The Best Lawyers in Canada. Bob plays an active role within the legal community, having been a past Chair of the Executive Committee of the Ontario Bar Association’s (OBA) Entertainment, Media and Communications Law Section and a former Chair of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada’s Copyright Policy Committee. His work with the OBA has included serving on the OBA’s Board of Directors, Governance Committee, Pro Bono Committee, Equality Committee, and Council.

In addition to being a frequent panelist and commentator on various matters relating to law and intellectual property, Bob’s writing on various topics has been featured in publications ranging from This Magazine and the National Post to the Canadian Bar Association’s PracticeLink and the Literary Review of Canada. His academic articles in the field of entertainment law have been published in the University of California Hastings Communications and Entertainment Law Journal (Comm/Ent) and the peer-reviewed Intellectual Property Journal, Canadian Intellectual Property Review and Osgoode Hall Law Journal.

Kartiga Thavaraj has a specialized practice focused on both construction and constitutional litigation. She routinely represents clients in complex commercial cases, including on public-private-partnership (P3) projects, and acts in human rights and constitutional cases before the courts and at the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal.

Samuel G. Walker is Crown Counsel at the Crown Law Office – Criminal in Toronto, where he is a member of the Justice Prosecutions Unit and conducts appeals before the Ontario Court of Appeal. From 2017-2021 he was an Assistant Crown Attorney with the Scarborough Crown Attorney’s Office and from 2013-2017 he practised criminal and regulatory law with the firm Henein Hutchison LLP. He is a former law clerk to the Honourable Justice Morris Fish of the Supreme Court of Canada, was a Gates Cambridge Scholar, and trained for a year at leading barristers’ chambers in London, England as a Harold Fox Scholar. Sam holds degrees from Yale University (B.A.), McGill University (B.C.L., LL.B.), and the University of Cambridge (LL.M.). He has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law as well as Osgoode Hall Law School, and has published several journal articles and book chapters on topics in public international law and criminal law.

B.A. from University of Waterloo, 1967. LL.B from Queen’s University, 1970 (Silver Medallist). LL.D (Hon.) from Law Society of Upper Canada, 2005. Called to the Bar of Ontario, 1972. Appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1982. Counsel, Criminal Appeals and Special Prosecutions Branch, Ministry of the Attorney General, 1972-1976. Deputy Director, Crown Law Office-Criminal, Ministry of the Attorney General, 1976-1977. Senior Crown Counsel (Criminal Law), Ministry of the Attorney General, 1977-1985. Visiting Professor of Law and Practitioner-in-Residence, Osgoode Hall Law School, 1984-1985. Practitioner-in-Residence, Faculty of Law, Dalhousie University, 2006-2007. Appointed to the Supreme Court of Ontario (High Court of Justice) in 1985, and to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in 2007 until retirement on November 2, 2021. Also served as member of Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada, and ad hoc member of Supreme Court of Yukon. Extensive teaching experience, including as Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, and University of Toronto Law School. A former Associate Director of the National Judicial Institute. Chair, Co-Chair, and Honourary Chair of the Federation of Law Societies’ National Criminal Law Program, 1986 to 2017. 1998 recipient of the American Bar Association-American Law Institute’s Harrison Tweed Award for Excellence in Continuing Legal Education. 2016 recipient of the Canadian Bar Association Judges’ Forum Colleague in the Spotlight award. Author of several publications, including Tremeear’s Annotated Criminal Code, Watt’s Manual of Criminal Evidence, Watt’s Manual of Criminal Jury Instructions, Helping Jurors Understand, and Watt’s Criminal Law and Evidence Newsletter. Frequent lecturer at continuing legal education programs in Ontario and across the country.

John practices practices public law in Gowling WLG’s Toronto office, chiefly in the areas of Crown liability, administrative law, constitutional law, regulatory law, class actions, and Indigenous law.

He is co-author of Halbury’s Laws of Canada – Administrative Law and Halsbury’s Laws of Canada – Constitutional Law – Division of Powers.

James is a Toronto-based lawyer specializing in business and human rights, transnational corporate accountability, and international human rights. He represents plaintiffs in all kinds of human rights and social justice claims, with a focus on cases that raise novel and/or complex issues of transnational justice. He also advises NGOs and international organizations within these areas.

James has appeared at all levels of court in Canada, including the Supreme Court of Canada and multiple provincial Courts of Appeal. He is President of Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR) and serves on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Council on International Law (CCIL).

James holds a Juris Doctor from Osgoode Hall Law School, where he graduated with various class prizes and the Silver Medal, and a Master of Laws from Yale Law School. After completing his JD he clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada for Justice Ian Binnie. James also holds a BSc in Computer Science and Cognitive Science from a university in Montreal presently named after a former slaveholder.

An experienced Conflict Management Practitioner with extensive experience in facilitating effective dialogues between parties in emotional conflicts.

Over 10 years of experience in the Community Mediation field: from managing a successful Community Mediation Program in York Region; to being an effective Workplace Dispute Management Practitioner; to being an engaging Conflict Resolution Trainer / Facilitator.

Professor Pasternack is the climate change, environmental and green energy counsel for the City of Toronto where he is a Deputy Director(A) in the Legal Services Division. Pasternack is a US-trained lawyer and worked with the City of New York, Earthjustice (affiliate of EcoJustice), and in private practice on similar issues before joining Toronto. He is a co-author of Defending the Environment: Civil Society Strategies to Enforce International Environmental Law (with Linda Malone) and author of a book chapter and journal articles on similar subject matters.