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Top Canadian Lawyers In 2020

Lorne Waldman

Waldman & Associates, Toronto, Ont. Waldman is a good defender of refugees, immigrants, and human rights.  He's won a variety of important victories, including health care for refugees in Canadian Doctors for Refugee Care v. Canada along with a female 's right to wear the niqab whilst making her citizenship oath at Ishaq v. Canada together with his associate Naseem Mithoowani.  In addition, he contended at the Supreme Court of Canada in J.P. v. Canada and G.J. v. Canada, that Canada's anti-human smuggling provisions should include asylum seekers participating in mutual assistance.  Along with Peter Edelmann, he acted on behalf of the CBA from the Harkat case prior to the SCC at 2014.  On the global stage, he represents Mohamed Fahmy (alongside Amal Clooney), the Canadian journalist working for Al Jazeera.  He has also been a vocal opponent of Bill C-51 and changes to Canada's citizenship law. What voters had to say: Lorne educated us all, particularly today, to preserve democracy and to maintain the rule of law.

Sheila Block

Partner, Torys LLP, Toronto, Ont. Among the sharpest litigators in the nation, Block has served as lead counsel on a recently dismissed $5-billion class action lawsuit against CIBC plus a $100-million suit brought by roughly 8,000 residents of Barbados against Manulife.  She was also staunch counsel for former Manitoba associate chief justice Lori Douglas in the inquiry of the judge's role in a scandal involving her deceased husband, one of his former clients, and salacious photographs of herself submitted on the internet.  Block additionally 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 world, she has trained advocates for the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal in Rwanda and the Special Court in Sierra Leone. What voters had to say: Elle demontre son interet a la fois pour l'education du publique et des affaires.  (She has demonstrated her interest for the education of the general public and business.)

Justice Beverley McLachlin

Chief justice, Supreme Court of Canada, Ottawa, Ont.  A frequent member of the Top 25 list and also the very best vote-getter in years past, McLachlin proceeds to make waves, handing down two very significant conclusions on aboriginal law.  The 2014 Tsilhqot'in Nation v. British Columbia decision directed by McLachlin is the earliest of its type in the history of British Columbia.  This past year that the Supreme Court of Canada granted declaration of aboriginal title to over 1,700 square kilometres of land.  She's also responsible for upholding the decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal in Keewatin v. Ontario (Natural Resources) published in July 2014, she has what the Lamer court started and has left her mark in this region for decades ahead.  The chief justice continues to be a powerful proponent of greater justice for all Canadians.  As her unbelievable amount of votes once again this year show, McLachlin is greatly admired not just for her rulings but her public support in favour of free speech, diversity, and comprehensive leadership.  What Republicans needed to say: A brilliant judge that, again and again, marries the legislation with common sense.  Justifiably most respected legal mind in the country; remarkable integrity; reliable public servant; obviously guided by the law and also a strong ideology.

Alice Woolley

Professor and associate dean-academic, University of Calgary Faculty of Law, Calgary, Alta. Woolley is a true changemaker in the region of law and technology as well as law regulation.  She has been a valuable member of the Canadian Bar Association's ethics and professional responsibility committee.  Her work with the CBA Futures project as an ethics and regulatory problems staff member is really making a mark at the legal community.  Woolley is also responsible for sweeping educational changes as chairwoman of the committee which developed and adopted significant curricular changes at the University of Calgary's Faculty of Law, which focus on the practical elements of legal education and will come into effect in September. What voters had to say: Leading expert on legal profession and integrity; once she talks, people listen.  Alice is a visionary.  Teaching law students in a way that will prepare them for a 21st century practice is of crucial importance to the future of the profession.