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Top Canadian Lawyers In 2020

Lorne Waldman

Waldman & Associates, Toronto, Ont. Waldman is a good guardian of refugees, immigrants, and human rights.  He's won a number of important victories, including healthcare for refugees in Canadian nurses for Refugee Care v. Canada along with a female 's right to wear the niqab while making her citizenship oath in Ishaq v. Canada with his partner 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 should include asylum seekers participating in mutual aid.  Along with Peter Edelmann, he acted on behalf of the CBA from the Harkat case prior to the SCC at 2014.  On the international stage, he represents Mohamed Fahmy (along with Amal Clooney), the Canadian journalist working for Al Jazeera.  He's also been a vocal opponent of Bill C-51 and modifications to Canada's citizenship law. What voters had to say: Lorne educated us all, especially today, to preserve democracy and to preserve the rule of law.

Katrina Pacey

Executive director, Pivot Legal Society, Vancouver, B.C. Pacey was recently appointed executive director of Pivot Legal and continues the good work of her predecessors.  Pivot focuses on issues associated with health, police liability, drug policy, and homelessness, poverty, and sex workers' rights.  She may be best known for her part at the Bedford situation, however, Pivot is more than that and often has intervener status in major Supreme Court of Canada cases, including the recent one on required minimums.  She's also gifted at bringing on board highly admired counsel to work pro bono on many of these cases that may really affect the lives of some of the city, and nation 's, most vulnerable citizens. What voters had to say: Incredible devotion to social justice at every level with keen passionate intellect.  She's helped change draconian legislation that threaten the lives of sex trade workers and restore dignity to individuals who've been marginalized.

Louise Arbour

Counsel, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Montreal, Que. An international lawyer who has recently settled in Canada, Arbour has earned a spot on the Canadian Lawyer's Top 25 Most Influential record again this season. She is a winner of the 2015 Simons Foundation Award, recognizing world leaders that form and create an environment for a much safer and more just world.  Arbour has spoken out against prolonged use of solitary confinement and has been inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.  She has been a Supreme Court of Canada judge, an international war crimes prosecutor, and a law school professor.  Her ability to pick up things quickly led her into various roles nationally and globally.  Arbour says economic disparities between and within counties is the number-one inexcusable human rights issue at the moment.  Constantly craving new and challenging surroundings, only last year she finally did something she had never done: joined a law firm in Montreal where she continues to struggle for individual rights. What voters had to say:Her stunning contributions speak for themselves.  International celebrity.

Rocco Galati

Rocco Galati Law Firm PC, Toronto, Ont.  Rocco Galati is famed because of its one-man opposition to the present authorities, so much spending $42,000 of his own money on court problems.  He successfully launched a case that blocked Stephen Harper's appointment of Justice Marc Nadon to the Supreme Court of Canada.  His opposition to the appointment of Federal Court of Appeal Justice Robert Mainville to the Quebec Court of Appeal Wasn't as successful.  While he doesn't always win, Galati is dogged in his efforts to defend the Constitution against a government he sees as pushing the boundaries with too little respect for the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  He also 's now also been chosen as bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada and it'll be interesting to see what he brings to the law of the profession.What voters had to say: A true Canadian constitutional and human rights hero.