LEXPERT RISING STARS:
CELEBRATING YOUNG LAWYERS
AT THE TOP OF THEIR PROFESSIONAL GAME
Key Media would like to thank our event partner, Fasken, and silver partners Blake,
Cassels & Graydon, Lavery, and Marks & Clerk, and our advisory panel
for dedicating their time.
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OFFICIAL MEDIA SUPPORTING MEDIA ORGANIZER
It takes a lot to be a Lexpert Rising Star. Just ask
the judges who had to weigh in on this year's crop of
candidates for Lexpert's annual list celebrating leading
lawyers under 40. With so many deserving lawyers
nominated this year, picking a specific number was
difficult.
"I was consistently impressed with the extremely
accomplished candidates put before us," says Sandra
Abitan, managing partner with Osler, Hoskin &
Harcourt LLP in Montreal. She was on the Lexpert
advisory panel tasked with choosing from the many
names submitted this year.
The Lexpert Rising Stars Awards, presented
by Lexpert magazine and supported by Canadian
Lawyer and InHouse magazines, were revealed at an
in-person gala at the Liberty Grand on November 22.
Advisory board member Leola Pon, GC and
executive officer of legal services for the Toronto
District School Board, says, "It was very exciting to
see the large number of lawyers involved in equity
and reconciliation work." Those efforts should be
recognized, she adds.
For advisory panel member Tom Curry at Lenczner
Slaght, "First and foremost, I look at practice
experience – whether it be cases or transactions, the
work always stands out." Curry adds that the client
feedback in the nomination form was "very helpful to
the process. "
Fellow Rising Star judge Sue-Lynn Noel, senior vice
president, general counsel, and corporate secretary
for Purolator in Toronto, says: "It's not enough to be
technically competent or even extraordinarily smart.
Leadership qualities such as courage, emotional
intelligence, inclusivity, and innovation are equally
essential criteria."
Abitan agrees, noting, "I was looking for those
lawyers who have not only excelled in ensuring client
success and serving as trusted advisors, but who also
found time in their busy lives to contribute back to the
legal profession and society more broadly."
The advisory panel members also appreciated seeing
increased diversity. Rising Stars judge Lucille D'Souza,
vice president and associate general counsel of strategy
and operations at the Royal Bank of Canada, says: "What
struck me the most was the diversity of the candidates,
representing all backgrounds and practising in a wide
range of legal disciplines."
Abitan notes the legal world is "richer for having
them," especially as they shape the careers of the
younger lawyers that they now mentor.
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