Faculty

Alison Manzer is a partner in the Banking & Specialty Finance Group and Business Law practice at Cassels. Alison has developed expertise in a wide range of practice areas combining skills to work effectively in most corporate/ commercial practice areas, with a focus on financial services and structured transactions. Her recent experience includes block chain and fintech applications. Her cross-border expertise has led to several leadership roles in the leading United States business law organizations such as the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers and the American Bar Association. Alison has written many books on legal topics, primarily in areas of banking and specialized finance, and routinely lectures and speaks on a wide range of topics. She has undertaken extensive formal education in areas key to her practice and has degrees in several subjects including a DBA, MBA, LLM and MSc., and the advanced Canadian Securities Institute programs. Alison recently received her Doctorate of Business Administration from the Henley Business School. She is also an adjunct profession at Osgoode Hall Law School teaching the LLM International Finance program, and has been practicing in the field of commercial law since 1979. Read her full bio here.

Andrew Christie is trade counsel with the Trade Law Practice Group with the Government of Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General/Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. He advises on trade negotiations, trade and investment disputes and the consistency of government measures and programs with Canada and Ontario’s obligations under international and domestic trade agreements.

Andrew obtained his bachelor’s degree in public affairs from Carleton University, MSc from the London School of Economics and LLB from the University of Ottawa specializing in International Law.

Prof. Daimsis teaches Contracts and Torts law, International Sales Law, International Commercial Arbitration, ADR and legal writing at the University of Ottawa. He also supervises the common law Jessup, Vis, and FDI moot teams and serves as the faculty’s moot program director. He has advised South Asian countries in the area of Foreign investment and investment treaties. Prof. Daimsis is called to the Ontario Bar (Barrister and Solicitor). He has recently joined Littleton Chambers (London, England) as an associate door tenant.

He works with the National Judicial Institute, a not-for-profit institution committed to building better justice through leadership in the education of judges in Canada and internationally.

Before teaching at the university, he worked at an international law firm located in Austria, as an associate. His work focused on foreign investment disputes, telecommunications, and underground resources, in addition to a number of international commercial contract and construction disputes resolved under the auspices of the World Bank (ICSID) and various international commercial arbitration institutions.

Based at the University of Tasmania (Australia), Professor Benjamin J. Richardson is a global scholar of environmental law, with collateral, interdisciplinary interests in aesthetics and the arts, philosophy, corporate social responsibility and Indigenous peoples. His peripatetic career over the past 25 years has spanned academic positions in Australia, Canada, England and New Zealand, including as a Senior Canada Research Chair at the University of British Columbia, and numerous visiting positions including holding the Global Law Visiting Chair at Tilburg University (Netherlands).

Professor Richardson is an award-winning author or editor of 13 books, including The Art of Environmental Law (Bloomsbury, 2019), Time and Environmental Law (Cambridge University Press, 2017), Company Law and Sustainability (Cambridge University Press, 2015) and Socially Responsible Investment Law (Oxford University Press, 2008).

Beyond the academic world, Professor Richardson has been active in a wide variety of community and professional groups, including the Australian Panel of Experts on Environmental Law, the Environmental Defender’s Office, the Tasmanian Independent Science Council, and the Tasmanian Greens, and he assists climate activist groups such as Extinction Rebellion.

Ellen M. Snow was called to the bar in 2006 after obtaining her Juris Doctor from the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto in 2005. Ellen began her career as an associate at another large firm prior to joining the Commercial Litigation Group in Clyde and Co.’s Toronto office.

Ellen is well-versed in dealing with complex commercial litigation, including securities litigation, products liability claims, class action defence and directors’ and officers’ liability.

Ellen also has considerable advocacy experience and has appeared before both the trial and appellate levels of court in Ontario and British Columbia and has appeared as co-counsel in two cases at the Supreme Court of Canada. Ellen has also appeared before various administrative tribunals, such as the Ontario Securities Commission, and is experienced in both domestic and international arbitration.

Ellen has guest lectured at the Faculty of Law, University of Montreal in the Juris Doctor program in North American common law.

Gil Lan is an Associate Professor in the Law and Business Department at the Ted Rogers School of Management (TRSM) where he teaches business law. He is also a Council Member of the Canada-Chine Institute for Business Development at TRSM. He received his B.Sc. from the University of Toronto and his LL.B., LL.M., and Ph.D. from Osgoode Hall Law School.

In addition to teaching at Ryerson University, Dr. Lan has lectured at Osgoode Hall Law School where he teaches Business Associations and he has, since 2008, taught in the LL.M. program for International Business Law.

Professor Janet Walker, CM is a Distinguished Research Professor and past Associate Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School, a member of the Ontario Bar, and a licensed legal consultant of the New York State Bar. She writes Canada’s main text on private international law Canadian Conflict of Laws, cited in more than 400 judgments; and she is co-author of Commercial Arbitration in Australia Under the Model Law (3rd ed) among other publications. Janet is an independent arbitrator with chambers in Toronto, London, and Sydney. Over the past 20 years, she has served as sole arbitrator, co-arbitrator and chair in ad hoc arbitrations and arbitrations administered by the ICC, ICDR, DIAC, HKIAC, KCAB, PCA and SIAC in a variety of seats. Her matters range from construction, M&A, shareholder, intellectual property, pharma and environmental.

Janet is chair of the ICC Canada Arbitration Committee; a member of the boards of the CIArb Canada Branch, the International Construction Law Association. For more information, see www.janet-walker.com

Jesse DiCecca graduated with an LL.B. degree from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2008. He taught Legal English, Canadian Criminal Law and International Law at Southwest University of Political Science and Law in Chongqing, China, during the 2008-2009 academic year.

He was called to the Ontario Bar in 2010 and practices criminal law in Toronto. He has taught or co-taught the Introduction to Canadian LLM Studies course since 2010.

Jinyan Li is Professor, former interim dean, Co-director of LLM Tax Programs, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Canada. She has published widely on Canadian, international and Chinese taxation. She is on the editorial board of World Tax Journal. Her research has been supported by significant external grants and recognized by distinctions, such as Tax Excellence Award from the Ontario Bar Association and Lifetime Contribution Award from the Canadian Tax Foundation. She has been an expert consultant to the Canadian government and international organizations, including the IMF, OECD and UN. Her work has been cited by Canadian courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada in Deans Knight Income Corp., Alta Energy and MacDonald.

Keith Geurts is a Senior Equity Partner in the Toronto Office of Clyde&Co. Canada. Keith is an experienced trial lawyer who represents and defends clients on regulatory and criminal investigations relating to, among other things, white-collar crime, anti-corruption, antitrust and price fixing as it relates to Competition law.

Keith’s expertise is advising corporate clients, board members and senior executives on criminal and regulatory offences. A former Crown prosecutor, Keith has considerable trial experience defending clients with serious charges in domestic and international anti-corruption matters, fraud investigations, money-laundering, antitrust and competition law, criminal defense, tax compliance, internal investigations, regulatory compliance and related civil litigation.

Having successfully represented clients at all levels of courts in Ontario for both regulatory and Criminal Investigations. He has also advised on high profile investigations and proceedings brought under the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act (CFPOA), Foreign Extra-Territorial Measures Act (FEMA) as well as on matters involving the Competition Bureau, Ontario Securities Commission, occupational health, Ministry of the Environment, Human Rights tribunals, Canadian Border Services and the Attorney General’s office. He has defended clients who, in their professional capacity, have been targeted in disciplinary investigations and regularly acts as counsel in major commercial, contractual and insurance disputes.

Keith also offers compliance advice and helps develop effective anti-bribery and anti-corruption compliance programs that are risk-based and tailored to the client’s needs. He regularly advises on International sanctions and anti-corruption laws pertaining to Canada, and related embargos. He advises clients on the implications of the CFPOA and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act have for their business.

Keith’s clients span diverse industries, including the financial, transportation, manufacturing, automotive, oil and gas, mining, retailing and resource sectors. He also represented the Ontario Government in the Walkerton Inquiry, one of the largest Environment Inquiries in Canadian history, and has represented government agencies in a variety of coroners’ inquests, notably for police forces, Emergency Medical Services, and Occupational Health.

Keith regularly teaches trial advocacy and is a lecturer at Osgoode Hall’s LLM program teaching a course on global regulatory challenges surrounding anti-money laundering and international sanctions. He also speaks at events and writes about issues related to Anti-Corruption practices including fraud investigations, anti-money laundering, bribery, search warrants and competition law. Keith is a past president of the Toronto Lawyers Club. Since 2018, Keith is a member of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police. He is ranked by Chambers and Partners Canada in 2018 in the field of White-Collar crime law (Nationwide Canada).

Laleh Hedayati is an associate at Rachlin & Wolfson LLP in Toronto. She received her B.A. (Honours) from the University of Toronto, LL.B degree from the University of Leicester, United Kingdom, and her LL.M from De Montfort University, United Kingdom.

She practices civil litigation with a focus on insurance defence as well as plaintiff personal injury.

Having volunteered extensively at various organizations, Laleh is passionate about advocating, the legal profession, and combining legal practice with academia. Laleh is an instructor of law courses at Osgoode Hall Law School – Professional Development, an instructor with the Osgoode Hall Law School Intensive Trial Advocacy Workshop – Professional Development, an instructor with the Lincoln Alexander School of Law – Toronto Metropolitan University (the former Ryerson University), and a mentor and assessor with the Law Practice Program at Toronto Metropolitan University (the former Ryerson University).

Laleh is a member of the Canadian and Ontario Bar Association, Trial Lawyers Association, and Canadian Defence Lawyers.

Louise Barrington is a dispute resolver with 30 years of experience. She practiced law in Ontario before moving into the field of commercial arbitration during graduate studies in Paris. A Canadian, she also holds a British passport. As well as private practice, her career includes sitting as arbitrator, meditating, teaching, and consulting.

Ms. Barrington is legally qualified in Ontario, New York and England and Wales.  She studied international business law in France and holds a Maitrise in European law from the University of Paris II (Assas).  In 2001 she became one of Asia’s first chartered arbitrators and an accredited mediator and trainer.

With “home bases” in Hong Kong, Paris, and Toronto, she has acted as sole arbitrator, co-arbitrator named by parties and institutions, and as tribunal president, in both ad hoc and institutional cases on four continents. In her more than 100 arbitration cases she has resolved disputes involving sales (CISG and shares), banking, franchises, insurance, construction, wrongful dismissal, intellectual property and licensing, agency, commission and shareholder disputes.  She is a panel member for HKIAC, CIArb, ICDR, VIAC, CIETAC. DIAC, BCCIA and a number of other regional arbitration institutions and has sat as sole arbitrator and chaired numerous ICC and ad hoc arbitrations, in Asia, Europe, and North America.

She has always combined arbitration practice with academic pursuits, teaching American Business Law in Paris and arbitration, mediation, international and commercial law (including in the French language) on law school faculties in Canada, England, Hong Kong and the USA. She directed the LLM Programme in Construction Law and Dispute Resolution at King’s College London and is currently Director of the Dispute Resolution Module for the SiLS on-line LLM in International Commercial Law.

In 1997 Ms. Barrington founded ICC Asia in Hong Kong, acting as arbitration/commercial law and practice resource for lawyers and businesses throughout the region.  Ms Barrington turned to full-time arbitration and mediation practice as an independent arbitrator in 2009 and in 2011 is one of the original Member Arbitrators at Toronto’s Arbitration Place. Now shuttling between Toronto and Hong Kong, in addition to sitting as arbitrator, she continues to teach arbitration law and practice, award writing and international sales law (CISG) as an adjunct professor at Osgoode Law School in Toronto and for a number of arbitration organizations.

She founded and directs the annual Vis East Arbitration Moot (www.cisgmoot.org) and is co-founder and honorary president of ArbitralWomen (www.arbitralwomen.org ).  She is a member of the ICC Arbitration Commission (Paris), the International Law Institute and for many years held elected offices with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.   She teaches arbitration practice courses around the world – recently in Brazil, Cambodia, Washington DC, and Croatia.  She is chief editor of The Danubia Files: Lessons in Award Writing from the Vis Moot. In her role as Director of the Vis East Moot Foundation, she has established capacity building programmes in Cambodia and Myanmar.  She is a frequent speaker at conferences and programmes around the world and is currently creating the ArbitralWomen Diversity Toolkit, to be introduced in late 2018.

Ms. Barrington speaks English and French fluently, along with conversational Spanish, and a little German.

She received the CPR Diversity Award in 2011.

Mackenzie Clark is an associate in DLA Piper (Canada) LLP’s corporate commercial group in Toronto. She maintains a broad practice with a focus on securities, mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance transactions.

Mackenzie represents both public and private companies in a diverse range of industries, including cannabis, healthcare, financial services and technology. Mackenzie assists companies in all stages of their business, from incorporation and early-stage financings, to going-public transactions and secondary offerings. Mackenzie has experience in business combination transactions, going-public transactions, mergers and acquisitions, take-over bids and corporate reorganizations. As part of her securities practice, Mackenzie also advises reporting issuers on compliance with continuous disclosure obligations and corporate governance matters.

Mackenzie received her LLB from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland in 2013 and has since been called to the bar in Ontario. Mackenzie is a member of the Law Society of Ontario, the Canadian Bar Association and the Ontario Bar Association.

Margaret Kim is Crown Counsel with the Government of Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General. As Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General, she provides strategic advice and support to the Deputy Attorney General and the Office of the Attorney General. Previously, Margaret worked as trade counsel with the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation & Trade, Legal Services Branch, providing advice on trade negotiations, trade and investment disputes, and the consistency of government measures and programs with trade obligations of Canada and Ontario.

Prior to joining the government, Margaret practiced in the areas of international trade, foreign investment and competition law as an associate lawyer at Bennett Jones LLP and Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, and also worked in the Legal Vice Presidency of the World Bank Group in Washington D.C.

Margaret obtained her B.A. (Hons.) in Political Science and Ethics, Society and Law from Trinity College in the University of Toronto, and Canadian / American Dual J.D. from the University of Ottawa and American University Washington College of Law.

Russel Drew has a corporate commercial practice focused on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, securities, private equity and venture capital matters, and both private and public company representation.

Russel has extensive experience advising domestic and international clients on mergers and acquisitions (including both hostile and friendly take-over bids and plans of arrangement), initial public offerings, cross-border acquisitions and divestitures and financings, high yield bond, secondary and private securities offerings, and private equity investments. He has also counseled private and public companies on securities, commercial and corporate governance matters.

Russel has represented many businesses, including investment banks, financial institutions, and multi-national corporations, in a broad spectrum of industries including mining, oil and gas, gaming, entertainment, energy, telecommunications, technology, real estate, advertising, transportation, financial services and pharmaceuticals. Russel has advised clients on some of the largest and most complex transactions in Canada over the past several years, and he takes pride in providing accurate and timely legal advice that is tempered by strategic thinking and business acumen. He has prior experience in regulatory proceedings and negotiations with regulatory authorities and has been seconded to the Ontario Securities Commission Enforcement Branch. Russel is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Western Ontario Law School where since 2010 he has taught “The Art of the Deal,” a course focused on negotiations of complex private and public mergers and acquisitions.

Saroja Kuruganty is trade counsel with the Government of Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General/Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, Legal Services Branch. In this capacity, she provides advice on trade negotiations, trade and investment disputes and various government measures to ensure consistency with Ontario’s trade obligations. In addition to her current work as trade counsel, Saroja has experience in trade policy and economic policy through her work at the former Ministry of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure/Ministry of Research and Innovation as a Senior Policy Advisor in the Trade Policy Branch and also, in the Strategic Policy Branch, as well as in the area of corporate procurement policy, particularly in relation to trade obligations, at the former Ministry of Government Services.

Prior to joining the Government of Ontario, Saroja practiced corporate/commercial litigation in private practice at a Toronto boutique litigation law firm and a national full-service law firm, after completing her articles at another national firm in Toronto.

Saroja obtained her LL.B and Master of Development Economics (M.D.E.) from Dalhousie University, along with a B.A. Honours in economics and a B.A. in development studies from Queen’s University. Saroja completed a portion of her law degree studying international and comparative business law at Bucerius Law School in Hamburg, Germany, and was called to the Ontario bar in 2009.

Sharon Wang joined the Law Library in 2006 as a Reference Librarian and became an adjunct faculty of the law school since 2008.

Prior to joining Osgoode, she worked at McGill University libraries’ Government Document Department, spent one summer at the Library of Parliament, and held various part-time positions at McGill Law Library. Read her full bio here.

Shelley Kierstead’s research interests lie in the areas of family law, access to justice, and dispute resolution.  She has also conducted research in the conflict of laws area, completing a Master of Laws degree focusing on this topic at the University of Toronto 1993.  Professor Kierstead first taught Legal Research and Writing (LRW) at Osgoode in 1993, and became Director of the LRW program at Osgoode in 2002. In 2005, she completed a doctoral dissertation in the family law area and obtained a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Osgoode Hall Law School.  Since 1997, Professor Kierstead has also coordinated a parent education program for separating parents entitled the “Parent Information Program.” This program is an initiative of Osgoode’s Centre for Public Law and Public Policy.

Suhuyini Abudulai is a partner in the Financial Services Group at Cassels Brock LLP. Her practice focuses on regulatory and transactional matters involving financial services. She regularly advises on the regulation of Canadian financial services and has particular expertise in federal and provincial consumer protection laws in Canada. She frequently provides strategic legal counsel to clients in areas of consumer finance, documentation, licensing, and disclosure requirements. Suhuyini is Chair of the Business Law Executive of the Ontario Bar Association and holds several leadership positions with the American Bar Association.

In 2016, Suhuyini was a recipient of the prestigious “Precedent Setter Award” and was named a “Change Agent” by Canadian Business Magazine. Suhuyini is Secretary on the Board of Directors for the YWCA Toronto.