Mentorship

The Mentorship committee organizes and matches mentors with mentees and administers FACL's mentorship program and its speed mentorship event.

Description

A key component of FACL Ontario’s commitment to the promotion of equity, justice, and opportunities for pan-Asian Canadian legal professionals is our focus on providing mentorship experiences to our members.

Throughout the year, we provide a variety of networking and social events that connect senior members of the bar with junior practitioners and students. In addition, we offer two dedicated mentorship programs for FACL Ontario members.

Our annual speed mentoring event, the Mentor-A-Thon, takes place in the first quarter of every year. Student members have the chance to connect with experienced members of the bar through a speed mentoring session. Up-and-comers are also given the chance to provide mentorship to the next generation of lawyers. This event has proven to be an excellent opportunity to exchange advice, expand networks, and make connections.

In 2016, FACL Ontario launched a new pilot mentorship program. The purpose of the new program is to provide mid-level practitioners with guidance and networking opportunities to enhance their chances of promotion to senior positions within their chosen sector of law, whether it be partner, senior in-house counsel, Crown prosecutor, etc.

Log in to your FACL Ontario membership account to find out more about FACL Ontario’s mentorship opportunities. Not a member? Please click here to join FACL Ontario.

FACL Mentorship Committee Members

Maneesha Gupta - TD Bank - Mentorship Chair and Board of Directors

Maneesha is an Intellectual Property and Technology lawyer working at a multinational Canadian bank. She is also the Founder of Mindful Lawyer Canada, a mindfulness, yoga and meditation community in Canada exclusively for today's legal professionals. Aside from law, Maneesha is a speaker and has given lectures at universities and colleges across Ontario, and presented in panel events at the Law Society of Ontario and Toronto Region Board of Trade. Maneesha graduated from the University of Toronto - Victoria University and holds a Juris Doctor from Osgoode Hall Law School. Her practice focuses on brand protection and enforcement, which includes all aspects of patents, trademarks and copyrights; licensing innovations & privacy; and AI risk management. She is the Vice-Chair of the Ontario Bar Association’s Law Practice Management section, an organization serving 16,000 lawyers, judges and members. Maneesha is an active board member within the legal profession. She regularly advocates for the advancement of women, inclusion and access to justice. Maneesha also judges several national advocacy competitions across Canada.

Gurpreet Singh Chandok - GSC Law Professional Corporation

Gurpreet is a seasoned litigator and brings 12 years of multi-jurisdictional experience to the table. He finds his niche in strategizing both procedural and substantive solutions in complex litigation and arbitration matters. His litigation practice includes shareholder disputes, commercial and residential real estate litigation, contract and business disputes, property possessory disputes, construction lien, delay and deficiency construction claims, professional negligence and product liability cases. Alternative dispute resolution, like mediation and arbitration, has been an integral part of Gurpreet's practice and allows him to structure solutions that are both time and cost-efficient. Gurpreet's experience gives him a deeper understanding of law practice and the litigation process's nuances. He strongly believes that the practice of law is an art form that requires creative and innovative thinking.

Barbara de Dios - Canadian Dental Services Corporation

Barbara De Dios was called to the Ontario Bar in 2016, and is currently Corporate Counsel at Canadian Dental Services Corporation, a national dental services organization acquiring, operating, and partnering with businesses in its industry across the country. Prior to joining CDS Corp, Barbara completed her articles in-house at an investment management corporation based in Toronto, training in the areas of corporate/commercial law and mergers & acquisitions. Barbara currently manages the legal department for CDS Corp’s operations nationally, practicing in the areas of corporate governance, mergers & acquisitions, and general corporate/commercial matters with a focus on in-house issues.

Barbara sits as a section executive to the OBA Women Lawyers Forum Section and the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association Ontario Chapter. She also serves as part of the leadership team to the Global Lawyers of Canada’s Ontario Chapter, heading a new Small Group Program (SGP) aimed at mentoring soon-to-be lawyers in the midst of Ontario’s licensing process. She has been published in the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association Magazine and Canadian Lawyer Magazine, writing on various issues relating to women’s rights in the workplace, ethical considerations for junior lawyers, diversity and inclusion initiatives, career development, and the importance of networking for young lawyers. She is a finalist for the 2020 Canadian Law Awards, as a nominee to The Gowling WLG Award for Woman of the Year.

Veenu Goswami - Crown Law Office – Criminal

Veenu's professional experience spans across working at a civil litigation boutique, Paliare Roland Rothstein Rosenberg LLP; clerking at the Court of Appeal for Ontario and the Supreme Court of Canada, and working as Crown counsel at the Crown Law Office – Criminal. Veenu was born in New Delhi, raised in Singapore and moved to Canada when he was 13. He holds an undergraduate and law degree from the University of Toronto. During that time, Veenu debated competitively representing the university and was ranked as the third-best speaker at the Worlds Universities Debating Championships. Veenu also served as president of the university’s debating society, as a member of the law school’s Mooting Committee, and as coach of the Canadian high school debating team. In these roles, Veenu had significant organizational and leadership responsibilities, which included planning several events featuring speakers addressing contemporary social, political and legal issues.

Teresa Li - University of Toronto Faculty of Law

Teresa is currently a second-year law student at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. This summer, she worked at Don Valley Community Legal Services, where she assisted the tenants in navigating various housing issues, and delivered a public legal education session of Bill 184. At the same time, she was a research assistant at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society. Her research role involved examining laws and policies on artificial intelligence.

Before law school, Teresa completed her undergraduate degree in civil engineering at the University of Toronto, where she graduated with honours. She also worked full-time at the engineering department of a municipal government in the GTA, focusing on road designs, constructions, and project procurement. During her summers, she interned at law firms in China and Canada, exploring business and immigration law. A native Mandarin speaker, Teresa hopes to continue leveraging her bilingual and bicultural background in her legal career.

Teresa is deeply passionate about diversity and equality. At law school, she is a senior editor of the Journal of Law and Equality, and an executive member of the Asia Law Society, for which she has organized many events. During this pandemic, she has actively volunteered in Project PROTECH to help local Chinese Canadians protect mental health and combat racism.

Devrup Mitra - Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Devrup is an internationally trained technology lawyer with a decade of experience in the information technology industry. His core area of expertise is software licensing (Open and Closed Source Tech-Solutions), and also supports M&A deals and SaaS transactions sparingly. He holds a Masters degree in IP Licensing and Commercialization from the University of New South Wales - Sydney, Australia. Devrup is presently employed with Hewlett Packard Enterprise as a Region Counsel for the ‘Open Source Program Office’ within the IP Group, while working towards his LSO Candidature.

Ryan Wong - Osgoode Hall Law School

Ryan is attending his final year at Osgoode Hall Law School with an academic focus on Intellectual Property law. He completed his BMSc in Medical Science (2013) and MSc in Anatomy and Cell Biology (2015) at Western University. Prior to Osgoode, Ryan worked as a business consultant at IBM serving clients in both the private and public sectors. He will be articling at Smart & Biggar LLP in the Toronto office.

Ryan is active in the IP community at Osgoode. He is currently a Clinic Coordinator for the Innovation Clinic, a research assistant for Professor Giuseppina D'Agostino, and an editor for the Intellectual Property Journal. He is also in the Intellectual Property Law and Technology Intensive Program and completing his placement with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, IP Centre of Expertise.

FAQs:

Q: I am a student, junior lawyer, or NCA candidate and I am looking for an articling or new position. Can FACL Ontario pair me with a mentor?

A: Please note that our current mentorship offerings for students and NCA candidates takes place in the form of our Mentor-A-Thon speed mentoring event in the first quarter of each year. FACL Ontario does not currently match mentees with mentors on a one-off basis.

Q: How can FACL Ontario help me in my job search?

A: We know the market is tough, especially for students and junior calls. Here are our suggestions for those who are seeking new positions:

Check our jobs board for relevant postings (remember to sign in as a member first);
Network, network, network. FACL Ontario hosts many events over the course of the year with networking components. This is a great way to meet other practitioners in the area(s) in which you are looking. Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on social media (links are at in the upper right hand corner of this page) to get up-to-date notices of our upcoming events, and come out!
Volunteer. This is, in our experience, the best way to make meaningful connections in the legal community. Remember that when someone puts your name forward for a position or acts as a reference for you, she or he is putting her reputation forward with that recommendation as well, and it is hard for someone to confidently do that without having had a meaningful opportunity to get to know you. When you volunteer at an organization, it gives people with whom you volunteer a chance to speak meaningfully about what you are like as a teammate if and when the time comes for that person to put your name forward for a position. Getting involved with an organization is also a great way to show initiative and community involvement on a CV!

Q: I have an idea for a mentorship program. Who do I talk to about getting involved?

A: We love when our members want to get more involved with the organization. Please contact mentorship@facl.ca.

A Glimpse Into Mentoring At FACL!

[Show thumbnails]