FACL 13th Annual
Conference and Gala

Session A: Building Your Book of Business and Finding Mentors – Solo/Small Style

This program contains 45 minutes of Professionalism content and 15 minutes of Substantive content

• Sue Chen, Sue Chen Law Professional Corporation
• Eduardo Lam, Poon & Ho LLP
• Felix Tang, Open LLP
• Rinku Deswal, RD Law Professional Corporation
• Moderated by: Ronald Trac, Ronald Trac Law Professional Corporation

The prospect of starting your own practice or joining a smaller practice may seem like a daunting task for many lawyers, especially young lawyers or those leaving large, established firms. Learning how to network, get clients, and deepen your practice areas may be intimidating without formal structures and programs in place to teach and guide you. In this session, our panelists, who come from various practice backgrounds and are at different points in their careers, will be discussing their experiences in building their book of business and finding mentors outside of the typical structure of large, established firms.

Session B: Indigenous Peoples in Canadian Law – The Path Forward in Pursuit of Truth and Reconciliation

This program contains 60 minutes of EDI Professionalism content

• Assoc. Professor Amar Bhatia, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University
• Katherine Hensel, Hensel Barristers
• Senwung Luk, Olthuis Kleer Townshend
• Jessica A. Wolfe, Crown Counsel, MAG – North
• Moderated by: The Honourable Harry S. LaForme (former Justice of the Ontario Court of Appeal), Olthuis Kleer Townshend

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission into the historical legacy of Canada’s Residential School system was the first step in recognizing the injustice and abuse that was imposed upon Canada’s Indigenous peoples for decades. Despite the passage of time, those historical harms inflicted upon Canada’s Indigenous people continue to exist today. Today, lawyers continue to seek justice in treaty rights, the duty to consult and actively oppose the systemic discrimination and structural racism of justice proceedings against Indigenous peoples. Our panel of diverse practitioners will discuss what their reality looks like in their respective areas of the profession.

Session C: Career Paths Beyond Bay Street

This program is collaboratively presented by Osgoode’s Asian Law Students Association and U of T’s Asia Law Society

This program contains 45 minutes of Substantive content

• Fathima Cader, Cader Law
• Rosel Kim, Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF)
• Rashmi Kumar, Hicks Adams LLP
• Vincent Wong, University of Toronto Faculty of Law, International Human Rights Program
• Moderated by: Gabby Aquino (Osgoode 2L) and Tiffany Dang (Osgoode 1L)

Beyond Bay Street aspires to bring together a diverse group of voices from different parts of the legal space to interrogate our understandings of the law, whose interests are at play, what goals it envisions, and how those goals can and/or should be achieved. The objective of this discussion is to expand law students and legal practitioners’ notions of “doing law” in ways that are not limited to the Bay Streets of the world, and to connect them to legal academics, practitioners, and other leaders in this work whose stories and experiences can help them carve their own paths. Ultimately, the panel aims to signal to audiences that “doing law” does not have one single meaning, but requires creative and innovative responses to address often complex and complicated issues.