Aashish Oberoi is an Associate at Olthuis Kleer Townshend LLP. He works with the Firm’s Toronto and Yellowknife offices and provides advice on matters related to lands and natural resources, self-government, consultation, the co-management of land, and economic development. He further assists with negotiations on issues that include the co-development of legislation, modern treaties, impacts and benefits agreements, and the delivery of social services.
Prior to joining OKT, Aashish advised on matters related to Aboriginal law, energy law, natural resources and economic development for the Government of Ontario and the Government of the Northwest Territories. He has previously lived in Yellowknife and continues to be passionate about issues affecting the North.
Yashoda Ranganathan is Senior Counsel in the Constitutional Law Branch, Civil Law Division of the Ministry of the Attorney General. Prior to joining MAG, Yashoda was an Associate at Lenczner Slaght Royce Smith Griffin LLP.
Yashoda has argued cases in all levels of Court in Ontario, in the Alberta Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. Yashoda is frequently asked to speak and teach a variety of topics including constitutional and administrative law and practice, skills training for advocates, as well as diversity, inclusion and mentorship in the legal profession.
Yashoda joined the Board of Directors of the Advocates’ Society in 2024 and has been a member of the Advocates’ Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee since 2020. Yashoda also sits on the Antiracism Committee of the Association of Law Officers of the Crown.
Yashoda holds an Inclusive Leadership Certificate from Anima Leadership.
Ajay is a partner of Aird & Berlis LLP’s Municipal & Land Use Planning Group. He represents municipalities across Ontario and other clients interacting with municipalities. He was formerly in-house legal counsel at the Regional Municipality of York. Ajay regularly assists municipalities with regulatory powers, governance, by-law drafting, infrastructure development, procurement and commercial agreements for municipalities. He is the past chair of the Canadian Bar Association’s Municipal Law Section and frequently publishes on pressing municipal law issues. Ajay’s practical experience is supported by his academic background in local government.
Jill Witkin was appointed a judge of the Ontario Court of Justice in 2023. Prior to that she worked as counsel at the Crown Law Office (Criminal) and was the Chair of the Criminal Law Division’s Sexual Violence Advisory Group. She was Deputy Crown Attorney at Old City Hall courthouse from 2009 – 2015 and before that she was Team Leader of the Child Abuse Team. As a prosecutor, she did a great deal of high-profile trial and appellate work involving cases of sexual assault.
Jill is an Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School. She was the past director of the Ontario Crown Attorney’s Association summer school courses “Sexual and Domestic Violence” and “Sexual Offences”. She speaks on various aspects of criminal law and procedure at a variety of educational conferences for the legal and quasi-legal profession and she has done a great deal of police training. She has conducted workshops in Uganda, teaching justice participants how to effectively interview children and adduce a child’s evidence in court.
Jill is the proud mother of three Gen-Z’ers.
Michael Lynk is Professor Emeritus of Law, Western University, where he taught labour law, constitutional law and domestic and international human rights between 1999 and 2022. He is the co-author of Trade Union Law in Canada (Thomson Reuters) (with Peter Engelmann and Michael Mac Neil) and Protecting Human Rights in Occupied Palestine (Clarity Press) (with Richard Falk and John Dugard). In 2016, Professor Lynk was selected by the United Nations Human Rights Council as the 7th UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory. In this unpaid capacity, he submitted regular reports to the Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly on human rights trends in the OPT. He served in this position until 2022.
Steven Yu is the Review Counsel/Supervising Lawyer of the Criminal Law Division at the Community and Legal Aid Services Program (CLASP). He supervises Osgoode Hall Law School students, whose primary work at CLASP is representing clients charged with summary criminal offences at the Ontario Court of Justice. Steven was also previously a student caseworker at CLASP, while he was in law school.
Prior to doing criminal defence work, Steven worked as an Assistant Crown Attorney in Peel Region and Toronto, prosecuting criminal offences. Steven has appeared before the Ontario Court of Justice, the Superior Court of Justice, and the Court of Appeal for Ontario.
Anum Malik is Review Counsel for the Administrative Law Division at Community & Legal Aid Services Program (CLASP). Since being called the Bar in 2013, she has worked almost exclusively with community legal clinics, in the areas of administrative law and employment law. Anum is also on the Board of Directors of a community agency in Scarborough.
Deborah Glatter is a legal educator and management consultant. She provides training and advice to lawyers at all stages of their careers and designs human capital management tools for law firms. Deborah is a Law Society of Ontario accredited Continuing Professional Development provider.
Background
After practicing law for a decade, Deborah joined the Law Society of Ontario’s Department of Education where she designed courses and licensing examinations for the Bar Admission Course. She then joined a national law firm where she was a partner and responsible for the professional development and management of its associate lawyers.
Credentials
Deborah’s professional qualifications include a diploma in Adult Education from St. Francis Xavier University, two Harvard Law School Mediation Certificates, a Certificate in Solution Focused Counselling from the University of Toronto, a yellow belt in Legal Lean Sigma, and a certificate from Harvard Business School in “Teaching with Cases Online”. She is a certified culture coach with the Waterstone Culture Institute.
Pro Bono (Current)
- Coach, Law Society’s CAN (Coach and Advisor Network)
- Project Abraham board member. Project Abraham is an NGO assisting refugees resettle in Canada.
Pro Bono (Past)
- Dispute Resolution Officer, Superior Court of Ontario
- Member, Law Society’s Dispute Resolution Design Team
- Member, Law Society’s Justicia Committee
Dr. Inbar Peled researches and teaches in the areas of identity studies, criminal law, and professional ethics. Her award-winning dissertation, entitled “Professionalizing Discrimination,” explored the legal response to discriminatory policing and won the Law and Society Association 2024 dissertation prize, as well as the York university-wide dissertation award.
As a human rights lawyer working with equity-deserving communities, Peled has spent the past decade studying identity-based discrimination and considering paths to transformation in the legal systems of multicultural societies. Peled holds a PhD from Osgoode Hall Law School, where she was a Vanier scholar, an LL.M from Columbia University, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar, an additional master’s degree from the University of Toronto, and an LL.B from Tel Aviv University.
Sydney Osmar is a partner of Hull & Hull LLP, having joined the firm in 2018. Sydney is a dedicated advocate for her clients, assisting them to resolve matters involving all aspects of estates, trusts and capacity law, including will challenges, dependant support claims, fiduciary accounting disputes, guardianship applications, and capacity related disputes. Sydney also defends estate lawyers in proceedings involving allegations of solicitors’ negligence.
Prior to joining Hull & Hull LLP, Sydney articled with the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee. Sydney contributes to the profession through speaking at legal education programs, frequently blogging and podcasting on estate and elder law related issues, and internally, by providing mentorship to students and junior lawyers at the firm. Sydney has also completed the Osgoode Hall Law School Intensive Trial Advocacy Workshop and holds a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, where, throughout her tenure at Osgoode, she served as a student caseworker, division leader and board member for the Community and Legal Aid Services Program.