Four Osgoode alumni are recipients of 2023 medals and awards from the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSO).
At a special awards ceremony in May, grads Reva Devins ’81 and Ena Chadha ‘08 (LLM) will receive the Law Society Medal, Tami Moscoe ’96 will receive the J. Shirley Denison Award, and Courtney Harris ’02 will be presented with the Laura Legge Award.
All recipients were announced in an LSO news release dated March 10, 2023.
In the release, the LSO pays tribute to Reva Devins as a specialist in labour, employment and human rights matters and a leader in the field of mediation, arbitration and the administration of class action settlements. “She has sensitively adjudicated claims under many social justice-based settlements,” notes the release – including claims for historic abuse at Federal Indian Day Schools. “Most recently, she was appointed to oversee the assessment of claims for sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces/Department of National Defence.” The law society also describes her as a dedicated mentor. “Colleagues,” it notes, “cite her special blend of expertise and generosity which make her particularly appreciated.”
Ena Chadha is a litigator, lecturer, adjudicator, mediator and public service leader who has held leadership roles with ARCH: Disability Law Centre, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and the Human Rights Legal Support Centre. She also served as chief commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission from July 2020 to August 2021, putting her among a small coterie of individuals who have served in the most senior leadership roles in all three pillars of Ontario’s human rights system. Through her legal activism and extensive scholarship, Ms. Chadha has been a strong advocate for social justice reform and addressing systemic inequities to improve the lives of all Ontarians.
Tami Moscoe is a family lawyer who has worked for 10 years as senior family counsel at the Superior Court of Justice and is currently on secondment at the Office of the Children’s Lawyer. She has been instrumental in many significant family justice improvements, the LSO release notes, including the recent Unified Family Court and Dispute Resolution Officer program expansion, the introduction of automatic disclosure orders and Ontario’s unbundled legal services and binding judicial dispute resolution projects. “Her leadership, unlimited energy and zealous commitment,” it says, “have had a significant impact on advancing the interests of separating families in Ontario and ensuring that vulnerable family litigants can access the justice services they need.”
As a leading advocate for mental health in the public service and a skilled advocate who promotes civility and empathy, Courtney Harris exemplifies leadership in the profession, says the LSO release. She is a founding member and the de facto leader of Voices for Mental Health, a group of Ministry of the Attorney General employees who have fundamentally changed the landscape for mental health within the Ontario Public Service, and has played a critical role in the creation and development of the Law Society’s Mental Health Summits. “She has an extraordinary ability to empower people,” says the LSO release, “which in turn has led to many others undertaking initiatives to make the legal profession more inclusive – leading the way for a cultural change.”