Best Lawyers In Canada

Mark Tamminga

Partner, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, Hamilton, Ont. Tamminga has committed his career to automating legal practices. His information technology focus started in 1986 while he was a law student and was given the task of systemizing the manufacturing environment for mortgage files. Ever since then, Tamminga's capability for legal technology has only grown with Gowlings LLP. Three years back, he had been called Gowlings' Innovation Initiatives leader. He is responsible for automating the Gowlings recovery solutions clinic. He has designed and built a number of additional practice systems in the areas of debt collection, loan placement, and civil litigation. His role has required re-thinking that the thornier aspects of large business operations: managing cultural change, inducing client-side believing, and building the reimbursement mechanisms, which drive new behavior. What the board had to say: Tamminga has shown actual vision in tackling tough issues that lots of law firms are not quite prepared to take on.

Allison Dellandrea

Crown counsel, Ministry of the Attorney General,Toronto, Ont. Dellandrea was a key participant in advancing the understanding of crimes against children by law enforcement officials, fellow lawyers, and the judiciary. She had been involved in a child sexual abuse case in March in which Ontario's former deputy education minister Ben Levin pleaded guilty to child pornography related fees. The charges included making written child porn, counseling a person to commit a sexual assault, and possession of child porn. Dellandrea's function as a Crown includes being the education lead for Ontario's provincial strategy on Internet crimes against children. She's an instrumental leader in this area within the justice section. What Republicans needed to say: Allison is a tireless source and is the penultimate legal mind to get a prosecutorial position on all things associated with child exploitation and sexual assault offences. For such a difficult subject that inherently entails very reckless emotional and legal issues, Allison always has time to offer sound guidance to other Crowns prosecuting these very difficult and sensitive offences. Her efforts have made a concrete difference in making our society safer.

Sheila Block

Partner, Torys LLP, Toronto, Ont. One of the sharpest litigators in the country, Block has served as lead counsel on a newly discounted $5-billion class action lawsuit against CIBC and a $100-million suit brought by roughly 8,000 inhabitants of Barbados against Manulife. She was also staunch counsel for former Manitoba associate chief justice Lori Douglas in the inquiry of the judge's character in a scandal involving her husband, one of his former clients, and salacious photographs of herself submitted online. Block additionally received an honorary LLD from the Law Society of Upper Canada this past year. An advocate dedicated to teaching law in Canada and across the globe, she's coached advocates for the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal in Rwanda and the Special Court in Sierra Leone. What voters had to say: Elle demontre son interet a la fois pour l'schooling du publique et des affaires. (She's shown her fascination for the education of the public and business.)

Justice Murray Sinclair

Chairman, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Winnipeg, Man. A rare write-in candidate winner for this season 's Best 25, Sinclair was on the list last year, making headlines in June with the release of the summary of the report of the TRC along with 94 recommendations to remedy the cultural genocide of Canada's residential school program. Over six decades, Sinclair directed the TRC hearing the tales of more than 7,000 survivors of sexual, physical, and psychological abuse. Sinclair, who had been the first aboriginal judge in Manitoba, was first appointed to the provincial court in which he became associate chief in 1988 and then elevated to the Court of Queen's Bench in 2001. He had been co-commissioner of Manitoba's Aboriginal Justice Inquiry in 1988 and presided over a 2000 inquest into the deaths of 12 babies at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre. Sinclair expects to complete the commission's complete report in the near future, after which he will decide whether to return to retire or court and advocate for native rights fulltime.

Rocco Galati

Rocco Galati Law Firm PC, Toronto, Ont. Rocco Galati is famous for being a one-man opposition to the current authorities, so far spending $42,000 of his money on court challenges. He successfully launched a situation that blocked Stephen Harper's appointment of Justice Marc Nadon into the Supreme Court of Canada. His opposition to the appointment of Federal Court of Appeal Justice Robert Mainville into the Quebec Court of Appeal was not as successful. While he doesn't win, Galati is dogged in his efforts to defend the Constitution against a government he sees pushing the boundaries with a lack of respect to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He's now also been chosen as bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada and it will be interesting to see exactly what he brings to the regulation of this profession.What voters had to say: An authentic Canadian constitutional and individual rights enthusiast, look more interesting ideas to aaronsonlawoffice.com.

Dawn Devoe

General counselor, World Vision Canada, Toronto, Ont. Devoe is World Vision's key legal advisor because of the Child for Sale advocacy campaign aimed at stopping child labor and human trafficking. As lead counsel for the Canadian discussions regarding World Vision's partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme, she has represented the organization at global partnership meetings in South Africa, Kenya, and the Philippines. This venture accounts for more than $30 million of annual food aid programmed through World Vision Canada. With projects in nearly 100 countries throughout the world, Devoe manages a busy legal division and has been able to remain nimble and flexible. What Republicans needed to say: Wonderful lawyer and person. She not only has a love for the legislation, but also cares deeply for others and demonstrates that in her work. Brilliant legal counsel, very inventive problem solver, capable to integrate legal and taxation laws into a beneficial remedy to all parties.