This year's roster shines in the areas of litigation, professional regulation, practice management
Canadian Lawyer has announced the year’s Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers – legal professionals who have distinguished themselves for their immense contributions and frontrunners in a rigorous selection process involving more than a hundred nominees and over 12,000 votes.
The feature is divided into five main categories: changemakers; human rights, advocacy, and criminal law; business; in-house; and government, non-profits, associations, and judiciary.
The 2024 roster includes lawyers who have stood at the forefront of the fields of catastrophic personal injury, practice management, professional regulation, and civil, criminal, and securities litigation, among others.
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This year’s winners include David Sowemimo, founder and managing lawyer at WatchMaker Injury Law; Joven Narwal, partner at Narwal Litigation LLP; Sarah Teich, co-founder and president of the Human Rights Action Group; Leonard S. Tony Mandamin, IPC, counsel at Witten LLP; Allan Ritchie, managing partner at Loopstra Nixon LLP; May Cheng, partner at Dipchand LLP; and David Luther, general counsel and corporate secretary at WSIB Ontario.
“I strongly advocate for my client and also recognize I’m not the smartest in the room,” says Sowemimo. “You get further by working collaboratively with others.”
Sowemimo also stresses the importance of attempting to navigate factual and legal issues objectively to avoid exposing his clients to unnecessary costs.
“I’m constantly inspired by the communities with whom I work,” says Teich. “I put them and their causes centre stage; my role as the lawyer is to supercharge their advocacy efforts with the power of the law.”
She tells Canadian Lawyer that she aims to do whatever she can to mitigate the damage of mass atrocities and to serve the victims via her legal career.
“Individual awards can mistakenly suggest that success is achieved alone,” says Ritchie. “This recognition truly reflects a strong team effort, sustained over the years, bringing us to where we are and driving us forward.”
He makes an effort to understand the people with whom he works and their interests and needs so that he can help foster an environment that keeps everyone happy, engaged, and capable of being at their best.
“We are in this profession together, and I believe that supporting each other strengthens us, enhances our collective integrity and our ability to serve the public,” says Narwal.
He adds that he considers his efforts to defend more than a hundred lawyers in regulatory hearings and investigations the most meaningful part of his legal career thus far.
Canadian Lawyer congratulates the lawyers named the top 25 most influential for 2024. See more information on all the winners for this year.
Methodology
Canadian Lawyer called for nominations between March 25 and April 19 from legal groups, readers, and our panel of writers and editors. Qualifying nominees were then included in a reader survey in the following areas: changemakers; human rights, advocacy, and criminal law; business; in-house; and government, non-profits, associations, and judiciary.
Based on the reader survey results, a short list of nominees was then sent to our Editorial Board members to vote for a maximum of five winners in each category.
The board was asked to select winners who had most significantly influenced the legal system over the last 18 months.