Top Canadian Lawyers

Murray Klippenstein

Creator, Klippensteins Barristers & Solicitors, Toronto, Ont. Back to the second year on the Top 25, Klippenstein's ongoing representation of 13 members of this indigenous Mayan Q'eqchi' inhabitants from El Estor, Guatemala, continues to make waves. Three related suits are before the Ontario courts against Canadian mining company Hudbay Minerals within the brutal killing of Adolfo Ich along with the gang rape of 11 girls from Lote Ocho. In a precedent-setting judgment in July of 2013, an Ontario court determined that lawsuits can proceed to trial in Canada over the objections of Hudbay Minerals. At home he's also taking on the big guys in a case against Encana Corp. which 's hard the law and practice of hydraulic fracking at Canada. What voters had to say: Kudos for standing up for, upholding Canadian values, wherever we operate.

Mark Tamminga

Partner, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, Hamilton, Ont. Tamminga has devoted his career to automating lawful practices. His information technology focus started in 1986 while he was a law student and has been given the job of systemizing the manufacturing environment for files. Since then, Tamminga's aptitude for legal technology has only grown with Gowlings LLP. Three years ago, he had been named Gowlings' Innovation Initiatives leader. He's responsible for automating the Gowlings recovery solutions clinic. He has designed and built lots of further practice systems in the fields of debt collection, loan placement, and civil litigation. His role has demanded re-thinking the thornier aspects of large firm operations: managing cultural change, causing client-side thinking, and constructing the compensation mechanics, which drive new behaviour. Exactly what the panel had to say: Tamminga has shown actual vision in handling tough issues that lots of law firms aren't quite prepared to carry on.

Alice Woolley

Professor and associate dean-academic, University of Calgary Faculty of Law, Calgary, Alta. Woolley is a true changemaker in the area of technology and law as well as law regulation. She has been a valuable member of the Canadian Bar Association's ethics and professional responsibility committee. Her work with the CBA Futures job as an ethics and regulatory problems staff member is truly making a mark in the legal community. Woolley is also responsible for sweeping educational modifications as chairwoman of the committee which developed and embraced significant curricular changes in the University of Calgary's Faculty of Law, which concentrate on the practical elements of legal education and will come into effect in September. What Republicans needed to say: Leading expert on legal profession and ethics; once she speaks, people listen. Alice is a pragmatic visionary. Teaching law students in a means that will prepare them for a 21st century practice is of crucial importance to the future of our profession.

Justice Beverley McLachlin

Chief justice, Supreme Court of Canada, Ottawa, Ont. A frequent member of the Top 25 list along with also the very best vote-getter in years ago, McLachlin proceeds to make waves, handing down two quite important decisions on aboriginal law. The 2014 Tsilhqot'at Nation v. British Columbia decision led by McLachlin is the first of its kind in the history of British Columbia. This past year that the Supreme Court of Canada granted declaration of aboriginal title to over 1,700 square kilometres of land. She's responsible for upholding the decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal in Keewatin v. Ontario (Natural Resources) released in July 2014, she has overhauled what the Lamer court began and has left her mark in this region for decades to come. The chief justice continues to be a highly effective proponent of greater justice for all Canadians. As her unbelievable amount of votes once more this season show, McLachlin is greatly admired not just for her rulings but her public aid in favour of free speech, diversity, and inclusive leadership. What voters had to say: An excellent judge who, again and again, marries the legislation with common sense. Justifiably most respected legal mind in the nation; remarkable integrity; trusted public servant; obviously guided by the law and a strong ideology.

Justice Ian Nordheimer

Judge, Ontario Supreme Court, Toronto, Ont. Nordheimer's name is becoming synonymous with class action suits mostly because of his judgment, which overturned Justice Edward Belobaba's decision in a high-profile case on carriage in the Barrick Gold class action lawsuit. Nordheimer given the losing coalition of law firms leave to appeal Belobaba's decision at the Divisional Court. He's probably the most influential Superior Court degree judge in the nation using a decade on the seat and produces perhaps the best number of comprehensive judgments every year in comparison to any trial level judge. He is famous for his quick wit and sharp conclusions. In the past year, Nordheimer has made quite a splash from the legal community by imitating a professional field punishment for current LSUC bencher Joe Groia and releasing information which demonstrated Rob Ford was the subject of a police investigation.What the panel had to say: He is the kind of judge that should be on the Court of Appeal... or higher. A judge of complete integrity.