2024 was not without its serious challenges, as is life. Everything did also come in pairs.

IN MEMORIAM

It is painful but we must acknowledge the passing of two legal giants who were both mentors to me personally and each of whom made an enormous contribution to the law. They leave impressive and lasting legacies. Judy Wahl and Peter Rosenthal left us earlier this year. I miss my friends a great deal.

JUDITH WAHL

PETER ROSENTHAL

Personal / Friends / Home / Plumbing

Personally, probably not a banner year – lots of inconveniences, pressures and crises – massive amounts of stress, though on the upside I made some new friends and more than one was a MAN, so that’s new (again). I had, for the last 3+ years, given up men altogether so it’s a testament to my ability to heal that I was able to trust again and revive some old friendships and make new ones with a (handful, albeit, but still more than zero) men.

MEN

Well, actually, as it happens I revived two formerly very close professional and personal relationships with two older men AND I made exactly two new male friends – both high profile, hugely respected, award-winning lawyers, senior members of the criminal defence bar, who happened to take a shine to me, probably because they were expecting, based on the reputation that precedes me, someone different.

“I don’t care what people say about you, Anita, I think you’re wonderful”

When that happens, there is always a period of awe where (mainly men) are shocked by my talent, which is just my regular competent, prepared and capable lawyer self, and more shocked to find that I am ultimately just kind of a sweet person. I don’t live up to my reputation of being intimidating in an inaccessible way, that’s often spun by those who’ve never met me. This may be the number one thing I have in common with other strong women, too often perceived as nasty people, and nothing could be further from the truth. I have learned a lot from these men and am absolutely tickled pink they’ve embraced our new-found friendships. Our paths will continue to cross and it will make me happy each time.

On the daily stressor front, financial crises are never fun and owning a house built in 1856 will ensure you have some of these roughly annually. Our powder room plumbing fiascos also x 2 for instance, once in the summer time, once for Christmas, neither cheap nor fun. There are and were, for sure, worse things. BUT ….. let’s forget about personal struggles for a moment, and……

Rather than dwelling on all that, looking at the positives, for at least posterity, I prefer to highlight the many wonderful ways in which I am blessed with all the great things I’d hope for in my career.

CAREER GOOD STUFF

This past year, the professional highlights also came in groups of two each!

CORONER’S INQUESTS

The year was book-ended by high profile policing inquests, important work and a noble process, by which we hope to make meaningful change and quite literally save lives:

The YATIM inquest in Toronto in January of 2024 and the ABDI inquest in Ottawa in December.

Blog entries for each here:

YATIM

ABDI

FAQIRI

Although I was counsel to the Empowerment Council on the FAQIRI Inquest in late 2023, an important documentary was made about Soleiman’s death in the Lindsay Superjail (CECC) by an amazing team of film-makers at the CBC. I was interviewed for that documentary in 2024. Even that process of revisiting the inquest was traumatic, albeit that the team working to make this remarkable record were absolutely fantastic and approached their subject matter in a sensitive, trauma-informed fashion. I really encourage everyone to watch the documentary on CBC Gem.

SUPREME COURT OF CANADA

Representing the Empowerment Council in the Supreme Court of Canada on two important interventions respecting the rights of vulnerable individuals living with serious mental health issues in the fall / winter of this year. R. v. Bharwani on October 10 and R v. J.W. on Dec 3rd.

Bharwani

J.W.

COURT OF APPEAL

Continuing with the theme of two for 2024 – I am leaving my family out of this update but on that score, we sure had our year of the “twos” mainly in a very good way – that’s perhaps for another day though.

Back to the twos for the Court of Appeal.

This year I argued more than 20 appeals in the Court of Appeal for Ontario – a record high.

I have won close to 10 of those, which is also HUGE.

And I marked a milestone of 200 reported cases in the ONCA earlier this year. That number has since climbed to 214 and counting at the minute, but I’ll take either of these stats as quite remarkable. Proud of this achievement and filled with gratitude for having the opportunity to litigate in this august forum.

RECOGNITION FOR MY FAVOURITE INSTITUTIONAL CLIENT AND GOOD FRIEND

None of this work in the SCC or at Inquests could have happened without the Empowerment Council and Jennifer Chambers, their Executive Director. A major highlight of my career has been the joy of representing them in various forums. I was delighted to attend the celebration of their prestigious OBA Award.

PUBLISHING

It was a big year for legal publishing. Not only did I have some articles appear in various journals and periodicals, two books were published just weeks apart in 2024 of which I am enormously proud. The CCB Guide’s (2025) 20th anniversary edition was available in August while the Canadian Anthology on Mental Health and the Law (CAMHL) was published in September.

CCB Guide

CAMHL

RECOGNITION OF MY CONTRIBUTIONS

WiCCDest Woman Award (2024) – Women in Canadian Criminal Defence

Nothing will Ever Mean More to Me than This – Being the WiCCDest, ever.

The Good Lawyer

University of Toronto – Faculty of Law Alumni Spotlight