Women in Law: How to Navigate Tough Career Decisions

For more than 135 years, the Toronto Lawyers' Association, located within the Courthouse Library, has represented the interests of lawyers practising in the City of Toronto. The association was founded to support its members in three key areas: Knowledge, Advocacy, and Community. To uphold these pillars, the association offers a year-round mix of online and in-person education programs for lawyers, hosts both free and paid events to foster in-person networking, and submits advocacy pieces on behalf of its members to the Ontario bench and bar, all levels of government, and the broader public.

Jennifer is the Practice Group Leader for the Insurance Law Group at Lerners LLP in Toronto, and her expertise includes the defense of claims in the following areas: municipal and public entity liability; cyber and privacy breaches; E&O liability; general and commercial liability; motor vehicle; personal injury; property damage; and occupiers' liability. She also has particular expertise in the area of professional liability and has acted on behalf of professionals, including police officers, lawyers, physicians, and other health professionals, to defend claims involving allegations of professional liability, negligent investigation, malicious prosecution, excessive force, and defamation. She has also appeared as counsel on disciplinary matters and acts as independent legal counsel to regulatory bodies. She also advises professionals with respect to matters of privacy law and cyber security. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she provided advice to health professionals and organizations regarding public health and regulatory compliance. She has been recognized by Best Lawyers in Canada for her expertise in Professional Malpractice, Health Care Law, and Medical Negligence; was recognized in the 2021 edition of the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory as "One to Watch" in Litigation - Commercial Insurance; and is a recipient of the Lexpert Rising Stars award.

Alison Harvison Young was appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in 2018, having served on the Superior Court of Justice since 2004. Alison graduated from the National Programme, McGill Faculty of Law (B.C.L./LL.B.) and served as law clerk to the Honourable Justice W.Z. Estey from 1983-1984. She joined the Faculty of Law, McGill University in 1988 after pursuing graduate studies at the University of Oxford where she obtained the B.C.L. degree. Over the next decade, she taught a range of courses, including Foundations of Canadian Law, Remedies in Contract and Tort, Judicial Review of Administrative Action, Family Law, and related subjects. In addition to publishing widely in the areas of comparative and administrative law, family law, and new reproductive technologies, she was an active contributor to the life of the faculty, serving as Associate Dean (Academic) from 1993-1995. Along the way, she won awards for teaching and scholarly research. In 1998, Alison left McGill to take up an appointment as Professor and Dean of Law at the Faculty of Law, Queen’s, where she continued to teach and write in the areas of family law and administrative law. As a judge, she presided over all areas of civil and criminal law as a trial judge, then on the divisional court, and now as an appellate judge. She has continued to pursue her interests in teaching and writing, as well as mentoring young lawyers and law clerks in particular. As time permits, she is a regular speaker and contributor to a number of programs on written advocacy, access to justice, and other subjects of interest to the bar and academy. Alison’s career has been varied and she feels very fortunate to have travelled so many paths! There are a few themes that run through this journey. First, she has always sought to be a consensus builder. Second, as a “people person”, she has excelled in roles which require listening, empathy, and reaching solutions to difficult problems, whether in an administrative role in the academy, as a judge in settlement conferences, or as one of three justices deliberating on cases before the Court of Appeal. Third, Alison is an effective and clear writer and oral communicator.

Hydro One Networks Inc.’s legal counsel for corporate finance and securities Alexis Eun Young Choi has been announced as the new president of the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers Ontario. She stepped into the role in June after having been a member of the organization since she was a law student. She was named the organization’s secretary in July 2022 and subsequently appointed FACL’s treasurer in June 2023, a role she held until May of this year. Choi has championed the progression of equity, diversity, and inclusion in the profession as co-chair of the conference and gala, mentorship, and strategic planning committees. She became FACL’s mentorship committee chair in July 2022 and co-chaired the same committee beginning June 2023 until she became conference and gala committee chair in September 2024. She has worked with Hydro One for over five years, having commenced with the Ontario electricity transmission and distribution utility in July 2020 as an articling student, according to LinkedIn. Her practice focuses on securities, corporate finance, and real estate law.

Shantona has an outstanding reputation in appellate advocacy, and has acted in over 40 appeals in various courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada, the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Divisional Court, and the Federal Court of Appeal. Shantona was Lead Commission Counsel in two recent, complex, and high-profile federal commissions of inquiry: in 2022-2023, the Public Order Emergency Commission (the Rouleau Commission), a public inquiry into the Government of Canada’s first-ever invocation of the federal Emergencies Act; and in 2023-2025, the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions (the Hogue Commission). Shantona’s accomplishments have been recognized by the legal profession. In 2025, she received the Toronto Lawyers’ Association’s Honsberger Award. In 2023, she received the Advocates’ Society’s Douglas K. Laidlaw Award for Excellence in Advocacy. Shantona is recognized as a leading litigator by major industry publications, including Chambers Guide to Canada’s Leading Lawyers, Lexpert, Best Lawyers, and Benchmark Litigation. Shantona was selected as Best Lawyers’ “Lawyer of the Year” in Appellate Practice in 2022 and is on Benchmark’s list of the “Top 100 Women in Litigation.” Shantona was named a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America in 2021, and became an offshore member of COMBAR (the Commercial Bar Association of England and Wales) in 2025. Shantona is the Co-Executive Director of the Supreme Court Advocacy Institute, a national non-profit organization offering advocacy training to counsel appearing before the Supreme Court of Canada. Born and bred in Montréal, Shantona is bilingual (English/French) and is called to the Bar in both Ontario and Québec. Shantona obtained her B.C.L. from the University of Oxford; her B.C.L./LL.B. from McGill University; and her M.A. and B.A. from Queen’s University. She clerked for Justice Ian Binnie of the Supreme Court of Canada, trained as a Middle Temple Fox Scholar pupil barrister in London, interned at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, participated in the Parliamentary Internship Programme, and worked in the Montréal music industry.

Breanna is a commercial litigation lawyer with a focus on matters where misconduct is an element. She has extensive experience working on cases involving investigations and injunctions, as well as strategic analysis, legal research, written submissions, and opinions in confidential, high-profile, and high-stakes matters. Breanna has consistently been recognized for her work in the commercial litigation space. She represents companies and individuals in a wide variety of proceedings, investigations, and disputes, including in matters involving fraud, misappropriation, conversion, restrictive covenants, breach of confidence, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, and other complex disputes involving shareholders, employees, directors, officers, and nuanced business relationships. She has successfully represented clients before all levels of court in Ontario, as well as in mediations and commercial arbitrations. Breanna also has experience advising on ethical compliance and conflicts of interest, including legal obligations in the political sector. Part of Breanna’s approach to practice includes preventing problems before they happen, including through offering risk management services to clients, so that issues can be addressed before they become emergencies. In addition to working directly with her own clients, Breanna also offers bespoke of-counsel and freelance services to other lawyers, law firms, and in-house legal departments to assist with litigation, investigations, injunctions, trials, appeals, and other complex matters. Breanna founded Luceo Legal after practicing law at two of the largest law firms in Canada, one of the leading litigation boutiques, and the Toronto office of an international law firm. In addition to her work, Breanna is a frequent speaker at legal conferences and educational seminars on litigation practice and procedure, as well as professionalism, equity, diversity, and inclusion in the legal profession.