Samantha

 J.D. 2016
​Alberta/Ontario 

Primary Practice Areas: human rights law, labour and employment law, and immigration law. 
​

Samantha assists lawyers and law firms with:  

• Strategic advice;
• Advice on human rights matters (anti-Black racism in particular); 
• Developing legal education materials;
• Legal research and drafting: memos, opinions, pleadings, etc.; 
• Reviewing negotiation documents and agreements;
• Preparing for court (e.g. noting up cases, drafting notes for oral submissions);
• Litigation support: document review and jurisprudence review; 
• Coordinating / managing legal projects; and
• Legal content marketing: blog posts, client newsletters, legal articles / conference papers etc. 

​Samantha's Experience:
​Samantha articled in-house in the legal department of a union in a bilingual capacity (French and English) where she provided support and information to National Representatives of various Locals across Canada on employee and labour relations matters, drafted unfair labour practice (ULP) applications, drafted submissions to the Ontario Labour Relations Board, as well as conducted legal research on a wide range of topics, including duty of fair representation, collective bargaining and union certification.  She also participated in conciliations, mediations and represented the union at the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal for both summary and preliminary hearings.
 
Samantha has worked with legal clinics where she has successfully assisted clients with appeals related to employment insurance and disability benefits.  She has appeared before numerous administrative tribunals, the Immigration of Refugee Board of Canada, and both the Provincial Court of Alberta and the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta for family law related matters.  Samantha also has experience conducting research at Ontario’s leading law reform agency as well as experience providing legislative advice to elected officials on education and social policy. 
 
Samantha graduated from the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law with specializations in “Public Law” and “Dispute Resolution & Professionalism”.  She is licensed to practice law in both Ontario and Alberta and holds a Masters from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.  Samantha began her freelance legal practice in 2020 and has since assisted legal clinics with their legal research, legal projects and developing public legal education materials.  

​Samantha is also the Creator and Director of Legal Initiatives & Public Interest at Black Femme Legal which is an award-winning workplace toolkit for Black queer women, femmes and gender diverse folks across the 2SLGBTQI+ spectrum in Ontario needing workplace-related support funded by the Law Foundation of Ontario.