On Monday October 27th OWN will be hosting its annual What it’s Really Like to be a Woman in Law Career Panel. Learn more about our wonderful panelists for the event below!
PROFESSOR RONDA BESSNER
BA (Honours) (McGill), LLB (McGill), BCL (McGill), LLM (Harvard)
Professor Bessner has been involved in a wide range of areas of the law, including academia, policy work and public inquiries. Her areas of teaching include Criminal Law, Evidence, and Children and the Law. In the past academic year, Professor Bessner developed and taught two new courses at Osgoode: Youth Justice and Public Inquiries. She was formerly the Assistant Dean (JD) at Osgoode, where she developed and implemented the Academic Success Program. She is the author of many published articles on child abuse, evidence, criminal law, state intervention in pregnancy, and HIV/AIDS. She has made numerous presentations on these and other subjects at universities, the Canadian Bar Association, the Law Society of Upper Canada, for the Ontario Court of Justice, and at conferences. She has been interviewed on numerous occasions by the media.
Professor Bessner has also worked on a number of public inquiries, and in law reform. She has held the position of Senior Legal Analyst at five public inquiries including the Walkerton Inquiry (contamination of drinking water), the Ipperwash Inquiry (the death of Dudley George in a land claim protest and occupation by Aboriginal people), and the Royal Commission on the Blood System in Canada. As Counsel to the Ontario Law Reform Commission under the Chair of Rosalie Abella, she wrote reports on Drug and Alcohol in the Workplace, Child Witnesses, The Basis of Liability for Provincial Offences, and co-authored the report on Damages for Environmental Harm. Professor Bessner also sits on the Consent and Capacity Board.
Professor Bessner was educated in both the civil and common law legal systems. After graduating from McGill Law School with a Bachelor of Civil Law and a Bachelor of Common Law, she obtained her LLM degree at Harvard Law School. After receiving her Masters Degree, she worked as a Visiting Researcher at Harvard. Professor Bessner is Vice-President of the Women’s Law Association of Ontario and mentors Harvard students as an alumni and is also a member of the Harvard Law School Women’s Alliance.
As of June 2014, Professor Bessner is the President of the Women’s Law Association of Ontario.
Ronda’s hobbies include: biking, hiking, travel, and reading.
STEPHANIE HOBBS
Stephanie Hobbs is a member of Sack Goldblatt Mitchel LLP’s labour law group. Her practice focuses mainly on public sector labour arbitrations, including in the education, hospital and energy sectors. Stephanie also represents clients at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, the Ontario Labour Relations Board, and in professional disciplinary proceedings. In recent years, Stephanie has developed a growing construction labour law practice.
Stephanie graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2008, earning both a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies and a Bachelor of Laws. While studying at Osgoode, Stephanie participated in the intensive programme at Parkdale Community Legal Services, where she was awarded the prize in Poverty Law for excellence in clinical practice and community legal work. Upon graduation, Stephanie also received prizes for achieving the highest standing in Administrative Law. Stephanie was called to the Ontario Bar in 2009 after articling with SGM.
She is a member of the Canadian Bar Association and the Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers.
ROSYLN MOUNSEY
Roslyn is a lawyer with the federal Department of Justice in Toronto. She is an experienced litigator and has defended a variety of civil disputes. Her practice focuses upon the litigation of constitutional, class action and administrative law disputes and she has considerable experience in defending the federal government in major class action litigation. In her spare time, Roslyn enjoys listening to jazz and vacationing at historic sites with her family.
THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE GERALDINE WALDMAN
The Honourable Justice Geraldine Waldman graduated from the University of Toronto followed by graduating from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1974. She was called to the Bar in 1976 and practiced primarily in the area of family law in Toronto. She was appointed to the Bench in 1995 and presided as a criminal court judge in Brampton until 1998. This was followed by Justice Waldman residing as a family court judge in Toronto from 1998 to date.
She was a local Administrative Judge in the Brampton Court from 1994 until 1998 and a local Administrative Judge in the North York Family Court 2006-2010. The Honourable Justice Geraldine Waldman was chair of Chief Justice Advisory Committee on Family Law 2007-2012 and is a member of the Chief Justice Advisory Committee on Family Law. She is one of two judges currently presiding at the Integrated Domestic Violence Court at 311 Jarvis.
LISA WINSTON
Lisa Winston graduated from York University in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Lisa is a graduate of Windsor Law School where she obtained her Bachelor of Laws Degree in 1988 and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1990. After her call to the Bar, Lisa was an associate at Mills & Mills LLP in Toronto for four years. In 1994, she established her own practice and has continued as a sole practitioner since that time, with the exception of working at two small law firms from 2007 to 2013. Her practice areas include commercial and residential real estate transactions, commercial leasing, wills and estate planning and corporate-commercial law. She provides general counsel advice to individuals, business clients and institutions.
Lisa’s real estate practice covers a broad spectrum of real estate matters, focusing on the acquisition and sale of commercial, residential, condominium and industrial properties. She handles residential and commercial real estate financings, leasing for landlords and tenants of commercial, industrial and residential properties, as well as title insurance, powers of sale and mortgage enforcement. Her corporate-commercial areas of practice include acquisitions and dispositions of businesses, incorporation of companies and drafting of commercial contracts. Lisa’s estate practice involves estate planning, the preparation of Wills and Powers of Attorney and estate administration. Lisa speaks at seminars on various real estate and estate planning matters, and is actively involved in a number of community organizations.
Lisa is married and has three wonderful boys. Her hobbies include: running, tennis, water-skiing, trapeze, skiing, horseback riding, swimming and baking.
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