Laurie Pawlitza debating Jordan Furlong.
Congratulations to the Lexpert Zenith award winners. The theme of this year’s awards was “Celebrating Women Leaders in the Legal Profession.”
For a full list and description of the exceptional leading women lawyer winners, see Lexpert’s October issue.
The Awards were announced at a gala event in Toronto on September 24.
The keynote speakers gave a lively debate on “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” i.e. should women lawyers stay or go from traditional law firms? Speaking for the proposition that women lawyers should leave law firms was Jordan Furlong. Jordan is a lawyer, speaker, and consultant based in Ottawa. He is a partner with the global consulting firm Edge International and a senior consultant with legal web development company, Stem Legal Web Enterprises. Speaking for the proposition that women lawyers should stay within law firms, was Laurie Pawlitza. Laurie is a former Treasurer of the Law Society of Upper Canada and Co-Chair of its Retention of Women in Private Practice Project. She practises Family Law at Torkin Manes.
Awards were presented by Lexpert’s Editor-in-Chief, Jean Cumming; Don Van Meer, President of Carswell, a Thomson Reuters business, which publishes Lexpert; Carrie Heller, President and Founder of the Heller Group Legal and Executive Search; Nikki Gershbain, National Director, Pro Bono Students Canada; and Linda Bertoldi, Partner, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, former Lexpert Zenith Award Winner and member of this year’s Advisory Board.
