NADIA ZAMAN

I am passionate about Employment Law – it is the perfect nexus between business, law, and people. I particularly enjoy providing proactive, strategic advice to employers to ensure they are complying with the law and minimizing liability, as well as advocating on behalf of employees to help them get what they are entitled to. There is nothing more fulfilling for me than building strong relationships with my clients through empathy and understanding, helping them navigate through complex workplace problems, and obtaining the best results possible. This is what motivates me to be a trusted advisor and a relentless advocate.

Most recently, I have been nominated as Canadian Lawyer’s Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers in the Changemakers category (i.e. lawyers in any area or type of practice who have been leaders, innovators, or catalysts for positive change in any area of the profession, such as diversity, law firm management, education, etc.). I regularly speak and write about Employment Law and am committed to educating others about their rights and obligations, so they can make informed decisions. I have been invited to provide media commentary on TV, radio and print, by platforms such as CBC, Global News, CTV News, Radio Canada International and 580 CFRA News Talk Radio, regarding hot button employment law issues. I have also been invited to speak about Employment Law issues on behalf of:

• the Ontario Bar Association (OBA) (e.g. the Fundamentals of Employment Law; Litigating an Employment File; Workplace Harassment Investigations; co-chaired the program on ‘Best Practices for Representing Marginalized Employment Law Clients’),
• the Advocates’ Society (e.g. Mental Health in the Workplace),
• the South Asian Bar Association of Toronto (SABA) (e.g. the 3rd Annual Women Lawyer’s Symposium on ‘Asking Questions We Don’t Want to Ask: Employment, Maternity Leave and Setting Boundaries’; Mediation Skills and Training for Litigators),
• the Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Ontario (ADRIO) (e.g. taught a Mediation Mastermind program on Dealing with Difficult Counsel),
• Trucking HR’s Women with Drive Program,
• Young Women in Law, and
• other organizations.

I obtained my Juris Doctor degree from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Trinity College, University of Toronto. I am the recipient of the Brian Morgan Scholarship in Law and the Magdalena Gryc Award. My legal career began on Bay Street, at the largest national full-service law firm. Since being called to the Ontario bar in June 2016, I have focused my practice exclusively on Canadian Employment Law. I am an Executive Member of the OBA’s Labour & Employment Law Section.

Advocacy began for me at the age of 14. I was the youngest speaker invited to a conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka to advocate on environmental rights. A few years later, I assisted in establishing the Child Abuse Network at the Police Hospital in Accra, Ghana. Being committed to advancing human rights, I was heavily involved with UNICEF at the University of Toronto as the Co-Director of the Youth Engagement Program. I taught students with learning disabilities about human rights and developed the curriculum to be used across community centres in Toronto. As a law student, I developed written accommodation policies to promote mental health awareness as Equity Officer; guided prospective students as Student Ambassador; critically analyzed the law as Senior Editor of the Journal of Law & Equality; and advocated for low-income clients at the Downtown Legal Services Clinic. I deeply value community service.

I enjoy championing women in law. In March 2022, in honour of International Women’s Day, I launched a newsletter on LinkedIn titled Secret Sauce for Success. The purpose of this newsletter is to share other women lawyers’ stories, so people can relate, connect, learn, and be inspired. I love spending quality time with family and friends, drawing, reading and exploring new places. I am also a social media enthusiast. You can follow me on Twitter @empLAWment, Instagram @emplawment_on and TikTok @emplawment_nz, and connect with me on LinkedIn!