Careers in International Law

Elisabeth (Lisa) DeMarco

Partner, Norton Rose Group

Lisa is the head of Norton Rose Canada's Toronto Energy and Global Climate Change practice groups. Lisa has over fifteen years of experience in the law relating to renewable energy, climate change, EAs, RECs, and strategy supporting the transitions to green economies in countries around the world. She has pioneered renewable energy power purchase agreement structures to allow for cross border renewable energy and environmental attribute transactions around the world – developing the precedent ERPA, REC, EA and bundled green energy contracts for a number of multi-national energy trading companies. She has designed and implemented public procurement and sales structures for the sale of CERs and environmental products in North America and abroad. She has acted for the International Finance Corporation (a member company of the World Bank Group) on the majority of its carbon finance transactions under the IFC-Netherlands Carbon Facility. She has also acted for multi-national buyers in and through auction platforms for the sale of CERs including carbon compliance instruments. Lisa has also acted for governments in drafting climate change and emissions trading policy and regulations and developing electricity asset optimization strategies. She has acted as an advisor to key stakeholders in the development of regional climate change programs including the Western Climate Initiative. She appears regularly before the regulatory tribunals and has done electricity related appellate work before various Courts. Lisa is an appointed member of the Premier of Ontario's Climate Change Advisory Panel.

Mark Arnold

Partner, Gardiner Miller Arnold LLP

Mark Arnold is a partner and senior civil litigator with the law firm of Gardiner Miller Arnold LLP and has litigated in all levels of court, including in the Supreme Court of Canada, in relation to condominium and commercial issues, real estate disputes, construction lien cases, personal injury matters and employment law. He is also the co-chair and Senior Legal Advisor of the International Coalition against Torture and the vice-chair of the Civil Litigation Section of the Canadian Bar Association of Ontario. Together with David Matas, a member of CCIJ's Board of Directors, he represented Bouzari in the suit against Iran. He also represented the Palestinian village of Bil'in in its suit against two Montreal-based companies, building and selling houses in the occupied territories.
Prior to becoming a lawyer, Mark was a college teacher in Montreal, Charlottetown and Halifax. He was the first Executive Director for the Prince Edward Island Human Rights Commission. He also worked for CBC radio in Charlottetown as a freelance broadcaster and storyteller.

Lieutenant-Commander Ken Osborne

Deputy Judge Advocate, Canadian Forces Base Borden

LCdr Osborne was born and raised in Mississauga, Ontario. He enrolled in the CF in January 1993 as a Training Development Officer where he served at the Canadian Forces Training Development Centre (CFTDC) in CFB Borden and in NDHQ. He was selected for the Military Legal Training Program (MLTP) in 1999 and attended the Faculty of Law at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. Following his articles with the firms Cassels, Brock and Blackwell and Greenspan, White in Toronto he was posted to the Office of the Canadian Forces Legal Advisor, Legal Advisory Services in 2004 until 2007. Following his first deployment to Afghanistan in 2007, he was posted as a Legal Advisor to the Strategic Joint Staff in 2008. In 2009, he was posed to Land Forces Central Area Headquarters as the DJA. LCdr Osborne has been deployed as a legal advisor in several operations. In 2005 he deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina as the DJA to OP BRONZE and NATO Headquarters Sarajevo. In 2007 and 2008 he deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan as a Legal Advisor on OP ATHENA. He deployed again to Kabul, Afghanistan in 2010 as a Legal Mentor with the Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan/NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan (CSTC-A/NTM-A). His honours and awards include the South West Asia Service Medal with Afghanistan clasp, the General Campaign Star with rotational bar, Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal, NATO Non-Article 5 medal for service in the Balkans, the Canadian Decoration and the United States Meritorious Service Medal.

Challenges of the International Investment Arbitration Regime

Todd Weiler

SJD & LL.M. (U. Michigan); LL.M. (U. Ottawa); M.A. & LL.B. (U. Western Ontario)

Dr. Todd Weiler is a barrister whose practice is devoted to investor-state arbitration. Over the past 13 years, he has served as counsel, arbitrator, expert witness and consultant in a wide array of investment treaty disputes, including some of the earliest NAFTA arbitrations. In 2006, Weiler co-founded the popular Oxford University Press online research service, www.investmentclaims.com. He is also a frequent lecturer and media commentator on international economic law and policy. Todd Weiler is also the editor, co-author and/or co-editor of seven books on international investment law, including: New Directions in International Law: in Memoriam Thomas Wälde, published in July 2011 by Martinus Nijhoff, and available at: http://is.gd/rbsSZN. All royalties from sales of this volume assist in sustaining the Thomas Wälde PhD Scholarship in International Economic Law, at the Centre for Energy, Mineral and Petroleum Law and Policy in Dundee, Scotland. Dr. Weiler's latest book, to be published in early 2012, is a monograph on the significance of historiography for the interpretation of equality and non-discrimination norms in international investment law.

Adam Douglas

Counsel, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada

Adam Douglas is a Canadian lawyer, also admitted to the New York bar, and a graduate of the Columbia University School of Law. He is a specialist in international arbitration, having served as counsel and consultant in the area over the past seven years. He is currently counsel with the Federal Government in the Trade Law Bureau of the Department of Foreign Affairs & International Trade (DFAIT). At the Trade Law Bureau, Adam represents the Canadian Government in international investment treaty disputes and provides advice to the government during its negotiations of various Free Trade Agreements and Foreign Investment Protection Agreements.

Myriam Seers

Associate, McMillan LLP

Ms. Myriam Seers is an associate in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group at McMillan. She has experience acting for clients in a wide range of commercial litigation and arbitration matters. She is developing expertise in international and domestic commercial arbitration, international investment arbitration, applications for injunctive relief, product liability, regulatory compliance and estates disputes. She has particular experience assisting clients in the natural resources, automotive, aviation, manufacturing and financial services industries. Ms. Seers has acted as junior counsel for a major multinational mining company in a US$100 million ICC arbitration seated in Paris involving a joint venture in a West African state. She has also acted as junior counsel in several major international commercial arbitrations involving complex contractual disputes.

The Future of the Omar Khadr Case

Kent Roach

Professor, University of Toronto

Kent Roach is a Professor of Law and Prichard-Wilson Chair of Law and Public Policy at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, with cross-appointments in criminology and political science. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto and of Yale, and a former law clerk to Justice Bertha Wilson of the Supreme Court of Canada. Professor Roach has been editor-in-chief of the Criminal Law Quarterly since 1998. In 2002, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Professor Roach's books include Constitutional Remedies in Canada, Due Process and Victims' Rights: The New Law and Politics of Criminal Justice, September 11: Consequences for Canada. He is also the author of The Unique Challenges of Terrorism Prosecutions: Towards a Workable Relation Between Intelligence and Evidence and The 9/11 Effect: Comparative Counter-Terrorism. Professor Roach's current teaching and research interests include comparative studies of anti-terrorism law and policy, comparative study of miscarriages of justice and comparative study of judicial review and the role of courts.

Mark Drumbl

Professor, Washington and Lee University

Mark A. Drumbl is the Class of 1975 Alumni Professor at Washington & Lee University, School of Law, where he also serves as Director of the Transnational Law Institute. He has held visiting appointments on a number of law faculties, including Oxford, Paris II (Panthéon-Assas), Trinity College-Dublin, Melbourne, Western Ontario, and Ottawa. He has published extensively on public international law, international criminal law, and transitional justice, including his forthcoming book Reimagining Child Soldiers in International Law and Policy (OUP, 2012). His first book Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law (CUP, 2007) has been widely reviewed and received scholarly excellence commendations from the International Association of Criminal Law and the American Society of International Law. Drumbl has represented genocide suspects in Rwandan jails; has served as an expert in U.S. courts; and has taught international law in Pakistan, Finland, Uganda, Australia, Argentina, The Netherlands, Italy, and Brazil. He grew up in Canada and holds degrees in law and politics from McGill University, University of Toronto, and Columbia University.

John Norris

Simcoe Chambers

John Norris, B.A. Honours (Carleton) 1982, M.A. (Western) 1984, LL.B. (Toronto) 1991, was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1993. Since then he has maintained a trial and appellate practice in the areas of criminal, constitutional and national security law. He is the author of the "Sentencing" chapter in Hamish Stewart, Sexual Offences in Canadian Law (Looseleaf: Canada Law Book); "Conditional Sentences After Fice", 28 C.R. (6th) 225 (2005); "R. v. McIntosh: 'Soft Sciences' in the Court of Appeal for Ontario" (1998), 4 Sexual Offences Law Reporter 6; "Developments in Criminal Procedure and Sentencing: The 1995-96 Term" (1997), 8 Sup. Ct. L.R. (2d) 233 (with Suzanne Jarvie); "Sentencing for Second-Degree Murder: R. v. Shropshire" (1996), 1 Can. Crim. L.R. 199; and "Myths, Hidden Facts and Common Sense: Expert Opinion Evidence and the Assessment of Credibility" (1995), 38 C.L.Q. 73 (with Marlys Edwardh). Since 1996 he has been an adjunct member of the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, where he has taught Advanced Criminal Law, Evidence Law and Advanced Criminal Evidence. He also teaches in the Osgoode Hall Law School Part-time LL.M. in Criminal Law program. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, an Assistant Editor of the Canadian Rights Reporter and a regular contributor to continuing legal education programs. In February 2008 he was appointed by the Minister of Justice to the roster of Special Advocates under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

Brydie Bethel

Simcoe Chambers

Brydie Bethell was called to the Bar in 2005, and practises criminal law at Simcoe Chambers in Toronto. She studied law at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and holds a graduate degree from the London School of Economics and an undergraduate degree from McGill University. Prior to practising law, Ms. Bethell worked for the United Nations in the Middle East.
Within criminal law, Ms. Bethell's practice areas include extradition, international prisoner transfer, constitutional litigation, fraud, and professional discipline matters. She has appeared as counsel or junior counsel in many levels of court, including the Federal Court of Canada, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, the Ontario Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada. She has also appeared as counsel to an agent of the Ministry of the Attorney General before the Cornwall Public Inquiry, as counsel for Human Rights Watch before the Internal Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad Abou-Elmatti and Muayyed Nureddin, and as a witness on behalf of the Canadian Council of Criminal Defence Lawyers at the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Legal Liability: A New Age

Sanjeev Dhawan

Senior Legal Counsel, Hydro One

Sanjeev Dhawan is Senior Legal Counsel for Hydro One Networks Inc. in Toronto. He advises the company on all areas of corporate and commercial law, particularly in regards to procurement contracts in the acquisition of equipment and services, and in the areas of construction, information technology, and mergers and acquisitions. Sanjeev recently completed a business role with the company as Manager of Commercial Contracts with its Supply Chain Services group. Prior to joining Hydro One in 2000, Sanjeev practiced in the areas of corporate and commercial law at a law firm for about seven years. In addition to a Bachelor of Laws degree, Sanjeev holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Finance degree. Sanjeev was called to the Ontario Bar in 1993. He is President of the Association of Corporate Counsel – Ontario Chapter.

Murray Klippenstein

Klippensteins Barristers & Solicitors

Murray Klippenstein graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 1985, and established the firm of Klippensteins in 2000. Mr. Klippenstein practices in the fields of corporate accountability, native rights, environmental law, affordable housing and housing co-operatives, employment law, defamation and civil rights. Mr. Klippenstein has represented a group of campesinos from the remote mountainous Intag region of Ecuador in a lawsuit in Ontario against a Canadian junior mining company for human rights abuses in a proposed open pit mine development, and is presently representing a number of plaintiffs from El Estor, Guatemala in a lawsuit in Ontario against a Canadian mining company for alleged complicity in murder and gang rapes against indigenous Mayan community members opposing mining abuses. Mr. Klippenstein has represented the environmental group Pollution Probe, the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada, and numerous First Nations and individuals. He has represented the Mushkegowuk Tribal Council on James Bay for over fifteen years in numerous negotiations and court cases. Mr. Klippenstein is currently co-counsel in a class action that is seeking certification in relation to alleged police abuses at the G20 Summit demonstrations in Toronto in 2010. Mr. Klippenstein represented the estate and family of Dudley George for nine years of litigation against the province, the police, and Premier Mike Harris, as well as calling for a public judicial inquiry. The public inquiry was eventually held and led to numerous reforms, including the creation of the present Ontario Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs. The province also eventually returned the Ipperwash Provincial Park to native ownership, in accordance with the original treaty.

Sara Seck

Professor, University of Western Ontario

Coming Soon

Mark Ellis

Partner, Baker & McKenzie

Mark Ellis is a partner at Baker & McKenzie, having joined their Toronto office in late 2002 after practicing for over 20 years at major Canadian law firms. He is one of Canada's leading advisers on fiduciary obligation, corporate governance and employment law. Mr. Ellis works closely with Baker & McKenzie practitioners throughout North America and around the globe to further enhance the Firm's renowned international labor and employment practice. Mr. Ellis joins our panel today as a representative of the corporate perspective, having assisted numerous corporate boards, executives, directors and officers, and legal counsel in issues of individual and corporate liability, corporate governance and privacy and disclosure matters. Mr. Ellis is also the author of Fiduciary Duties in Canada, the leading treatise on corporate, commercial and private obligations of fidelity and trust. Mr. Ellis earned his law degree at Queens University, graduating in 1980 and being called to the Bar in 1982.