What better way to change the law than to get brilliant legal minds together?

Life Jackets for Life has created a Legal Working Group that will meet regularly to discuss and plan next steps in our objective for Lifejackets/Personal Flotation Devices to become mandatory in Canada for children in recreational boating. Those next steps include a review of the current regulations, the approaches taken in other jurisdictions, and reaching out to other legal professionals and various organizations.

The volunteers generously donating their time to our Legal Working Group are:

Rebecca C. Durcan, a partner at Steinecke Maciura LeBlanc in Toronto, Ontario acts as general counsel, prosecution counsel and independent legal counsel to several Ontario regulators. In addition to her law degree from the University of Windsor in 2000, Rebecca also earned a Masters of Health Law from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2006. To learn more about Ms. Durcan, click here.

Nicola Geary is a partner at Cassels in Toronto and practices in business law, with an emphasis on private corporate transactions, including mergers & acquisitions, private equity, venture capital, corporate reorganizations and corporate finance. To learn more about Ms. Geary, click here.

Wendi A. Locke is a partner at McCarthy Tetrault in Toronto. She advises on a broad range of corporate and securities law matters, including corporate governance and compliance issues. Wendi is an instructor for the Chartered Director Program offered by The Directors College and teaches the advanced securities law programs offered by the University of Western Ontario and University of Windsor law schools. She has been ranked a Leading Lawyer in Corporate Finance & Securities by The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory and a Leading Lawyer in Securities Law by Best Lawyers in Canada. To learn more about Ms. Locke, click here.

Myriah Graves is the Director of Professional Development at Fogler Rubinoff in Toronto.  She is responsible for all aspects of the firm’s summer and articling student programs, including the recruitment, mentoring and performance management of the summer and articling students. Prior to taking on her current position, Myriah worked as a litigation lawyer, specializing in the areas of corporate, employment and construction law. To learn more about Ms. Graves, click here.

Jerry Topolski is a partner in the Litigation Group at Goodmans in Toronto. He practises corporate and commercial litigation with a focus on intellectual property litigation. He regularly appears before various levels of the Ontario Superior Court, Quebec Superior Court and the Federal Court of Canada. Jerry is a frequent speaker on matters related to his practice, including for the Canadian Judicial Council/National Judicial Institute. He lectures in the LLM Health Law Intellectual Property course at Osgoode Hall Law School and on intellectual property matters at other academic institutions. Jerry is recognized as a leading intellectual property lawyer by Best Lawyers in Canada and is a featured leading lawyer in and is repeatedly recommended by The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory. To learn more about Mr. Topolski, click here.

A big thank you to this group professionals, concerned parents and friends who will help advance this issue and save kids’ lives.

Change the law. Save a life.