About Legal Aid Ontario
Board of Directors
Posted below is a listing of the current members of Legal Aid Ontario's Board of Directors. For more information on any of these members please contact LAO at info@lao.on.ca.
Last updated: May 2011
Board Chair
John McCamus
July 2007 - July 2013
John D. McCamus, B.A., M.A., LL.B., LL.D. (Hon), LL.M., L.S.M., F.R.S.C., is a Professor of Law and University Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, a faculty which he served as Dean from 1982-1987. He is a member of the Ontario Bar. Prior to joining the faculty at Osgoode, he spent a year as a law clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada for Chief Justice Laskin. Professor McCamus is a member of the American Law Institute Advisory Committee for the Restatement of Restitution and Unjust Enrichment 3d and a former Chair of the Ontario Law Reform Commission. In 1996, he served as chair of the Ontario Government's task force that conducted a comprehensive review of Ontario's legal aid system which resulted in the passing of the Legal Aid Services Act and the creation of Legal Aid Ontario as an independent agency. Professor McCamus was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2006 and is the recipient of a Law Society of Upper Canada Medal for significant contributions to the profession. He is the author of numerous books and articles including texts on contracts and restitution.
Professor McCamus is currently a vice-president and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and an Associated Scholar in the Toronto office of Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP.
Board Members
Aly Alibhai
May 30, 2007 - May 29, 2011
Aly N. Alibhai is Senior Counsel in the International Legal Programs Section of the federal Department of Justice in Ottawa, Canada. Prior to joining the Department of Justice, he served as a Senior Policy Advisor to the Solicitor General of Canada. Mr. Alibhai served his articles as a law clerk to the Chief Justice of Ontario and the Justices of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, following which he practiced civil litigation as an associate lawyer with the Toronto office of the national law firm, Fasken Martineau Dumoulin LL.P. He obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia in 1987 and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Windsor in 1990, and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1992. Mr. Alibhai is very actively involved in the community and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Queensway Carleton Hospital Foundation, Peacebuilders International, the John Howard Society of Ottawa and Joan of Arc Academy. He also serves as a member of the Dean's Advisory Council for Osgoode Hall Law School and as a member of the Organizing Committee for the Raoul Wallenberg International Human Rights Symposium. For many years, he has served as an instructor for the Public Law segment of the Law Society of Upper Canada's Bar Admission Course. In recognition of his volunteer and community service, Mr. Alibhai has been awarded the Deputy Minister of Justice Humanitarian Excellence Award (2001) and the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal (2002).
James McNee
June 2008 - June 2012
Mr. McNee, a marketing and business strategy consultant, is a currently the Vice President of Development for a Canadian charitable foundation located in Mississauga, Ontario. He also serves on the Board of the University of Western Ontario's Alumni Association and is an active volunteer in numerous community organizations. Mr. McNee's more than 20-year career includes holding a senior executive position with one of Canada's largest charities and directing the Canadian marketing efforts for an international manufacturing firm.
James N. Yakimovich
June 2008 - June 2012
Mr. Yakimovich, CGA, CFE, is the principal of a professional practice in Toronto that provides regulatory and forensic investigation services to legal bodies. His thirty years of experience includes twelve with the Law Society of Upper Canada, Mr. Yakimovich has been responsible for a wide-range of operational programs and policy development, and for drafting provisions for legal organizations. His work includes interaction with numerous national, international and provincial regulatory associations.
John Liston
March 2008 - March 2012
Mr. Liston has a long career in social work and child protection services. He was the Executive Director of the Children's Aid Society of London and Middlesex from 1985 until May 2005 and served as the Assistant Executive Director of the Children's Aid Society of Metropolitan Toronto from 1978 to 1985. Mr. Liston has also served as the President of the Board of Directors of King's University College, of the University of Western Ontario.
Michelle L. Haigh
April 2011 - April 2013
Michelle Haigh is an honours graduate from the Sheridan College Paralegal Studies program, which she completed in the spring of 1996. While in her final year, she founded her own company, Precision Paralegal Services. Until joining Anderson Sinclair LLP, in early 2011, Ms. Haigh was a civil litigator, specializing in debtor/creditor law.
In 2006, Ms. Haigh was one of five paralegals appointed by the Attorney General of Ontario to be a member of the Paralegal Standing Committee at the Law Society of Upper Canada. Ms. Haigh played an integral role in developing the licence criteria and process for paralegals, and was instrumental in the creation of the by-laws and the professional code of conduct for this newly licenced profession.
In 2010, Ms. Haigh was elected to the Paralegal Standing Committee by her peers in the first paralegal election, and continues to serve on this committee today. Ms. Haigh has also been elected by the committee to be the first Elected Paralegal Bencher at the Law Society of Upper Canada. The Treasurer has since appointed Ms. Haigh to sit on six other committees, which develop policies concerning the legal profession as a whole.
Ms. Haigh is associated with many organizations and groups, including the Toronto Small Claims Court Frequent User Committee, and the Sheridan College Program Advisory Committee. She is a member of the Paralegal Society of Ontario, as well as a member of Licenced Paralegals Association of Ontario.
Nancy Cooper
February 2009 - February 2014
Nancy Cooper is a sole practitioner providing legal advocacy for clients of First Nations origin in child protection and criminal matters since 2003. Ms. Cooper holds a Journalism degree from Carlton University, a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Sociology and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Western Ontario. Specializing in criminal law, family law and child protection defence since being called to the bar in 1990, Ms. Cooper has represented children in family law and child protection proceedings for the Office of the Children's Lawyer. She was also a criminal and family Supervisory Duty Counsel in Nishnawbe-Aski for seven years and worked as a family Supervisory Duty Counsel in Cochrane for three years.
In a volunteer capacity, Ms. Cooper is a member of Editorial Board for the Ontario Bar Association's Briefly Speaking; a board member for the Lord's Kitchen Society; a member of the Human Services and Justice Committee for the District of Cochrane; and a member of the Timmins Police Service Aboriginal Advisory Committee. She is also a frequent guest speaker and presenter for various social organizations in the City of Timmins.
Timothy John Murphy
March 2009 - March 2014
A partner at McMillan LLP, Timothy Murphy has been practicing law since 1989 in a number of areas including government procurement, commercial contracts, construction, infrastructure and tender law and bid practices. Mr. Murphy has extensive experience in the public sector as former Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister of Canada and to Canada's Finance Minister, a member of Provincial Parliament in Ontario, and as a strategic advisor to all levels of governments. Currently teaching law and policy of public private partnerships at the University of Toronto, Mr. Murphy previously taught sessions on Securities Regulation at Queen's University. Mr. Murphy is a member of a number of associations including: Board of Directors and Chair for Compensation and Pension Committee at Morguard Corporation; the Toronto Board of Trade's Infrastructure Committee; Board of Directors for Futuremed Holdings; and member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
W.A. Derry Millar
April 2011 – April 2013.
W.A. Derry Millar is a partner with WeirFoulds LLP and practices exclusively civil litigation and administrative law. He has appeared in all levels of court in Ontario, the Federal Court of Ontario and the Supreme Court of Canada, and has acted as an arbitrator and mediator. He was Lead Commission Counsel for the Ipperwash Inquiry. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Mr. Millar was Treasurer (President) of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the governing body for Ontario lawyers, from June 2008 to June 2010. He has been chair or vice-chair of many Law Society Committees since he was first elected a Bencher in 1995. He has been a member of the Civil Rules Committee and its predecessors since 1976. He was Chair of the Ontario Centre for Advocacy Training, a Director of the Advocates’ Society and has previously been a member of the Board of Legal Aid Ontario. He has been a co-editor of the Ontario Annual Practice since 1975, and delivered papers on a wide variety of legal topics. He was a law clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada, and was called to the Bar in 1974.
LAO President & CEO
Bob Ward
Mr. Ward has served the public in a number of capacities, most recently as the Secretary General, Canadian Human Rights Commission. A strategic and thoughtful leader, Mr. Ward has worked extensively in the public sector in multi-stakeholder environments spanning human rights and regional and aboriginal economic development. In addition, Mr. Ward has expertise in the fields of corporate development, strategic policy innovation and communications as a result of his service in federal government central agencies including the Privy Council Office, the Public Service Commission and Treasury Board.
