Transforming Canada's Legal Profession
John B. Laskin and the Toronto law firm Torys LLP, where John is a senior litigation partner, have made a generous donation of $50,000 to the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law capital campaign. This gift is being used to create vibrant learning spaces in the historic PACI building – the home of the law school.
“For both the firm and me, the unique focus of the Faculty – on teaching Aboriginal Law and issues related to Aboriginal peoples, and on training lawyers to practice in smaller centres – is both compelling and worthy of support,” John says.
Students will be introduced to the intricacies of the law in the new John B. Laskin-Torys LLP classroom. This knowledge will serve them well as they embark on their careers in rural and isolated communities that have traditionally faced a shortage of legal practitioners.
“Donating to the Faculty also represents additional two things for me,” John explains. “First, a contribution to fulfilling the vision of the task force that brought forward the proposal to establish the Faculty, of which I was a member, and second, a modest “giving back” to my hometown community, and doing so through an institution with which both my uncle and my father were associated.”
John Laskin’s love of the law is deeply embedded in his family’s history. John is the nephew of Bora Laskin – the 14th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and Lakehead University’s second chancellor. “My uncle demonstrated the contribution that lawyers can make, in many different ways, to making things better.”
John, an accomplished lawyer in his own right, is ranked among Canada’s top leading litigators.
When he joined Torys LLP in 1982, John discovered a law firm whose collaborative approach, emphasizing innovation and imagination, matched his own. This globally recognized firm has offices in Toronto, New York, Calgary, and Montreal.
John is also a former associate professor and lecturer at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, his alma mater, who continues to speak, write, and teach to inspire the next generation of lawyers and leaders.
In September 2014, Lakehead’s law school was named the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law in recognition of Bora Laskin’s transformative influence on Canadian law.