Committed to representing children and youth.
Toronto, Ontario | 416-873-0664
A lawyer with over 20 years of experience, Emma provides experience, creative solutions, and determined advocacy.
How Can Emma Help?
Emma represents young people charged under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
This includes helping young people charged with everything from shoplifting offences to homicides. A young person who is criminally charged is treated very differently than an adult, even if charged with the same offence. A youth court record can affect immigration, education, employment, mental health, volunteer work and housing. It is essential to hire a lawyer that understands the complexity of youth law and how a criminal charge can affect all other areas of a young person’s life. If you have been charged under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, call or text Emma at 416-873-0664.
Emma also represents children who are subject to child protection proceedings and caught in the middle of custody and access disputes. Through the Office of the Children’s Lawyer, Emma represents children in child protection proceedings, children who are minor parents, those in secure treatment, and 16 and 17 year old youth who agree to enter into a Voluntary Youth Service Agreement (VYSA) with a children’s aid society. Emma is especially skilled at helping children and youth who are dealing with both child protection and criminal justice proceedings at the same time. Call or text Emma at 416-873-0664.
Dealing with a criminal case as a complainant can be confusing and daunting. Emma is part of the Ministry of Attorney General’s Independent Legal Advice panel for Sexual Assault Survivors Pilot Program. She also represents complainants in third party records applications, where an accused person has tried to access counselling records in a sexual assault case. Call or text Emma at 416-873-0664.
Bio
Emma has been involved in many activities to promote education and awareness of youth legal issues, including sitting on numerous panels for Legal Aid Ontario, the Ontario Court of Justice, the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Family Lawyers Association, the Ministry of the Attorney General and the Ontario Bar Association. In 2014, Emma testified before the Senate of Canada’s Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights about the overrepresentation of visible minority youth in the criminal justice system. She is a panel lawyer for the Office of the Children’s Lawyer for child protection, custody and access, minor parents, Voluntary Youth Service Agreements (VYSA), and secure treatment hearings.
Emma was on the Executive of the Ontario Bar Association’s Child and Youth Law Section, and sits on Legal Aid Ontario’s Criminal Law Advisory Committee and Criminal Law Youth Panel Standards Advisory Committee. Emma was an Instructor at Osgoode Hall Law School where she taught Trial Advocacy from 2010 to 2016, and was an adjunct professor at University of Toronto from 2012 to 2014 for a course on Youth Criminal Justice. She is the Criminal Lawyers’ Association’s representative for youth criminal justice issues for all of Ontario.
Emma was selected to be part of the Ministry of Attorney General’s Independent Legal Advice panel for Sexual Assault Survivors Pilot Program. Emma is co-author of Prosecuting and Defending Youth Criminal Justice Cases (Edmond Publishing) and a contributing editor for Wilson on Children and the Law (LexisNexis), and for Halsbury’s Laws of Canada (LexisNexis). She was the recipient of the Toronto Lawyers Association’s Honsberger Award in 2019 for representing each of the three pillars of the TLA – knowledge, community and advocacy.
Contact
Emma is committed to ensuring that her clients receive excellent representation and that their voice is heard. She is focused on achieving the best results for her clients.