Jill Dougherty is a Canadian lawyer and partner at WeirFoulds LLP in Toronto, Ontario, whose practice centers on public law and civil litigation. She was called to the Ontario bar in 1986 after studies at York University and Osgoode Hall Law School.
Background
Dougherty's documented background is connected with Toronto, the capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. Her education and early professional life took place there.
York University, where she completed her undergraduate degree, was established in 1959 and initially operated as an affiliate of the University of Toronto. Its first classes were held in September 1960 at Falconer Hall, and the institution became independent in 1965. The university was a response to the need for additional universities in Toronto and across Canada.
Education
Dougherty received a Bachelor of Arts from York University in 1981, during the years after the university had become independent in 1965 and its main Keele Street campus had opened.
She later received a Bachelor of Laws from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1984. Osgoode takes its name from the Toronto building where Ontario lawyers were originally required to attend in order to practise in the province. The school signed an affiliation agreement with York University in 1965 and relocated from downtown Toronto to York's Keele campus in 1968. Canadian Lawyer Magazine ranked it first in Canada in its 2008 rankings.
Dougherty was called to the Ontario bar in 1986. Ontario's licensing path in that period required an academic law degree, practical training through the Bar Admission Course, and articling. The Law Society of Upper Canada established the Bar Admission Course in 1959 after a review of legal education that followed the 1949 controversy at Osgoode Hall, which had led to major changes in how lawyers were trained. Dougherty later served as an instructor in the public law section of the Bar Admission Course and contributed to its course materials.
Career
Dougherty was called to the Ontario bar in 1986. In 1987 she held a clerkship with the High Court of Justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario, the province's superior court in Toronto.
She is a partner at WeirFoulds LLP, a Toronto law firm founded in 1860 that describes itself as one of Canada's oldest law firms. The firm counts among its former partners fourteen federally appointed judges, and it has acted in landmark Canadian cases. Dougherty chairs the firm's Professional Regulatory Bodies Practice Group, which fits within the firm's work for professional regulatory bodies governing professions such as law, accounting, and engineering.
Her practice is concentrated in public law and civil litigation. Her documented areas include professional self-regulation and discipline, judicial review of government decision-making, alcohol and gaming, access to information and privacy, and Aboriginal land claims. She has represented municipalities and private-sector clients in litigation arising from Aboriginal land claims and in real estate-related disputes, including hearings before the Ontario Municipal Board, a provincial tribunal for planning and land-development matters whose functions are now held by the Ontario Land Tribunal.
Dougherty has also taught in professional training programs. She was an instructor in the Intensive Trial Advocacy Workshop at Osgoode Hall Law School from 2002 to 2009, and she taught in The Advocates' Society Special Litigation Skills Certificate Program from 2004 to 2009. The Advocates' Society is an Ontario association of litigators that provides continuing legal education.
Membership
Dougherty is a member of the Ontario Bar Association, a voluntary association representing lawyers, judges, notaries, law teachers, and law students across Ontario. The association is a branch of the Canadian Bar Association and organizes specialty sections focused on substantive areas of law.
Her other documented memberships include The Advocates' Society, an association of litigators in Ontario, and the Metro Toronto Law Association, a bar association serving lawyers in the Toronto area.
Ontario Bar Association
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Canada
The Advocates' Society
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Canada
Metro Toronto Law Association
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Canada
References
Lexpert Directory, M. Jill Dougherty profile
Profile describing Dougherty as a partner at WeirFoulds LLP whose practice covers public law and civil litigation, including professional self-regulation, judicial review, and Aboriginal land claims.
WeirFoulds LLP, Jill Dougherty profile
Firm profile identifying Dougherty as a partner and chair of the Professional Regulatory Bodies Practice Group, and listing her called-to-the-bar year and education.
Best Lawyers, M. Jill Dougherty profile
Profile describing Dougherty's administrative and public law practice in Toronto and her Ontario licensing and bar membership.
Lawyers.com, M. Jill Dougherty attorney profile
Attorney profile listing Dougherty's practice at WeirFoulds LLP, her 1986 Ontario admission, her York University B.A. and Osgoode Hall LL.B., and her bar association affiliations.
