Alexi Wood

Alexi Wood, the founding lawyer at St. Lawrence Barristers, represents clients at all levels of courts in Ontario, frequently appearing in the Divisional Court and the Court of Appeal, and she has appeared as counsel at the Supreme Court of Canada on numerous occasions. Her practice includes a wide range of commercial litigation, administrative and regulatory disputes, and professional regulation, both at trial and on appeals. She also acts for clients on tort matters,including issues related to health law, defamation, harassment and privacy including online harassment and non-consensual distribution of intimate images.

Alexi’s clients rely on her practical advice in a wide range of contract, securities, and fiduciary disputes, as well as administrative and regulatory matters. She frequently assists members of various regulated health professions colleges, as well as other professions including lawyers and teachers. In addition, she provides advice in academic matters, including funding disputes. Clients frequently seek Alexi’s assistance in judicial review of administrative decisions.

Alexi provides strategic advice, utilizing the most effective means to navigate the litigation, regulatory or licensing processes, specific to each client’s needs. She has expertise in drafting clear, concise submissions, as well as advocating before a wide range of adjudicative bodies to advance her clients’ interests.

Alexi is frequently asked to speak on panels and continuing education events on topics including harassment, privacy, and defamation whether spoken, written or online.

Alexi’s passion for social justice and commitment to pro bono work began prior to entering private practice when she was the National Security Project Director for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. Alexi is proud to act, on a pro bono basis, for social justice and environmental organizations including the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society before various administrative bodies and courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada.

In September 2016, Alexi was invited to be a faculty member in the Vital Voices Justice Institute in Mumbai, India, a training program for judges, police officers, prosecutors and NGO staff members who work in preventing human trafficking and domestic violence. In 2014, she received the Precedent Setter Award for her work fighting for social justice.

Alexi is a member of the Canadian and Ontario Bar Associations, and Ad Idem / Canadian Media Lawyers Association. Alexi is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law where she teaches in both the JD and LLM programs. She is also a co-chair of the University of Toronto Tribunal, a post she has held since the fall of 2019.

PHONE - 647.245.8283
EMAIL - Alexi.Wood@Stlbarristers.ca

Lillianne Cadieux-Shaw

Lil is an Associate at St. Lawrence Barristers PC. She was called to the bar in 2018. She currently maintains a broad civil litigation practice, with a particular passion for public and constitutional law, privacy, health, media and defamation, Aboriginal law and indigenous rights, and advocacy on behalf of survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence.

Lil is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. She has taught Foundations of Canadian Law and Torts.

She is also the current Chair of the Canadian Bar Association’s Law Reform Subcommittee.

Prior to joining St. Lawrence Barristers PC, Lil served as a law clerk to the Honourable Madam Justice Karakatsanis of the Supreme Court of Canada. She completed her articles at the Ministry of the Attorney General – Constitutional Law Branch and summered at Parkdale Community Legal Services in the social assistance, health, and gender-based violence division.

Lil obtained her Juris Doctor from Osgoode Hall Law School, where she was Managing Editor of TheCourt.ca, a senior editor and the Director of Research & Writing for the Osgoode Hall Law Journal, and a Dean’s Fellow in State and Citizen, Osgoode’s constitutional law class. Lil also mediated claims at Toronto’s Small Claims Court for Osgoode’s Mediation Clinic.

In her pre-law life, Lil spent 12 years in Singapore before moving to Halifax to obtain a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of King’s College. She worked as a science journalist before applying to law school and has carried a passion for clear communication into her legal profession.

Lil is a citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario.

PHONE - 647 245 3122
EMAIL - lil.cadieux.shaw@stlbarristers.ca

Saad Gaya

Saad is an Associate at St. Lawrence Barristers PC. He recently graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School with a Juris Doctor degree.

During law school, Saad explored a variety of legal interests. He completed a year-long intensive at Osgoode's legal clinic (CLASP) where he advocated for clients at several administrative tribunals. Saad continued to build his advocacy skills as a member of Osgoode’s team for the 2020 Laskin Cup administrative law moot, where his team placed third and Saad placed in the Top 15 Oralists. Saad was also the Managing Editor of theCourt.ca - Osgoode's award-winning blog that covers SCC decisions, was a volunteer for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Treasurer for Osgoode's Aerospace Law Society, and a Dean's fellow for the Constitutional Law course.

PHONE - 647 245 3121
EMAIL - saad.gaya@stlbarristers.ca

Alura Moores

Alura joined St. Lawrence Barristers PC in 2018 as Office Manager and Licensed Paralegal.

Alura has over 10 years of experience in the legal field. Prior to joining St. Lawrence Barristers, she worked for a criminal law firm and for several sole practitioners, assisting counsel in both defence matters and federal prosecutorial files. Alura regularly assists counsel with ongoing litigation support and has appeared before the Ontario Court of Justice.

Alura is active in her community and has been the President of the Scarborough Rosewood Community Association since 2016. She is also involved with the Community Associations of Northern Scarborough and on the Steering Committee for the Scarborough Civic Action Network.

PHONE - 647 245 8284
EMAIL - alura.moores@stlbarristers.ca

Netasia Brown

Netasia is a Legal Assistant at St. Lawrence Barristers PC. She graduated in 2019. Netasia has a passion for Civil litigation and Indigenous Studies.

Prior to joining St. Lawrence Barristers PC, Netasia Graduated from Centennial College with her Diploma from her Law Clerk Program and with a Certificate in Indigenous Studies. While going through her program Netasia study Civil Litigation. Family Law and Real Estate Law and has also graduated with a 4.3 GPA.

Netasia actively advocates for Indigenous rights through her Social Media Platform and continues to educate herself on important topics pertaining to Civil Litigation.

PHONE - 647 245 3121
EMAIL - netasia.brown@stlbarristers.ca

Abby Deshman

Abby is a lawyer at St. Lawrence Barristers PC. Abby maintains a broad civil litigation practice and has particular expertise in public and constitutional law, media and defamation, privacy and online harassment, and systemic legal challenges involving policing, prisons and the criminal legal system.

Abby has been involved in litigation at all levels of court, including before the Supreme Court of Canada, the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, and the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. She also has significant advocacy expertise outside of the courtroom and has appeared before legislative committees, spoken frequently to the media, and spearheaded numerous coalitions and successful advocacy campaigns pursuing systemic legal reform.

Prior to joining St. Lawrence Barristers Abby was the Criminal Justice Program Director for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (“CCLA”), overseeing the organization’s litigation and systemic advocacy in relation to policing, the criminal legal system, prisons and community supervision. She also spent several years as CCLA’s Fundamental Freedoms Program Director, overseeing the organization’s work in relation to freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and freedom of peaceful assembly. In 2017 Abby served as a Corrections Advisor to the Independent Review of Ontario Corrections investigating and writing reports into solitary confinement and the operation of the provincial correctional system, and later became a Senior Policy Advisor for the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services.

Abby is passionate about working with others to achieve systemic change and sharing her knowledge of advocacy and constitutional rights. She is currently a sessional lecturer at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies and also teaches in the university’s Ethics, Society and Law program. She is frequently invited to speak on panels and at conferences about constitutional rights and over the course of her career she has facilitated hundreds of classes with community groups and high school classes designed to stimulate critical thinking around fundamental rights and freedoms.

Prior to graduating from law school she worked and volunteered for numerous international and local human rights organizations including Human Rights Watch, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, and local non-governmental organizations in Bangladesh, Peru and Nicaragua.

Abby sits on the executive board of the Canadian Prison Law Association and is a member of the Advocates’ Society and the Ontario Bar Association.

She is a dedicated biker, and loves to explore new foods, new park trails, and take her two young children along for all adventures big and small.

PHONE - 647 245 2222
EMAIL - abby.deshman@stlbarristers.ca