Board Members
The WLAO Board is comprised of members who volunteer their time and leadership to govern the organization and lead initiatives to ensure its mandate is fulfilled.
Erin O’Donovan – President
Erin is a seasoned securities law regulator with substantial policy and operational expertise. Erin is a manager in the Corporate Finance Division at the Ontario Securities Commission, leading a team of professionals focused on the crypto, real estate and
syndicated mortgage sectors and the exempt market for securities.
Erin holds a Certificate in Canadian Financial Services Regulation, Analysis and Decision Making from Osgoode Professional Development, Osgoode Hall Law School of York University. Erin also has expertise in M&A matters, having spent more than 10 years as senior legal counsel in the Office of Mergers & Acquisitions at the Ontario Securities Commission. Prior to joining the Commission, she practiced securities law in the Toronto office of an international law firm.
Erin is a past-President of the Toronto Lawyers Association and served as a Director of the TLA from 2014-2024. Erin received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dalhousie University, a Bachelor of Laws degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, and is called to the Ontario Bar.
Fariya Walji – Vice-President
Fariya Walji is a lawyer, leadership strategist, and public speaker focused on developing high-performing lawyers and professionals.
She previously served in senior leadership at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Law Practice Program, where she led innovative, experiential training for over a thousand licensing candidates and collaborated closely with hundreds of legal employers across Ontario to strengthen practice-ready skills. Earlier in her career, Fariya practiced as Crown Counsel, litigating civil matters and contributing to policy and legislative initiatives.
Today, through Creative Learning Strategies, she partners with law firms and professional organizations to deliver practical training on leadership, communication, business development, and professional judgment – with a growing focus on how human skills remain essential as AI transforms legal work.
Fariya serves as Vice-President of the Women’s Law Association of Ontario and is deeply committed to mentorship, equity, and modern professional development.
Emily Kostandoff – Treasurer
Emily is an associate at Quinn Family Law. She represents clients on issues including divorce, custody and access of children, child and spousal support, and division of property. Emily regularly appears before the Ontario Court of Justice and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
Before joining Quinn Family Law, Emily summered and articled at a large boutique litigation firm in downtown Toronto. She obtained her Juris Doctor and her Honours Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Music and French Studies from the University of Ottawa. While attending the University of Ottawa, Emily competed in several oral advocacy competitions. She won first place in the Canadian National Negotiation Competition in Winnipeg. Her performance led her to the International Negotiation Competition in Oslo, Norway, where she competed against more than 30 teams from around the world and was awarded second place.
Emily has been a member of the Women’s Law Association of Ontario since her articles when she was an active member of the Articling Chapter. She has since sat on several committees including Communications and Programming. Emily joined the Board of Directors in 2020. Emily Kostandoff Quinn Family Law 416-551-1025 [email protected]
Vagmi Patel – Secretary
Vagmi practices Civil Litigation with an emphasis on subrogated claims involving construction-related litigation and contractor’s negligence, environmental disputes, product liability, and property damage. Prior to joining Mason Caplan Roti LLP, Vagmi articled and practiced at a prominent insurance defence firm in Toronto, assisting counsel in defence of personal injury, occupier’s liability, and contractor negligence. She has appeared in front of the Superior Court of Justice, the Ontario Court of Justice, the Small Claims Court, the Social Benefits Tribunal, and the Landlord Tenant Board.
Vagmi obtained her law degree from the University of Windsor. While at Windsor, she worked as a litigator at the community legal clinic in Windsor representing underprivileged clients in civil, criminal, and residential tenancy matters. Vagmi completed a semester at the University of Mannheim in Germany through an exchange program. Prior to attending law school, Vagmi completed her undergraduate degree in Life Sciences and worked as a research assistant in Molecular Biology and Pathology. During articling, Vagmi was Co-Chair of the Articling Chapter of the Women’s Law Association of Ontario. She now sits on the Mentoring and Social Committee. Education: Honours Bachelor of Science, McMaster University, 2012 Juris Doctor, University of Windsor, 2016 Professional Affiliations: Law Society of Ontario Women’s Law Association of Ontario Ontario Bar Association
Jocelyn Tatebe – Immediate Past President
Jocelyn earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in History and International Relations from the University of British Columbia. She then attended McGill university where she completed a Bachelor of Civil Law (B.C.L.) and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B). As a lifelong learner, Jocelyn successfully obtained a CIPP/C privacy designation in 2022.
Jocelyn is a civil litigator whose practice is now focused on estate litigation. Prior to her current role, Jocelyn worked for 10 years as a civil litigator in the insurance defence industry where she developed a particular interest in coverage issues. Jocelyn also has experience working as an in-house counsel for an insurance company. Jocelyn has appeared before the Superior Court, various tribunals including the License Appeal Tribunal and the Divisional Court.
Jocelyn is an active member of the legal community in Ontario. She is the immediate Past President of the Women’s Law Association of Ontario, an active mentor, and a regular speaker and moderator at continuing professional development seminars.
Kaitlyn Perrotta – Director
Kaitlyn completed her LL.B. in a Masters program at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. She received her NCA Certificate of Qualification from the Federation of Law Societies of Canada in 2017 and was called to the Ontario Bar in January 2019. She also received a B.A. Honours from the University of Toronto. Kaitlyn completed her articles at a boutique law firm in downtown Toronto.
Her holistic approach to her practice is due to her diverse legal background which includes experience in real estate, estate planning and corporate law. Kaitlyn continues to cultivate her legal knowledge and enhance her practice by enthusiastically taking on future-oriented challenges, innovating efficient methods and providing quality service. She is committed to a thoughtful, respectful and communicative method in order to achieve the best outcome for her clients.
Outside of the office Kaitlyn is always planning an adventure to a new travel destination, but from day to day, she can be found spending time with family, walking her dog outside or running to catch the last empty bike at her local spin class.
Kimberly Potter- Director
Kimberly (Kim) is a partner in Fasken’s Litigation and Dispute Resolution department and Co-Leader of the Firm’s ESG and Sustainability Practice Group. Her practice focuses on commercial litigation, including complex contractual disputes, professional negligence claims, and shareholder disputes. She regularly represents companies at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice’s Commercial List, a court specializing in commercial matters.
Kim has appeared before administrative tribunals, all levels of court in Ontario, and the Supreme Court of Canada. Prior to joining Fasken LLP, Kimberly clerked at the Ontario Court of Appeal for the Honourable Justices Goudge, Juriansz and Ducharme.
Kim is an active member of the legal community. As part of her pro bono practice, she successfully represented the Canadian Civil Liberties Association in striking down the mandatory minimum sentence under the Criminal Code for possession of a loaded firearm in R v. Nur, 2015 SCC 15. She is a member of the Mid-Career Advocates’ Standing Committee (MASC) of the Advocates’ Society.
Lotus Menezes – Director
Lotus Menezes is a corporate and commercial lawyer with domestic and international experience across private practice and in-house roles. She is dual-qualified in Ontario and Tanzania and holds a Master of Canadian Common Law from Osgoode Hall Law School. Lotus has advised on complex commercial, regulatory, and supply-chain matters, with particular experience in the mining, energy, and natural resources sectors, working with multinational organizations and cross-border teams.
In addition to her legal practice, Lotus is deeply committed to mentorship, equity, and community-building within the profession. She is actively involved in professional and community organizations supporting internationally trained lawyers and underrepresented groups in law. As a Director of the Women’s Law Association of Ontario, Lotus is passionate about advancing opportunities for women lawyers through advocacy, leadership development, and meaningful professional connection.
Pearl Rombis – Director
Called to the Ontario Bar in 1994, Pearl has developed a diverse civil litigation practice in many areas of insurance and commercial law. Her insurance practice includes coverage matters for Canadian, US & UK insurers, reinsurers, self-insured corporations, hospitals, and other non-profit organizations as well as professionals. When acting as coverage counsel, Pearl drafts opinions, reservation of rights and position letters, and defence cost-sharing agreements. She also represents clients in court applications, at trial and on appeal, in cases involving coverage disputes over issues ranging from the duty to defend, additional insured rights, equitable contribution, breach of conditions and relief from forfeiture to bad faith conduct. Her insurer clients have benefited from her strategic counsel including securing favourable costs awards.
She also advises and represents commercial and residential property insurers in coverage disputes involving Builder’s Risk/COC, and equipment breakdown claims. In her insurance defence practice, Pearl is retained to defend a wide array of complex and large loss liability claims for wrongful death, premises and taverners’ liability, municipal and road design liability, product liability, construction defect, fire and water damage, railway derailment, environmental contamination, defamation, aviation, marine and automobile accident claims. Her commercial litigation and counsel practice includes handling employment law and wrongful dismissal claims, advising and representing commercial landlords in lease disputes and negotiations, as well as other commercial transactions including reviews of contracts and service agreements. While in-house counsel at an insurer, internally she led continuing education programs for client handlers and junior counsel and externally led programs for the insurer’s brokers.
Pearl continues to pay it forward. A lifelong learner, she remains active in attending, organizing and chairing continuing development programs for the profession, including the following roles: Board Member, Canadian Defence Lawyers Association, Past Chair of the CDL Women’s Caucus and Chair of the 2023 CDL Women’s Caucus Retreat, Chair of CDL’s 2023 Professional Liability Program, Panelist on Discovery at CDL’s 2022 Boot Camp, Co-chair of CDL’s 2022 Annual Insurance Coverage Symposium, Co-chair of CDL’s Pay Equity Issues facing Women in Law webinar, Speaker for the Ontario Bar Association – Insurance Section’s 2021 Additional Insured issues webinar, Civil Procedure Practitioner / Mentor for the TMU Lincoln Alexander School of Law, Principal / Assessor of Candidates for TMU’s Law Placement Program, Member / Mentor for the Women’s Law Association of Ontario and Coach / Advisor for the Law Society of Ontario’s Coach and Advisor Network, and is a member of both the Professional Liability Underwriting Society and Insurance Supper Club of Canada.
Melanie Larock – Director
Melanie is a partner and a family law litigator at Thomson Rogers LLP. She has practiced exclusively in the field of family law since 2012 after articling at Thomson Rogers. Melanie’s expertise spans all areas of family law, with a particular emphasis on complex financial and legal issues and high conflict parenting disputes, including cases of alienation and family violence. She is well-versed in the intersection of family law with other areas of law such as torts, criminal law, trusts, estates, tax, contract, and business
law.
As a strategic and detailed-oriented professional, Melanie guides her clients through their unique challenges with expertise, compassion, and resilience. Known for her ability to thrive under pressure, she fearlessly tackles acrimonious cases. Melanie is adept at both litigation and reaching amicable resolutions through negotiation and mediation,
always advocating pragmatically for her clients’ interests.
Recognized in her field, Melanie has been named among the Best Lawyers in Canada for Family Law and is listed on ReferToHer for family law. The Family Law Group at Thomson Rogers has earned recognition from The Globe and Mail’s ‘Canada’s Best Law Firms’ for 2025 and 2026 and is ranked by Best Lawyers in Canada for 2025 and 2026 for both Toronto and nationwide.
Melanie was called to the Ontario Bar in 2011 after obtaining her Juris Doctor from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2010. She holds a Bachelor of Health Sciences Honours Degree from McMaster University, where she was awarded the Provost Honour Roll
Medal twice for her academic excellence.
A thought leader in family law, Melanie’s writings have been featured in Law Times, L’Expert, Law360, and Money and Family Law. She has co-authored a chapter in “Support Rights and Obligations Under Ontario Family Law” and contributed papers for the Advocates’ Society, OsgoodePD, the Law Society of Ontario, and the Ontario Bar Association. She also authors the blog “Coffee with Melanie: Recent Court of Appeal Family Law Cases,” sharing her insights and analysis on notable cases.
Outside of the law, Melanie is a mother of three boys and a “cat mom” to two ragdolls.
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Rebecca Shoom – Director
Rebecca Shoom is a Partner at Lerners LLP in Toronto. She acts as counsel in a wide variety of disputes, including commercial arbitrations, appeals, shareholder disputes, contractual disputes, employment litigation, defamation, education law, securities litigation, and professional liability disputes. She also offers dispute resolution services as a neutral arbitrator in commercial arbitrations, and has been accredited as a Qualified Arbitrator (Q. Arb) by the ADR Institute of Canada. She has appeared as counsel before all levels of court in Ontario, the Supreme Court of Canada, private commercial arbitration panels, and various administrative tribunals. She is the Chair of the Advocates’ Society’s Arbitration and Mediation Practice Group, and a Director of the Women’s Law Association of Ontario.