Advisory Board

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NSRLP Board of Directors

Noel Semple
John Manwaring
Dr. Julie Macfarlane

Founder
Meg Holden

Director
Fariya Walji
Emily Mackinnon

Director

NSRLP Advisory Panel

Tania Perlin
Georgette Makhoul
Jennifer Muller
Andrew Pilliar

NSRLP West Director
Dom Bautista
Ilana Luther

NSRLP East Director
Jeff Rose-Martland
Danardo Jones
Jérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly
Janet Mosher

Noel Semple

Noel Semple is Assistant Professor at the University of Windsor Faculty of Law.

Noel studies access to justice. His work asks how the law and legal institutions work in real life. It also aspires to improve the ability of law and legal institutions to actually create justice. Empirical research (quantitative and qualitative) and policy analysis are key tools in his scholarship. He draws upon and seeks to contribute to the law and society and empirical legal studies traditions.

He teaches and writes in the fields of civil dispute resolution, legal ethics and professionalism, legal services regulation, and family law.

Noel completed his Ph.D at Osgoode Hall Law School (York University) in 2011, after having received an LL.M degree in 2009. In 2007, he received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. His doctoral focus was the custody and access arrangements made for children following the breakdown of their parents’ relationships. His dissertation critically analyzed the litigation and settlement mechanisms used to resolve these disputes, and their costs and benefits for the children involved. The severe lack of affordable and professional legal assistance in the family law field became obvious during this research, and inspired Noel’s postdoctoral research agenda.

Learn more about Noel’s work at www.noelsemple.ca

Why do you choose to participate on the Board?:

“I joined the Board because the National Self-Represented Litigants Project is making vital contributions to the accessibility of justice in Canada. The Project represents the best tradition of using social science to make the world a better place. I am honoured to be involved!”

What does “Access to Justice” mean to you?:

“To me, access to justice means the ability of people to assert and defend their legal rights. A society committed to access to justice builds multiple passageways between people and the justice they deserve. These passageways must, at a minimum, include:

(i) formal dispute resolution (e.g. accessible courts and tribunals);
(ii) informal dispute resolution (e.g. accessible mediation, negotiation, and legal information); and
(iii) expert legal service providers (e.g. accessible lawyers and paralegals).”

John Manwaring

John Manwaring is Professor of Law at the University of Ottawa, Common Law Section, where he teaches on the French program. John has published extensively on Contract and Labour Law, as well as writing about legal education and the role of lawyers in dispute resolution. He is an arbitrator for the Ontario Ministry of Labour and an adjudicative member of the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal. John also mediates and facilitates for a range of organizations and groups. John has acted as the Chair of the Advisory Board to the National SRL Research Project.

Dr. Julie Macfarlane

Founder

Dr. Julie Macfarlane is Emerita Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Windsor. Julie has researched and written extensively on dispute resolution and in particular the role of lawyers (for example her best-selling 2008 book The New Lawyer : How Settlement is Transforming the Practice of Law). She became interested in learning more about the personal experiences of self-represented litigants as they become a increasingly significant interest group in the justice system, leading to the National Self-Represented Litigants Research Study (2013). Julie is an experienced mediator, facilitator and conflict resolution educator who is committed to access to justice, the modernization of the justice system and public engagement in legal system reform. For more information about Julie, please see profjuliemac.com.

Meg Holden

Director

My acquaintance with and commitment to the National Self-Represented Litigants Project began in 2020. I was fortunate to land upon the NSRLP’s existence as a struggling self-rep in my own family matter in Vancouver, B.C. I was a student of the first offering of the NSRLP School for Self-Represented Litigants in 2021. That experience was a significant turning point in my self-understanding of what is at stake in the Access to Justice movement. I learned that access to justice is not only about being allowed to stand inside the rooms where justice is served and to hold a copy of the book that will be thrown at you. Instead, access to justice is a profound reorientation of where and who justice comes from, when it comes. I bring my newfound sense of appreciative inquiry into the movement for access to justice to my role on the advisory board for NSRLP.

I am not a lawyer. I am philosophical pragmatist, which grounds me in critical feminism and the study of conventions and practices. My pragmatism is also my license to mix myself in matters where I am far from expert. My 2017 book, Pragmatic Justifications for the Sustainable City: Acting in the common place, explains much of how I approach arguments, differences, and my commitment to intentional change although it is rare. I appreciate the intentionality of the law and its structures. I also recognize this stance as a cover for a monumental apparatus of uncertainty, bias and wrongheadedness.

My recognized expertise is in public and urban policy. I hold a PhD from the New School for Social Research, a M.S. from Rutgers University and a B.Sc.(Hons) from the University of Victoria. I am a professor of urban studies and resources and environmental management at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, a nature lover, hip hop aficionada, amateur Irish dancer, and proud mom.

Fariya Walji

Fariya is a lawyer and leader, who works with individuals and organizations to set and achieve goals. A Crown Counsel, Fariya works primarily on civil litigation files and supports a variety of Ministry initiatives including legislative amendments, training police officers, media releases, and more. She is currently seconded to the Law Practice Program at Toronto Metropolitan University, where she leads a team in the innovation of skills-based legal training as the Senior Program Director. In addition to sitting on the Board of the NSRLP, Fariya is a Board Member of the Women’s Law Association of Ontario.

Emily Mackinnon

Director

Emily MacKinnon is a litigator in Vancouver, BC. Her practice includes high-level commercial disputes as well as constitutional and public law matters. An experienced oral advocate, Emily has argued at the Supreme Court of Canada and at all levels of court in British Columbia, Manitoba, Alberta, and Ontario.

As a trusted advisor to her clients, Emily provides practical advice on company law disputes and regulatory matters. Emily excels in matters involving complex statutory and contractual schemes, with particular expertise in class actions and constitutional law. Emily has also acted in a wide variety of appeals with issues ranging from tort law to constitutional law, taxation, and criminal law.

Emily maintains an active pro bono practice. She sits on the board of directors of the UBC Allard School of Law Alumni Association, the Association des juristes d’expression française de la Colombie-Britannique, and the Vancouver Opera Foundation. Emily also works as a legal officer for the Canadian Forces Reserves.

Emily received her JD from the University of British Columbia in 2012, where she graduated as the gold medalist and as a Wesbrook Scholar. Following her graduation from law school, she clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada for Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin.

Tania Perlin

Tania Perlin has been practicing law since 1994.

In addition to being a lawyer, she is also a part time professor, certified mediator, access to justice advocate and a wellness coach.

Tania’s passion is advocating for individuals to have better access to justice. She believes that having access to the courts does not necessarily mean having access to justice. She also advocates for removing the stigma of mental health, and ensuring that the court is accessible and accommodating to all litigants.

Georgette Makhoul

Georgette Makhoul graduated with a Law Degree from Dalhousie University in 2010 and was called to the Ontario Bar in 2011. She has primarily practiced Family Law since, and is now practicing as an associate at Hogarth Hermiston Severs LLP in Windsor, Ontario.

Georgette is a Sessional Professor at the University of Windsor Law School and teaches Conflict Coaching for Self-Represented Litigants. She has been a guest lecturer and panel speaker on such topics as access to justice, client service in family law, and women of colour in law.

Currently, Georgette sits as an elected Board member of the Essex Law Association. She is a member of multiple Boards and Committees in Windsor: the Superior Court of Justice Family Law Bench Bar (in response to COVID-19), the Superior Court of Justice Family Law Liaison Committee, Hiatus House, and the John Howard Society.

Jennifer Muller

Jennifer has an M.A. in Human Learning and Counselling Psychology from the University of British Columbia. She has worked for the North Vancouver school district for the past 18 years as a District Counsellor and has also been a Sessional Instructor in the Faculty of Education at UBC. Jennifer has been a Self Represented Litigant in the Supreme Court of British Columbia for numerous interim hearings as well as represented herself during a 9 day trial. Jennifer has a keen interest in civil rights and is currently involved in several initiatives related to advocacy for Self Represented Litigants.

Why do you choose to participate on the Board?

“I am pleased to participate on the board because of the importance of SRLs’ voices being included and heard in the continued dialogue about the issues surrounding this true phenomenon. I hope that I can contribute the SRL point of view to many of our discussions and projects.”

What does “Access to Justice” mean to you?:

“For me, A2J means that our legal system belongs to all Canadians. A2J means that each individual in our society is an equal stakeholder in our legal system and that we all can access this system regardless of socio economic status, gender, race or annual income.”

Andrew Pilliar

NSRLP West Director

Andrew Pilliar is a teacher and researcher whose work focusses on improving access to justice. His doctoral research examines the structure of the market for personal legal services to sustainably improve access to justice. His prior LLM research explored the twin problems of access to civil justice and lawyer career dissatisfaction, suggesting an innovative practice model to alleviate both. Before returning to graduate studies, Andrew practiced in the litigation and insolvency fields at a national law firm and at a Vancouver boutique, and clerked for the BC Supreme Court.

In addition to his current research, Andrew has investigated pro bono work patterns among BC lawyers, the business/profession dichotomy in law, and the contours of graduate legal education in Canada. He is also a founder of the Access to Justice Research Network. His interest in access to justice extends both to how people find and obtain legal services, and also how legal service providers can deliver services in more accessible ways.

Dom Bautista

In 2010, Dom founded Amici Curiae Friendship Society (AC). AC, now a charity, provides legal assistance to individuals who require help drafting or filling out legal forms. AC’s services are provided on the principle of equal access to justice. This means going beyond the application of a simple financial eligibility test. Equal access to justice includes an assessment of an individual’s capacity to navigate what has become a complex and inaccessible legal system for many British Columbians, more relevant than ever throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dom is a 2020 recipient of BC Achievement Foundation Community Award and has also been selected to receive its Mitchell Award for demonstrating an exceptional commitment to elevating the community in which they live, and those who serve it.

Aside from designing AC’s virtual services and its Indian Day School service in summer 2020, he submitted a petition to the attorney general of BC to permanently waive the commission of affidavits; produced #DearBCians series where he interviewed heads of BC’s adjudicative bodies to see what they are doing to help the public during the pandemic; and submitted Guide to the Supreme Court of BC for SRLs to CanLII.

Ilana Luther

NSRLP East Director

Ilana Dodi Luther has a background in law and policy and is the Executive Director of the Access to Justice & Law Reform Institute of Nova Scotia (formerly the Law Reform Commission of Nova Scotia). Now located at the Schulich School of Law, the Institute is a non-profit organization is dedicated to law reform and acting as a center of coordination, research, education, and action on access to justice.

Ilana first joined the Law Reform Commission as legal research counsel in 2011, transitioned to work as a policy analyst for government in 2017, then returned to the Institute to serve as Director in 2018.

Ilana has a first law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, an LLM from Harvard Law School. She has a Masters of Information Management from the University of Alberta and attended the Maytree Policy School in 2021. In 2015, Ilana earned her Doctorate in Law from the Schulich School of Law and teaches poverty law and law reform there on a part-time basis.

Jeff Rose-Martland

Jeff Rose-Martland is a writer, advocate, and self-rep from St. John’s, Newfoundland. A former commercial radio host and producer, he began advocating on behalf of veterans in 2010. Although not a veteran, Jeff helped to bring public attention to issues that Canadian Forces and RCMP veterans endure post-release, particularly with accessing their benefits. For this work, Jeff was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal. He has been published nationally, and has won several awards for his creative work. Jeff began with the NSRLP as an advisor, and quickly moved on to serving on the Blog Steering Committee, before joining the Advisory Board.

Danardo Jones

Professor Danardo Jones is an assistant professor of law at the Faculty of Law at the University of Windsor, where he teaches criminal law and access to justice. He earned a BA in Law from Carleton University, a JD from the University of Ottawa, and an LLM from Osgoode Hall Law School, where he is also currently completing his Ph.D. Professor Jones also has years of experience working as a staff lawyer at various Legal Aid organizations across Eastern Canada and Ontario. His scholarly research investigates how race, particularly Blackness, is or ought to be understood and articulated within the criminal justice system.

Jérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly

Jérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly is an assistant professor at McGill University’s Faculty of Law. His research focuses on access to justice in civil matters, using primarily comparative methods. His current projects focus, among other topics, on person-centred justice and on the role of public participation in improving access to justice, particularly through lay courts. More broadly, his work extends to various areas of law, including private law, civil procedure, judicial institutions, and constitutional law. In parallel to his teaching and research, he strives to contribute to access to justice through a range of community initiatives.

Before joining McGill University’s Faculty of Law, he completed his doctoral studies at the University of Toronto, where his research was supported by a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship and a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholarship. He also worked as a civil litigator, a law clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada, and an intern at UNIDROIT, an international organization working on the unification of private law.

Janet Mosher

Janet Mosher is an Associate Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, and the co-founder and co-director of the Feminist Advocacy: Ending Violence Against Women clinical program that runs in partnership with the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic. Her research focuses on law and gender-based violence, access to justice for marginalized populations, welfare policy (the intersections of poverty and violence against women in particular), women’s homelessness, and legal aid.

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