Environmental law specialist is Law Foundation of Ontario’s representative on governing body
The Law Commission of Ontario (LCO) has announced the appointment of Ramani Nadarajah, an environmental law specialist certified by the Law Society of Ontario, to the LCO’s board of governors as the Law Foundation of Ontario’s representative, effective Oct. 1.
As an LCO founding partner, the foundation names a board representative, who is meant to act independently of the foundation while ensuring that the complementary organizations remain linked.
The news releases from the LCO and from the foundation provided more information on Nadarajah. Her experience has encompassed complex policy and law reform issues, with an emphasis on promoting access to justice for low-income and vulnerable communities.
Nadarajah has acted for clients before all Ontario court levels, the Federal Court, the Supreme Court of Canada, and administrative tribunals. These proceedings have included wide-ranging public interest environmental matters.
At the Canadian Environmental Law Association, Nadarajah has served as counsel since 1994 and later as senior counsel.
As co-counsel for local residents at the Walkerton Inquiry, she and her CELA colleagues accepted Legal Aid Ontario’s GEM Award for Outstanding Achievement.
Nadarajah is also the recipient of Osgoode Hall Law School’s Gold Key Award for Public Sector, the South Asian Bar Association’s Award for Legal Excellence, and the Ontario Bar Association Tom Marshall Award of Excellence for Public Sector Lawyers.
Before working with CELA, Nadarajah served as counsel with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment’s Legal Services Branch and with the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General’s Crown Law Office.
On a secondment from 2022–23, Nadarajah acted as policy counsel with the LCO, where she spearheaded a project on environmental accountability.
Nadarajah has sat on numerous government advisory bodies and has testified before standing committees of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and the House of Commons of Canada.
She has co-edited the Canadian Environmental Law Reports. At Osgoode, she has taught environmental law for the LLM program in administrative law and has mentored law students at the Environmental Justice and Sustainability Clinic.
Ramani obtained her LLB and her LLM in administrative law from Osgoode.
On Oct. 22, the LCO published its final report on artificial intelligence (AI) in criminal justice, described as the first analysis of its kind in Canada, delving into AI systems’ uses, benefits, and risks throughout the criminal justice system.
On Sept. 29, the LCO and Osgoode Hall Law School congratulated Dr. Jake Okechukwu Effoduh on his appointment as the inaugural fellow of the Raj Anand LCO Access to Justice Research Fellowship.
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