The Silcoff Shacter partner has worked with the school since 2021
Lincoln Alexander School of Law has named Silcoff Shacter partner Maureen Silcoff as its lawyer-in-residence.
In this role, Silcoff will enhance the school’s social justice advocacy-related professional programming. She will also seek opportunities for the school to partner strategically with the legal profession, NGOs, and government organizations.
Silcoff, a refugee and immigration specialist, began working with Lincoln Alexander in 2021 as an instructor. She helped develop the law school’s public interest litigation and immigration and refugee law courses.
She was a refugee law instructor at the University of British Columbia’s extended learning program and was co-designer of Queen’s University’s ethics and professional responsibility course for the graduate diploma in immigration and citizenship law. She was once on the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada.
Silcoff presided over the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers from 2019 to 2021, overseeing litigation, advocacy, and conferences. For four years, she led test cases for the association’s litigation committee.
She chaired the Refugee Lawyers Association’s access to justice committee and was a cofounder of the Jewish Refugee Action Network. She also held board and executive roles with the Canadian Bar Association’s immigration law section, the FCJ Refugee Centre, Sojourn House, and the Rexdale Community Microskills Development Centre.
Silcoff has litigated complex Charter cases, acting for individuals, public interest parties and interveners in complex litigation before all levels of court. Cases she has worked on include Brown v. Canada (MCJ) 2020 FCA 130, M.A.A. v. D.E.M.E., 2020 ONCA 486; and Y.Z. v. Canada (MCI), 2015 FC 892.
Throughout a legal career that started in 1988, she has championed refugee rights and access to justice. She has pushed for sustainable legal aid funding and for rights at the Canada-US border to be protected.
Silcoff has consulted with ministers, other politicians and policy advisors. She was also a witness before the House of Commons Citizenship and Immigration Committee.
She has served as a mentor and was on Legal Aid Ontario’s peer review committee.
"I am honoured to accept this appointment. I look forward to advancing Lincoln Alexander Law School's social justice advocacy work and to fostering relationships with the broader legal community," Silcoff told Law Times.
