Lisa Bildy fills the seat left vacant by Jasminka Kalajdzic, who was appointed an Ontario judge
Lisa Bildy, a member of the FullStop group that bills itself as the antidote to the Law Society of Ontario’s “woke” slant, will fill a vacant seat on the law society’s governing body.
The seat had previously been held by Jasminka Kalajdzic, appointed as a judge in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in late August. Kalajdzic was elected as an LSO bencher in 2023 after campaigning as a member of the Good Governance Coalition, FullStop’s opposition.
Bildy’s appointment represents the latest gain for the FullStop slate, following vacancies left by Good Governance Coalition members.
The Good Governance Coalition swept the benchers election last year, taking all 45 bencher seats available to lawyers and paralegals. The FullStop slate had fielded 36 candidates, and another 42 candidates ran unaligned with either the coalition or the slate.
Since the election, however, the appointment of several benchers to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice left openings filled by FullStop members Murray Klippenstein, Robert Adourian, and Howard Levitt.
In June 2023, Jacqueline Horvat, a re-elected coalition candidate, started her second term as treasurer, leaving open a vacancy that FullStop candidate Ryan Alford filled.
Bildy runs her firm, Libertas Law, and previously told Canadian Lawyer she initially organized the campaign that would eventually rebrand as FullStop with a small group of London lawyers.
The group had formed in response to the LSO’s introduction of a statement of principles in 2017, requiring all lawyers and paralegals to promote equality, diversity, and inclusion through their work.
Campaign members argued that the new requirement breached their freedom of expression, and Bildy’s group grew to include members across Ontario. In LSO’s 2019 bencher elections, campaign members gained a majority of the lawyer seats.
Bidly did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.
