Janice Payne, LLB ’74, and Laurie E. Joe, LLB ’85, recognized by the Law Society of Ontario

By Common Law

Communication, Faculty of Law

Awards and recognition
Alumni
Law Society of Ontario
On March 10th, 2021, the Law Society of Ontario announced its 2021 award recipients. We want to congratulate Janice Payne, LLB ’74, and Laurie E. Joe, LLB ’85, for being amongst this year’s winners for receiving, respectively, the Law Society Medal and the J. Shirley Denison Award.

From the Law Society of Ontario official announcement:

Law Society Medal

The Law Society Medal is given for outstanding service within the profession, whether in the area of practice, in the academic sphere, or in some other professional capacity where the service is in accordance with the highest ideals of the legal profession. 

Janice Payne Called to the Bar in 1976, Janice Payne was one of the first women in private practice in Ottawa. During the 1980s she was a pioneer as she argued pivotal precedent-setting cases and wrote, interpreted and litigated Ontario's condominium laws. Having shifted her area of practice, she is now one of the top Canadian lawyers in employment law.

J. Shirley Denison Award

The J. Shirley Denison Award is in recognition of significant contributions to access to justice and/or poverty issues.

Laurie E. Joe Called to the Bar in 1987, Laurie Joe has been a lawyer with Community Legal Services of Ottawa since 1994. She advocates on behalf of clients in the areas of immigration, refugee and disability law. She has worked with the Women and War program of the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Ottawa and is a founding member of Justice for Indigenous Women (J4IW) in addition to teaching part-time in our Law Practice Program, at various law schools and for the Law Society of Ontario.

The awardees will be honored at the annual Law Society Awards ceremony, which will be held virtually, on May 26, 2021.

Congratulations!