Adrienne Christina Smith

Adrienne Smith is the founding lawyer of Smith Immigration Law, a Canadian Immigration law firm . Adrienne is an award-winning LGBTQ immigration lawyer, Adjunct Professor with the University of Toronto, and Adjunct Instructor with Queen’s Law.

With a decade of experience in immigration law and policy, Adrienne has built a full-service legal practice with a focus on complex immigration matters with a specialization in LGBTQ+ immigration.

Adrienne has provided expert testimony before Canada’s House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. Adrienne regularly appears before the Federal Court and Immigration and Refugee Board in litigation matters.

Adrienne has represented clients at all levels of court, including the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada, acting as counsel for leading human rights organizations such as EGALE and Rainbow Railroad. She was honoured with the Canadian Bar Association’s Founders’ Award, which recognizes exceptional contributions and a future leader in immigration law.

A respected voice in the field, Adrienne is a frequent speaker at national legal conferences and has presented to organizations including the Law Society of Ontario, Canadian Bar Association, Ontario Bar Association, and York University’s Centre for Refugee Studies. Adrienne contributed a chapter on LGBTQ+ immigration to LGBTQ2+ Law: Practice Issues and Analysis (2020), co-authored a textbook on Family Class Sponsorship (2021) with Emond Publishing and authored a second edition on Family Class Sponsorship (forthcoming 2025).

Before entering legal practice, Adrienne worked as a policy advisor with Citizenship and Immigration Canada. She holds a law degree (J.D.) from the University of Ottawa, a Master’s (M.A.) in Immigration and Settlement Studies from Toronto Metropolitan University, and a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) from McGill University. She is the recipient of the Public Interest Law Fellowship in National Security Law from the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law.