Nicole Marie Guay Biros-Bolton

I'm Nicole Biros-Bolton, founder and principal lawyer of Bird Bolt Law in Hamilton, Ontario. We are a feminist firm practicing employment, human rights and education law. I act for people who have been harmed at work, at school and at home.

I have represented clients before the Federal Court, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Divisional Court and the Tax Court of Canada. My tribunal work spans the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, the Social Benefits Tribunal, the Child and Family Services Review Board, the Ontario Labour Relations Board and the Canada Industrial Relations Board. I also regularly act before the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. My work includes Charter challenges to laws that fail the people they were written to protect. My practice now extends to civil claims for intimate partner violence.

I came to law after nearly 20 years in the gender-based violence sector. In the UK I certified as an Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA). I am also certified in intimate partner violence risk assessment, including risk of death, and in crisis support and safety planning for survivors and their children. That work taught me that trauma shapes how people remember and recount what happened, and that our job is to make room for it. We run every file at Bird Bolt Law on that principle. Trauma-informed practice shapes how we gather evidence, how we prepare clients for hard days, and how we win.

I hold an LLB from King's College London and an LLM in International Human Rights Law from the University of London. I taught critical thinking in China. I work in English and French and speak conversational Mandarin.

I chair LEAF Hamilton and the Ontario Bar Association's Constitutional, Civil Liberties and Human Rights Section. I sit on the board of YWCA Hamilton and on the Law Society of Ontario's [AI advisory committee]. As @empathylawyer on TikTok and Instagram, I explain employment and human rights law in plain language. Legal knowledge should be available to everyone, including people who may never be able to pay a lawyer.