Susan Margaret Ursel

A recipient of the prestigious Law Society of Ontario Medal in recognition of her outstanding service within the legal profession, Susan Ursel is a fearless advocate known for her ground-breaking contributions to progressive legal change.

Susan represents trade unions and progressive organizations in all aspects of the law that touch on the lives of working people. Her practice encompasses the full spectrum of labour law and human rights and constitutional law, including judicial reviews and appellate litigation. On behalf of employees and retirees, she advises and advocates in areas including pension and benefits, major insolvencies, pay equity and occupational health and safety. As a trade union lawyer with senior level-experience in numerous precedent-setting cases, she is called on by her clients to lobby government and advise on the development of legislation, regulation and policy.

Over the course of her 40-year career, Susan has compiled a long and distinguished record of achievement. She has helped the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ defeat the efforts of two different Ontario governments to restrict free collective bargaining and impose wage restraints. She has successfully represented employees and retirees seeking to preserve their pensions, benefits and severance entitlements during Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act proceedings involving major Canadian companies such as Air Canada, Sears and Essar Steel Algoma. She has also successfully engaged in class action litigation on behalf of pension plan members adversely affected by government reorganizations in the broader public sector. Most recently during the COVID pandemic, she helped create, and worked as part of, a close-knit legal team with her clients to ensure their members’ health, safety and well-being were protected, taking on the Ontario Government and major employers in this effort.