Yavar Hameed

Barrister & Solicitor / Avocat

Human Rights Lawyer and Documentary Filmmaker

Part-time professor, Carleton University, Legal Studies department  

Member of the Law Society of Ontario (2001)  

He has completed his Common Law degree at the University of Ottawa (J.D.) and an M.A. at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA).

Yavar Hameed is a highly respected human rights lawyer.  He has gained his national reputation for representing and winning a charter case related to mobility rights when the Canadian government denied re-entry for Abousfian Abdelrazik, a Sudanese-born Canadian facing false allegations of terrorism.

His law practice focuses on empowering clients to understand their rights and offer strategies to help them navigate, simplify, and overcome disempowering and oppressive legal and social challenges.

Yavar Hameed recently started his career as documentary filmmaker with his visual legal advocacy film titled “Lawyers (F)or Justice?” that aims to promote access to justice. 

Paul Champ

Champ & Associates

Litigation lawyer with a focus on human rights, employment, labour, and public interest law

Member of the Law Society of Ontario 

Paul Champ is a highly successful litigator with a focus on employment, labour, human rights and constitutional law. In addition to representing trade unions in a wide range of labour relations issues, Paul has acted for individuals in complex employment law matters and has extensive experience representing public sector employees. Paul and his clients have established legal precedents in Charter rights, privacy, occupational health and safety, discrimination, cross border employment, disability law, access to information, prisoners’ rights, and corporate accountability for abuses in foreign countries. Paul has hundreds of reported legal decisions and has appeared in the Supreme Court of Canada on several occasions.

Protection of civil liberties and fundamental human rights are important to Paul as a citizen and a lawyer. Paul regularly acts as counsel to organizations such as Amnesty International, the BC Civil Liberties Association, the Council of Canadians with Disabilities, and the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society.  In 2010, Paul was the recipient of the Reg Robson Civil Liberties Award from the BC Civil Liberties Association, and in 2013 he was honoured by the International Commission of Jurists with the Tarnopolsky Human Rights Award for outstanding contributions to domestic and international human rights.

Paul writes and speaks about disability issues, labour relations, and international human rights. He teaches law at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa and is regularly invited to make presentations to conferences and Parliamentary committees. He is frequently contacted by prominent media outlets looking for expert commentary on newsworthy legal issues and has become a regular fixture on the evening news.

Paul studied law at the University of British Columbia (LLB) and McGill University, and obtained a journalism degree from Carleton University (B.J.). He started his legal career with the Saskatchewan Department of Justice as a prosecutor, and later worked with a prominent union-side labour firm in Ottawa as an associate and partner for eight years before establishing his own boutique firm in 2009.