Melissa Prado

About Melissa Prado

Insurers, reinsurers, banks and insurance intermediaries, both Canadian and foreign, turn to Melissa Prado when a deal or a compliance question touches insurance regulation. A partner in Gowling WLG's Toronto office, Prado co-leads the firm's Insurance and Reinsurance practice and sits within its Regulatory Services Group. The work runs from setting up and licensing insurers and intermediaries to captive insurers, reinsurance and distribution arrangements, governance, and acquisitions and sales of regulated businesses.

Prado was called to the Ontario bar in 2012 after earning a JD at Osgoode Hall Law School, and came to law with a BA (Hon.) and an MA from the University of Toronto. Before law, Prado worked as an assistant investment adviser at TD Waterhouse Private Investment Advice. Prado then spent more than 14 years at Torys LLP, beginning there as an articling student, and joined Gowling WLG in 2026 together with a group of Torys colleagues.

Deal files have included insurance M&A with major Canadian and international insurers, the launch of federally regulated insurers, complex bank and insurance arrangements, and regulatory questions that cross borders. Prado works closely with insurance regulators at the federal, provincial and territorial levels and with industry organizations nationwide, and it's a practice Chambers Canada ranks in Band 2 for Insurance: Transactional & Regulatory.

Artificial intelligence is part of the practice too. Prado advises on where AI, innovation and insurance regulation meet, and has spoken on AI in the industry at CLHIA gatherings and the Advocis National Symposium. Outside client work, Prado mentors students through Law in Action Within Schools (LAWS), once served as Managing General Editor of the Banking and Finance Law Review, and works with clients in English and Spanish.