BARTLAW LLP Canadian Immigration
Automatically compiled listing. Details may contain errors.3 lawyers · Established 1994 · City of Toronto
One of 2,276 law firms listed in Toronto, and one of 331 handling Immigration Law.
About BARTLAW LLP Canadian Immigration
BARTLAW LLP Canadian Immigration is a Toronto law firm that works only in Canadian citizenship and immigration law, taking clients from a first temporary visa through permanent residence and on to citizenship. It acts for families and individuals as well as small, mid-sized and larger companies in fields ranging from finance and IT to fashion and entertainment. Law and accounting firms, multinational corporations and entrepreneurs also come to it for immigration and foreign worker strategy, and several large national and international law firms either hand it their clients' immigration and relocation files or send those clients its way as a preferred partner.
Established in 1994, the firm is led by managing partner Jacqueline Bart, a Certified Immigration Law Specialist with the Law Society of Ontario and more than 30 years in the field. Before starting a legal career in Canada, Bart completed contracts at the High Court of Justice in London and with the UNHCR's legal protection division in Geneva. Bart has written, co-written or edited more than 25 immigration law books, among them the Canada/US Relocation Manual, a work of over 3,000 pages that's updated every quarter and co-edited with Austin Fragomen, plus more than 200 other publications on immigration law.
Partner Carrie Wright has practised with the firm since August 2011, entirely in immigration and citizenship law, after clerking at the Federal Court from 2009 to 2011. The legal team also includes Clara Morrissey, Director of Immigration Programs, Oliver Mao, Director of Foreign Worker Programs, and associate lawyer Rachel Gador, with senior law clerks, law clerks and an immigration case analyst behind them. Members of the firm take part in bar organizations at home and abroad, among them the Canadian and Ontario Bar Associations, the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the International Bar Association.
In 2013 the firm was practising as Jacqueline Bart & Associates. Today it works from the northeast corner of Wellington and Yonge in downtown Toronto, and its services are set up to be delivered online. Clients moving from Canada to another country can ask for a direct referral to the network of immigration specialists the firm has built in other jurisdictions.
Practice areas
Temporary residence and work permits
BARTLAW prepares Labour Market Impact Assessments and work permits and handles work-permit-exempt business visitors and remote work authorization, alongside visitor visas, study permits and the eTA. Oliver Mao's practice covers temporary residence applications for companies and individuals, along with permanent residence and citizenship files.
Our guide: How to Hire an Immigration Lawyer in Toronto
Permanent residence
Permanent immigration work runs from planning and strategy through economic, business and family class applications, with caregiver and humanitarian pathways also covered. Clara Morrissey concentrates on permanent residence, including Express Entry, provincial nominee and regional programs, entrepreneur and start-up visa cases, and family sponsorship.
Admissibility and status documents
For people facing a barrier to entering Canada, the firm handles temporary resident permits, rehabilitation, misrepresentation issues and the removal of enforcement flags. It also looks after status paperwork such as permanent resident cards and travel documents, removal of terms and conditions, and Canadian passports.
Citizenship
Citizenship files cover citizenship by descent, naturalization, and cases involving adoption or surrogacy. The team works out whether a client qualifies by descent or by naturalization, makes sure the residency and language requirements are met, and deals with any unusual circumstances that come up.
Employer compliance
Employers get compliance reviews, representation when an IRCC or ESDC audit begins, and a defence against findings of noncompliance; where it's warranted, the firm may advise a voluntary disclosure to limit liability. Support for incoming foreign workers extends to bringing personal belongings through customs and getting health coverage and Social Insurance Numbers in place.
Federal Court and tribunals
Carrie Wright has significant experience with immigration applications for judicial review at the Federal Court. Rachel Gador appears for clients before the Federal Court, immigration and refugee tribunals and the Canada Border Services Agency.
How BARTLAW LLP Canadian Immigration works
Beyond individual files, BARTLAW helps clients build a strategic human resources plan for bringing foreign workers into Canada, one that covers the immigration side along with related corporate, employment and customs questions.
Milestones & recognition
- In 2015 BARTLAW won the Canadian category for Immigration Law Firm of the Year at the AQC Global Awards.
- At the 2016 Global Law Experts Annual Awards, the firm was named Immigration Law Firm of the Year in Canada in the SME category.
- The Lawyer International's Legal 100 awards named BARTLAW Law Firm of the Year for Immigration Law in Canada in 2016.
- The firm won Corporate Immigration Law Firm of the Year at the ACQ5 Global Awards 2018.
- Jacqueline Bart was appointed a Fellow by the Board of Directors of the American Bar Foundation.
- Jacqueline Bart was president of the 61st Annual Congress of the International Association of Lawyers (UIA), held in Toronto in 2017.
- From 2020 to 2022, Jacqueline Bart chaired the Immigration and Nationality Committee of the American Bar Association's Section of International Law.
- In 2006 Jacqueline Bart founded the Ontario Bar Association's CIC CBSA Enforcement Sub-Committee.
- In 2013 Jacqueline Bart was appointed by the Canadian Bar Association and Citizenship and Immigration Canada to evaluate CIC's business programs for investors and entrepreneurs.
- Jacqueline Bart served in Toronto's diplomatic corps as an ex officio honorary Consul of Ecuador and is now a retired member.
- Carrie Wright, an associate from 2011, became a partner in 2019.
- Oliver Mao is recognized in the 2027 edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch.
In the community
- Jacqueline Bart gives pro bono immigration help at Toronto's Sick Children's Hospital and volunteers with a number of children's charities.
- In May 2016 the firm sponsored Rock for Life, the annual fundraiser for Lawyers International Food Enterprise, held at the Rivoli.
- Carrie Wright has written for LAW360 Canada since 2022, on subjects such as immigration liabilities in mergers and acquisitions and new employer compliance rules for temporary foreign workers.
- Carrie Wright co-chaired the Ontario Bar Association Citizenship and Immigration Section's Year in Review program in November 2024.
Affiliations & connections
- Canadian Bar Association: Jacqueline Bart has been a member of the Canadian Bar Association since 1992.
- Ontario Bar Association: Jacqueline Bart has belonged to the Ontario Bar Association since 1992, and Clara Morrissey is also a member.
- American Immigration Lawyers Association: Jacqueline Bart has been a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association since 1992.
- International Bar Association: Jacqueline Bart has been a member of the International Bar Association since 1998.
- Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA): Jacqueline Bart has been a member of the Union Internationale des Avocats since 2009.
Certified Specialists
A designation granted by the Law Society of Ontario, not a self-declared area of focus.
This firm’s lawyers at a glance
- Called to the bar
- 2010 · median 16 years in practice 1 of 3 lawyers
- Law schools
- Osgoode Hall Law School, Western University 2 of 3 lawyers
The neighbourhood
In April 2016 BARTLAW moved into a Confederation-era heritage building, put up in the 1870s, in the heart of Toronto's financial district. The office fills the second floor of the renovated 1872 building at the northeast corner of Wellington and Yonge, set at a right angle to BCE Place and directly above the Irish Embassy Pub, and a vintage elevator opens straight into the firm's space. The pub occupies the former Bank of British North America building, a property designated under Part IV of the Heritage Act. Drivers can park beneath Commerce Court at 18 Wellington Street West, and transit riders can walk south from King subway station to Wellington Street.
Legal support staff 2
Law clerks, paralegals and articling students at this firm. They are not licensed lawyers.
Frequently asked questions
- Can BARTLAW stand with my company during an on-site ESDC or CBSA workplace inspection?
- BARTLAW offers employers on-site representation during workplace inspections, document reviews and interviews with ESDC and CBSA officials. It also represents employers before IRCC and ESDC once a compliance audit gets under way.
- Will BARTLAW check immigration compliance as part of due diligence before an acquisition closes?
- BARTLAW runs immigration due diligence reviews on acquisitions. That work includes analysing immigration status, assessing the impact on the deal and managing whatever immigration steps the transaction calls for.
- Can BARTLAW draft an exit agreement so a departing foreign employee repays the immigration legal fees we covered?
- BARTLAW advises employers on structuring agreements to recover immigration legal fees from employees who leave, and it drafts and reviews the exit agreements that spell out what must be repaid.
- Can BARTLAW help me overcome inadmissibility to Canada with a rehabilitation application or a temporary resident permit?
- BARTLAW's admissibility work includes temporary resident permits, rehabilitation, misrepresentation issues and enforcement flag removal. Rachel Gador, an associate lawyer at the firm, has a particular interest in inadmissibility matters as well as refugee claims and Federal Court litigation.
- Can BARTLAW refer me to immigration specialists in another country if I'm relocating abroad?
- BARTLAW has built a network of immigration specialists in foreign jurisdictions and gives clients with outbound relocation needs a direct referral to them on request.
- Do other law firms send their clients' immigration work to BARTLAW?
- BARTLAW acts for a number of large national and international full-service law firms, which either retain it to handle their clients' immigration and relocation work directly or refer those clients to it as a preferred partner.
Where to find them
8 Wellington Street East, Suite 200, Toronto, Canada M5E 1C5 · 416-601-1346
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Immigration LawThis listing was generated by AI from public sources in October 2026. It may contain errors, and we can’t guarantee it’s accurate or complete. Before you rely on anything here, verify it on the firm’s own website. Verify licence status in the Law Society of Ontario directory ↗
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