Cavalluzzo LLP

About Cavalluzzo LLP

Cavalluzzo LLP is a Toronto law firm founded in 1983 by Paul Cavalluzzo, Jim Hayes, and Elizabeth Shilton, who set out to build a practice recognized for excellence and a commitment to social justice and equality, particularly in labour law. David Bloom and Bernie Hanson joined as partners shortly after the firm opened. Elizabeth McIntyre, from the feminist law firm Symes, Kitely, McIntyre, joined in 1988, and Mary Cornish, founder of Cornish Advocates, joined in 1994, adding health law, labour, and human rights experience. The firm now has more than 30 lawyers, working from a renovated warehouse at Bathurst and College, near Little Italy and Kensington Market.

The firm represents trade unions, professional associations, non-unionized employees, and pension and benefit plans across labour, employment, human rights, constitutional, and Indigenous rights law, along with class actions and professional regulation matters. Its lawyers have argued cases before the Supreme Court of Canada and the Federal Court of Appeal, including intervening for the Specific Claims Tribunal in the Williams Lake Indian Band and Kitselas First Nation cases, which affirmed the tribunal's authority to award compensation for Crown breaches of treaty and fiduciary duties. The firm describes itself as working to promote solidarity among women, racial and ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ communities.