Powell Barristers

About Powell Barristers

Powell Barristers is a Toronto employment law firm led by Michael Lane Powell, who was called to the Ontario Bar in 1980. Powell spent the first five years as an associate at Rovet & Associates, a Toronto labour law firm, before co-founding Griffiths & Powell in North York in 1985. Powell-Weir followed in April 2002, a firm built specifically around employment law and labour relations, and the practice took its current name, Powell Barristers, in August 2018.

The firm acts for both employees and employers, describing its approach as having worked both sides of the fence in wrongful dismissal, severance negotiations, employment contracts, and workplace human rights disputes. It also takes on Canada Labour Code complaints for federally regulated workers, along with employment law litigation and mediation. Powell has appeared as counsel before Labour Arbitration Boards, the Ontario and Canada Labour Relations Boards, the Superior Court of Justice, the Court of Appeal for Ontario, the Federal Court, and the Supreme Court of Canada.

Powell's legal education spans two schools: a B.A. from Victoria College at the University of Toronto in 1975 and an LL.B. from McGill University's law school in 1978, where Powell co-directed the McGill Legal Aid Clinic in Montreal, providing legal services in English and French.