Shirley Eve Levitan, Family and Fertility Law
1 lawyer · Established 1991 · City of Toronto
One of 2,345 law firms listed in Toronto, and one of 579 handling Family Law.
About Shirley Eve Levitan, Family and Fertility Law
Shirley Eve Levitan, Family and Fertility Law is a solo Toronto practice combining two related fields: family law and fertility law. Levitan was called to the Ontario bar in 1988 and is also admitted to practice in New York State. Levitan's career began at a large Bay Street firm, continued at what the firm describes as the largest all-woman law firm in Canada as a partner, and led to opening a solo practice under Levitan's own name in 1991. The family law focus has continued since that time, with fertility law added to the practice in 1996.
On the family law side, the firm concentrates on out of court resolution of separation and divorce, using negotiation, mediation, or collaborative practice rather than litigation. The fertility law side covers agreements for surrogacy and egg or sperm donation, and it serves intended parents, donors, and gestational carriers working with fertility clinics and hospitals across Canada and, for fertility matters, internationally. Levitan holds a science degree from the University of Toronto and a law degree from the University of Ottawa, and has taught for years as an adjunct at Queen's University's Faculty of Law.
Practice areas
Milestones & recognition
- Levitan is described on the firm's site as the first lawyer in Ontario to obtain a parentage declaration in a surrogacy case where the intended parents had no genetic connection to the child.
- Levitan was invited to teach Queen's University Faculty of Law's first fertility law course, in 2019, and has since taught there as an adjunct.
- LexisNexis asked Levitan to create its first Fertility Law Module.
- Levitan contributed to '50 Debates in Reproductive Medicine,' published by Cambridge University Press in 2021.
- Levitan is an elected Fellow of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys and an elected Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers.
- Levitan is the elected Co-Chair of the Law and Ethics Special Interest Group of the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society.
In the community
- Levitan is a two time past Chair of Collaborative Divorce Toronto, a local organization of family law professionals who practice collaborative divorce.
- Levitan is a former panel member of the Office of the Children's Lawyer, the Ontario government office that represents children's interests in family court matters.
- The firm publishes a blog of original articles on family law and fertility law topics, written by Levitan, going back several years.
Good to know
Woman-owned
By appointmentLawyers 1
Who handles what
The neighbourhood
The firm's office is in a commercial building at 45 St. Clair Avenue West, at the Yonge and St. Clair intersection in midtown Toronto. The building went up in 1968 and has no heritage designation.
That fits a practice built around negotiated settlements and long distance fertility law work rather than walk in litigation traffic. Clients meeting Levitan for a separation agreement or a surrogacy contract are as likely to be calling in from elsewhere in Ontario, another province, or another country as they are to be arriving from around the corner.
Frequently asked questions
- Does the firm only do fertility law, or does it also handle regular divorces?
- Both. Shirley Levitan has practiced family law, focused on separation and divorce, since 1991, and added fertility law to the practice in 1996. Many clients come to the firm for just one area, but it has run both alongside each other for decades.
- Can this firm help with a surrogacy agreement or an egg or sperm donation arrangement?
- Yes. The firm prepares agreements for intended parents, gestational carriers, surrogates, and ova or sperm donors, and works directly with fertility clinics and hospitals on the required consent and parentage paperwork.
- I don't live in Toronto, or even in Canada. Can this firm still help me?
- The firm is based in Toronto, but on the fertility law side it works with intended parents, donors, and surrogates across Canada and internationally, since Canadian surrogacy law affects anyone having a child born here.
- Will my divorce end up in court?
- The firm's family law practice is built around out of court settlement, using direct negotiation, mediation, or collaborative practice, rather than litigation, to reach a separation or divorce agreement.
- Does the firm assist LGBTQ+ couples and same sex intended parents?
- Yes. The firm's site addresses parentage for LGBTQ+ families directly, including how Ontario's parentage law changes of January 2017 affect the non birth parent in a same sex couple using assisted reproduction.
- Is Shirley Levitan licensed to practice outside Ontario?
- Levitan is licensed to practice law in Ontario, since being called to the bar there in 1988, and is also admitted to practice in New York State.
Where to find them
45 St. Clair Avenue West, Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario M4V 1K9 · 416-238-2398
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