Smith Immigration Law

About Smith Immigration Law

Smith Immigration Law is a Toronto immigration and refugee law practice, based on Danforth Avenue in the city's east end. Adrienne Smith founded the firm after working as a strategic policy advisor at the federal Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and as a partner at another downtown Toronto immigration firm. The practice today includes four lawyers along with a legal assistant and a case coordinator, and it covers the full range of Canadian immigration work: study and work permits, visitor visas, family and spousal sponsorship, refugee claims, citizenship applications, judicial review at the Federal Court, and cases involving inadmissibility or removal. It also works directly with post secondary institutions and small businesses that need help bringing in students, faculty, or employees from abroad.

The firm is particularly known for its LGBTQ+ immigration and refugee work, built around the idea that Canada's asylum system can protect people fleeing persecution based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression. Smith received the Canadian Bar Association's Founders' Award, teaches as an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Law and Queen's University, and has appeared at the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. Smith also co-authored a book on family class sponsorship and wrote a chapter on LGBTQ+ immigration for a Canadian legal text.