CCCA Profile: Leola Pon, Recipient of the 2020 CCCA Ontario Chapter Award of Excellence

The CCCA Ontario Chapter is pleased to announce Leola Pon as the recipient of its 2020 CCCA Ontario Chapter Award of Excellence. Leola Pon is General Counsel at the Toronto District School Board (“TDSB”).  Leola leads a team of lawyers and staff, and provides strategic legal services to leaders of Canada’s largest school board. Called to the Ontario Bar in 2006 following a career in human resources and labour relations, Leola worked at the law firm of Hicks Morley as a labour and employment lawyer. In 2017, Leola was the recipient of three Canadian Lawyer Inhouse Magazine Innovatio Awards recognizing excellence in law department management and equity initiatives.

In 2019, Leola and her team were recognized as one of Canada’s leading in-house teams by the Legal500 GC Powerlist Canada. Leola has also served on the OBA CCCA and Workers’ Compensation section executive committees, and is a member of the OBA, FACL, and Legal Leaders for Diversity.

We checked in with Leola to speak to her about her work in the legal community this year, reflecting on her commitment to effect various initiatives.

Question: Could you provide our readers with some background on the extra-curricular work you have done in the legal community this year?

Leola Pol: This past year, I’ve been very busy with many speaking engagements. Most recently, I spoke at the OBA Women Lawyers Leaders and Changemakers Breakfast with Barbara Jackman, Michele Landsberg and Anne Posno.  It was a tremendous honour to be on that panel.   

I have also written and spoken about the need for our profession to adopt a modern approach to crisis management, with John Olah of Beard Winter LLP, this year’s OBA Insurance Law section Award of Excellence recipient. We jointly delivered sessions on this issue at Osgoode Professional Development, OBA, and at the Canadian Association for the Practical Study of Law in Education conference in Vancouver.

I am also very active in informally mentoring law students and young lawyers. I always accept all requests for a chat over coffee and participated on a panel of GCs for one of the large firms in Toronto. I have also participated in Diversity Pitch, a unique speed networking event where lawyers in private practice are given a time limited opportunity to make their “pitch” to In-house lawyers and their companies. It was wonderful to see the amount of enthusiasm plus it was a lot of fun! 

Question: How has being involved with the CCCA/OBA benefitted you?

Leola Pon: Tremendously, both personally and professionally. With the OBA, there are many opportunities to connect with other lawyers professionally and socially, and I have made many contacts and friendships from my involvement. With the CCCA, it is a solid advocate and forum for the in-house community, and the programs and events they hold are top notch. I feel a real sense of community with other in-house lawyers, thanks to the CCCA.