Gregory Ko: SOGIC's Outgoing Chair

This article is part of a section newsletter series spotlighting past Chairs of SOGIC.

INTRODUCTION

Gregory Ko, SOGIC’s outgoing Chair, is a champion for 2SLGBTQ+ rights both inside and outside of the courtroom. His work is focused on combatting discrimination against 2SLGBTQ+ people and ensuring the legal profession can be a welcoming place.

BACKGROUND

Greg attended law school at the McGill Faculty of Law. At law school, he sought out concrete opportunities to build his legal skills in the service of social justice. He interned as a caseworker at the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations and served as a law clerk to Justice Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré. During his first-year summer, Greg worked with Legal Aid Ontario (“LAO”) in its specialized Refugee Law Office. LAO gave Greg his first direct experience with test case litigation and casework with vulnerable asylum-seekers.

Greg spent his second-year summer and articling term at Paliare Roland LLP, where he later worked for three years as an associate. At Paliare Roland LLP, Greg had a broad litigation practice, including commercial litigation, insolvency, union-side labour, employment, and administrative law.

In his third year of practice, Greg undertook a Masters of Law at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, with a thesis focused on the intersections of employment and human rights law. While completing his masters, Danny Kastner, who had recently founded a firm, invited Greg to join him to build a practice.

Greg has been at Kastner Lam LLP for eight years. His litigation practice is focused on employment, regulatory, human rights, constitutional and administrative law.

INVOLVEMENT WITH SOGIC

Greg became involved in SOGIC as a junior lawyer over 10 years ago. Over the years, he has served in a number of roles, including as CPD liaison, Vice-Chair, and SOGIC Chair from 2022 to 2023.

Greg firmly believes in SOGIC’s ability to build community. In his experience, SOGIC brings together 2SLGBTQ+ lawyers to address emerging issues on queer rights in the courtroom, in law reform, and in the profession. SOGIC offers young 2SLGBTQ+ lawyers, in particular, a community to build one’s professional network and to cut through traditional barriers in the profession.

In his view, litigation alone will not create the necessary legal changes to advance 2SLGBTQ+ rights. Those kinds of changes are contingent upon changing minds more broadly and causing societal shifts. Part of SOGIC’s work therefore involves providing opportunities for non-2SLGBTQ+ lawyers to learn more about issues facing the community. SOGIC collaborates frequently with other sections of the OBA, allowing its members to talk very passionately about emerging issues both in the law and professionally.

During Greg’s term with SOGIC, he placed an emphasis on ensuring that SOGIC provides a welcoming and inclusive space for all members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community. Greg and his colleagues specifically organized events that highlighted the racial and gender diversity of the queer bar. In a series of CPDs, SOGIC spotlighted the wide diversity in the 2SLGBTQ+ bar, including practitioners with a diverse intersection of identities, including those who were racialized, Indigenous, gender-diverse, and those who have faced mental health challenges. Over time, these events have attracted more diverse members to SOGIC and broadened the dialogue within the queer.