Marshall has represented clients in several high-profile human rights cases
Human rights and employment lawyer Kathryn Marshall launched a litigation boutique on Tuesday that she says will be distinct from many other employment firms in one critical regard: it will only represent plaintiffs.
“There’s a lot of employment law firms and litigation firms that try to straddle both plaintiff and defence,” Marshall told Law Times on Tuesday. “I think that it’s tricky because then those firms end up trying to also do things and take positions to please their employer or their defendant clients.
“I don’t think you should suck and blow at the same time,” Marshall says.
Based in Toronto, Marshall Law’s team includes lawyer Samara Rotstein, paralegal Marisa Parson, and an articling student who will join the firm in several weeks.
The firm will focus on the types of human rights and employment matters Marshall is known for. As a partner at Levitt LLP, Marshall took on numerous high-profile cases, challenging the Law Society of Alberta and law firms on behalf of lawyers.
In 2022, she also sued Milburn & Associates, where she spent nearly two years as an associate, alleging it cultivated a toxic work environment and violated the Employment Standards Act, the Law Society Rules of Professional Conduct, and the Human Rights Code.
The Ontario government appointed Marshall to the Ontario Workforce Advisory Committee in 2021, where she helped draft changes to provincial employment law, including a ban on noncompetes and the right to disconnect.
The firm plans to launch a practice area “where we're fighting for people who have been victimized by sexual extortion, illegal pictures online from former intimate partners, digital-based crimes,” Marshall says. The firm also anticipates taking on cases on behalf of individuals who have faced discrimination based on their neurodivergence, as well as women “who are going through IVF treatments and are menopausal, seeking hormone treatments, and are being discriminated against and pushed out of their jobs.”
The firm will “be on the cutting edge of a lot of rising legal areas,” Marshall says.
Marshall says her new firm aims to take a “holistic” and trauma-informed approach to cases. Many plaintiffs pursue litigation “at the worst moment in their life,” she says, so in addition to taking care of their legal needs, the firm will connect clients with resources like doctors, therapists, and publicists. Marshall says part of her decision to hire Rotstein was her background as a former social worker.
“We understand that the legal system can be extremely revictimizing to people. It’s a very adversarial, exhausting process, and for a lot of clients, it's their first time experiencing the legal process,” Marshall says.
“We ensure that our clients know as much as we're fighting for them, we're also navigating them through the legal system, explaining every step, answering their questions, ensuring that they are not being revictimized as much as we're able to and keeping them incredibly informed as to every step of the way,” Marshall adds.
