Farewell, Cathy!
Our longtime partner and friend, Cathy Lace, has officially retired.
Cathy joined what was then Sack Charney Goldblatt Mitchell in the early 1980s, after practising law in British Columbia. She soon became one of only a handful of lawyers with expertise in university sector labour relations and, for the next 40+ years, advised and represented numerous faculty associations in grievance arbitration, labour relations board and internal university proceedings, and collective bargaining.
When Ontario introduced pay equity legislation in the 1990s, Cathy became a leader in the field of pay equity law, representing clients fighting for equal pay for work of equal value in many different workplaces. She was also a tireless defender of the rights of employees and professionals facing workplace discrimination in its many forms. In addition, she spent countless hours educating union representatives and members of the legal profession on these areas of law, including workplace harassment and violence, employment discrimination and the duty to accommodate.
Cathy was also an early champion of women lawyers in our firm. As the first and, for many years, the only female partner in a firm that now has more female than male partners, Cathy spearheaded the development of progressive maternity and parental leave policies to keep younger women in the firm and in the profession. At a time when many firms did not have maternity leave policies, Cathy was a resource person for other lawyers in Toronto. Today, our progressive maternity and parental leave policy is a model for the profession, in no small part due to Cathy’s consistent and strong advocacy in this area.
Over the past few years, Cathy slowly reduced her workload. She recently decided that 2025 would be her last year of practice and has now fully retired.
We wish Cathy all the best in retirement and look forward to keeping in touch over lunch and at other social events.
Congratulations on a wonderful career, Cathy!