2017 Zenith Award Winners
Wendy King played a key role developing the diversity policy
at Capstone, supporting board and management diversity.
Wendy manages an all-female team and works tirelessly to
promote the advancement of women of all ages and ethnic
groups. She was instrumental in promoting her executive
assistant to the role and duties and title of assistant corporate
secretary. She is also extremely supportive of the personal
goals of women within the organization, providing alternative
and flexible work arrangements. She served as the Chair of the
Vancouver Club, as its first female President and has mentored
young female professionals, graduate students and highschool
students with the Minerva Foundation. Wendy is an
adjunct professor at the Allard School of Law at UBC and has
held an executive role with the Canadian Corporate Counsel
Association for many years.
Shalini Konanur pioneered a dispersed service model for
SALCO, with seven satellite clinics now serving South Asians
across Greater Toronto. Shalini also spearheaded SALCO’s test
case program, going beyond advising to actively advocating
for access issues affecting South Asians. Under her guidance,
SALCO has intervened at the Supreme Court of Canada,
Federal Court of Canada and the Ontario courts on issues
such as procedural fairness in sponsorship claims, honour
killings, religious freedom and racial profiling. She leads
the fight against forced marriage, where women’s efforts
to escape can lead to sexual assault, abduction, assault
and murder. She leads the initiative on forced marriages
and lobbied provincial and federal governments to enact
reforms to support victims. Her work also spurred formation
of the Network of Agencies Against Forced Marriage. Shalini
was the 2014 CBA Legal Aid Leader.
Elyse Korman is a passionate advocate for refugee claimants,
including women and children fleeing persecution abroad.
Elyse’s work includes acting for: women and children fleeing
China based on their opposition to the Family Planning Policy;
young Ethiopian female athletes persecuted because of their
gender and ethnicity; women fleeing forced female genital
mutilation in Africa; female journalists fleeing persecution in
Afghanistan; women fleeing domestic and gender violence in
countries with no access to state protection; women fleeing
religious persecution in China and Pakistan; and women
fleeing persecution based on their sexual orientation. She
has developed particular expertise as an appellate lawyer,
preparing over 100 applications to the Federal Court of
Canada seeking judicial review of failed refugee claims. She
has also provided close mentorship to other women lawyers
and legal clerks practising in refugee law.
Cynthia Kuehl is deputy leader of the health law group. As
former head of the appeals group, Cynthia increased the firm’s
profile in this highly specialized area. She maintains a highprofile
trial and appeals practice, including as trial counsel in
Moore v. Getahun et al., a case that caused appellate review
of expert evidence. She’s also built a diverse commercial
practice and regularly appears at every level of Ontario
court, at arbitrations, mediations, professional and regulatory
tribunals and inquiries, and has been counsel before the
Supreme Court of Canada and Federal Court of Appeal on
pro bono interventions. She has managed to balance raising a
family with building and maintaining a demanding litigation
practice and is often sought out as mentor. Cynthia has been
recognized by various publications for the last four years for her work
in health and commercial litigation and was previously named Lawyer of
the Year for health care law in Toronto.