About

Prior to SYEDLAW®, Irfan was a principal lawyer in Kutty, Syed & Mohamed (KSM Law) (2006 – 2018) and its ground-breaking predecessor firm (2003-2006) and worked at prestigious Bay Street firms in downtown Toronto (1998-2002) as an associate lawyer and articling student.

• Called to Ontario Bar, 1998
• LL.B., University of Windsor, 1996
• Year 1 of Masters in Business Administration, University of Windsor, 1993
• H.B.Sc., (Molecular Biology & Biotechnology), McMaster University, 1990
• Year 1 of undergraduate Engineering, McMaster University, 1986
  
  

Seek.  Learn.  Do.  A three-word motto that I had come up with for myself as a young adult.  My route to becoming a lawyer was probably inevitable, given the experiences of a young, visible minority immigrant growing up in dramatically changing Canada in the 1970s and 80’s, but my family, friends and even myself didn't see it coming.

Studies and circumstances led me to all sorts of summer and full-time jobs between high school and law school including:

• Auditing, Office of the Auditor General in Ottawa, Canada
• Business Marketing, in Toronto, Canada
• Teaching English, in Osaka, Japan
• Systems Design and Mathematical/Computer Modelling, in Mississauga, ON
• Laboratory Research Assistant in Bacterial/Viral interactions, Toronto, ON
• Computer Therapy Aide, Toronto, ON
  
  

1991 was a turning point year when I was laid off from full-time work with an Engineering firm that I had worked for a couple of summers and joined after my undergraduate degree.  Canada was facing a severe economic recession soon after the first Free Trade Agreement with the United States and the GST was introduced.  Manufacturing was being devasted and the promised Biotech and Computer Tech booms had not yet arrived.  While I was considering various steps for further studies out-loud with friends, one of them, thoughtfully, or perhaps offhand, suggested that I should study law, as I was known to like helping people.

Well, that got me thinking and considering, so I prepared for that and other options, while job-hunting, which led me to Japan.  It was from Japan that I made applications to various university programs and when I got accepted into a sufficiently unique enough program, the MBA(co-op) and LLB program at the University of Windsor, that I came back to join in the fall of 1992.  The program required that I finish in the top third of each of the first years of both programs.  The MBA program was very enjoyable and making presentations was easy for someone who just came off an intensive teaching experience, so I managed to do quite well, perhaps ranking among the top three.  The first year of Law school was more challenging as it was so very different from any of my previous studies (no numbers, diagrams, charts) and there were very few tests or assignments or feedback until final exams or papers that often counted for 100% of the grade.  Alas, I finished 80th out of 140 students.   A little dejected, I was being consoled by friends, when the same one who had directed me to study law, and in fact had previously studied at Windsor Law, asked me whether or not I had been told the framework for answering legal questions. Surprisingly, I had not (or I had forgotten).  In any event, I resolved to follow his advice methodically in my next year of exams and papers.  Stunningly, I finished 1st out of 137 students in my second year.  Well, that was quite something to take in, especially in a dramatic year of developments that required me to relocate back home to Toronto to finish my legal studies.  The door for articling job opportunities suddenly flew wide open.  Sending out 23 applications, I received invitations to interview at 19 prestigious law firms, including all of the original “Seven Sisters”.   I knew very little about the firms other than their names, their brochures, and the first impressions and promises about the articling experience offered. A mid-tier firm that strongly wished to recruit me warned that I would likely not get what I was hoping for.  Turned out to be true.  Top student does not guarantee a fit with a top firm.  Later, after articles, when a small firm was looking for a top student for an associate lawyer, I found what I needed under the tutelage of Robert H. Stikeman (the genius son of the founder of a Seven Sister firm with his surname).  While he was continuously surprised by what I hadn’t learned while articling at Big Law (e.g. incorporating a simple company), he proceeded to mentor me on all that I should have learned and much more as we rode the tail end of the “Dot.com” boom.  Mr. Stikeman passed along to me to manage all the areas of law that he had moved on from, Corporate, Commercial, Competition Law, Consumer Protection Law, Not-for-Profits, Charities, Trademarks, while he focused on the higher end Tax and Securities Law files.  He also taught me about the business and strategy of law, including how to provide client service using strategic relationships and technology to compete with the big players.

That Tech Boom was part of the IPO and Mergers and Acquisitions frenzy both before and after Y2K and there was a lot of work and high demand for Securities Lawyers, which I became one of as well.  In a few years, that also led to a difficult choice where I left to join another firm and take a more focused opportunity in only that one area of law with more potential upside for remuneration.  Well, it was a good ride while it lasted, but the Dot.com boom did eventually crash, and to my surprise, I got laid off work from that firm along with several other associate lawyers as the tech IPO pipeline froze.

During that time, the tragic events of September 11, 2001 occurred. And the aftermath, both foreign and domestic.  Community representation and advocacy by lawyers became a critical need and I had been given the mantle as Chair of the Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association and counsel to the Coalition of Muslim Organizations.  That began an intense four-year period when a fledgling organization suddenly had to pivot from mostly social activities to huge public responsibilities taken on by a core group of colleagues and myself all in a voluntary capacity.  Here’s a sampling of that:

• Speaking to private and public audiences, including through broadcast and print media, on topics ranging from national security, international affairs, civil rights, legislation, and community perspectives
• Preparation of submissions to the House of Commons and Senate Committees on Bill C-36 (the Anti-Terrorism Act)
• Preparation of submissions to the House of Commons on the Public Safety Act, 2002
• Presentations to the Department of Justice and the Canadian Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement
• Presentations to the Ontario Human Rights Commission on Profiling
• Submission to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade for A Dialogue on Foreign Policy.
• Submissions and presentation to the Attorney General of Ontario’s review of the Arbitrations Act (Ontario) by Marion Boyd.
• Submissions and presentation to the Attorney General of Ontario’s review of the public complaints process under the Police Services Act by former Chief Justice LeSage
• Presentation to the Ontario Legislative Assembly Committee’s Review of Emergency Management Statutes
• Presentations of community issues and concerns to individual Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament.
• Planning Committee Member for the first and second biennial conferences for lawyers and judges on Combating Hatred in the Twenty-first Century
  
  

Some of the foregoing work was undertaken while I was trying simultaneously to become re-employed at another law firm, as well as launching my own solo practice.  In addition to generating new client leads, my old mentor Mr. Stikeman (who hadn’t really found a replacement for all the types of files I had worked on for him) graciously sent along work and referrals.

I interviewed with one firm who was very interested and offered me a position after four rounds of interviews, but with the condition that I give up my community work with public media appearances.  That request was shocking, but what could have been a difficult choice was not even close.  I chose to continue and joined with other determined colleagues to launch a new law firm of our own that could advocate fearlessly, while providing excellent comprehensive legal services.

Perhaps because of my circuitous route to the practice of law, my range of practice has encompassed many areas, including:

• Acted as counsel to public, private, non-share and charitable corporations
• Advised Issuers in corporate finance: private placements and public offerings by way of prospectus, offering memorandums, rights offering circulars in distributions of special warrants, common shares, flow-through shares and convertible debentures
• Advised public companies in regard to annual and continuous disclosure: information circulars, AIF's, and press releases. Attending to regulatory approval from and/or notices to applicable securities commissions and stock exchanges
• Advised clients in share/asset purchase and sale transactions, shareholder agreements, stock option plans, employment matters, secured financing and other commercial contracts.
• Attended to incorporation and organization of private share and non-share corporations; asset and share acquisitions and divestitures; reorganizations, amalgamations and dissolutions.
• Acted as counsel to Agents in private placements and public offerings by way of prospectus, including drafting agency agreements, conducting due diligence investigations and assisting Issuer’s counsel in preparation of prospectuses.
• Advised re debt financing including General Security Agreements and PPSA registrations.
• Advised U.S. and Canadian direct selling and multi-level marketing (MLM) clients in regard to their business, marketing and compensation plans; attending to regulatory and compliance matters including Competition Bureau advisory opinions, extra-provincial corporate registrations, surety bonds and licensing pursuant to Consumer Protection legislation in all Provinces.
• Advised re Intellectual Property protection including preparation and prosecution of Canadian trade-mark applications; instructing other counsel for U.S. and European trade-mark applications.
• Advised on FINTRAC registration and compliance for money services businesses, including risk assessment, training, polices and procedures, reporting and regulatory audits
• Advised charities on start-up, governance, intermediary and project agreements, compliance and audit
• Directly litigated and/or supported litigation in various courts, including Small Claims, Provincial Court, Superior Court, Divisional Court, Federal Court of Appeal, and Supreme Court of Canada
• Administrative Appeals
• Mediation and Arbitration of Disputes

In the Winter of 2018, there was a usual cycle of multiple freezes and thaws, which caused my office in Scarborough to become flooded with water from the roof.  As full repairs could take months, I asked various lawyers working elsewhere if they had temporary space for me.  Well as it turned out, my old mentor Mr. Stikeman had an excellent option for me to go back to Downtown Toronto into a beautiful high-floor law office with tall windows with beautiful views of Lake Ontario  and planes at the Island Airport as well as the action at landmark attractions closer by.   So, after 15 years of practising in Association with many friends and colleagues, I started a new chapter as SYEDLAW®.  It was an exciting time again and I felt like a new lawyer at a new firm, but with the added bonus of having Mr. Stikeman around again working on mutual client files.   Clients loved coming to meet at our offices and many took pictures of the views out from our windows like tourists.  After a couple of more years, he retired and again gracefully transferred files and referrals on to me.

In early 2020, Downtown Toronto office vacancy rates were very low and rents were skyrocketing and it looked like I would have to again find new office space.  However, within a few months, Covid-19 led to a virtual shutdown and no one was coming downtown it seemed, except me to finish out the term of my lease.  While I still had months of work in my pipeline of legal matters to complete, there was uncertainty as to the future, and civilization as we knew it :-).  So, it seemed like a good idea to take an office closer to home in Ajax.  Well, our human species is resilient, and by 2021 the economy came roaring back and the legal business with it.  While I had a national and somewhat international practice before, now that everyone had gotten used to meeting virtually by videoconference, clients from more corners of Canada and around the world were able to more easily find and work with me at SYEDLAW®.

I have been blessed to learn much from formal education, volunteer and professional opportunities, mentors and colleagues that allows me to genuinely take interest in and connect with all kinds of clients from all sorts of backgrounds in all sorts of situations from all over the world and be content with my vocation.  Skills and knowledge grow and evolve, but I know what I know, and I know what I don’t, so I still:  Seek.  Learn.  Do.

For fun, sometimes, I blog occasionally at the website: muslimlegal.ca on unique legal issues related to the Muslim community such as contracts and compensation for Imams compared to other clergy and legal issues around the expulsion of Jinns.

Contact me to discuss how SYEDLAW® may be of help to you.