Constitutional Litigator in Residence

Meet Megan Savard, the Asper Centre’s new Constitutional Litigator in Residence for Fall 2025

Posted on by Tal Schreier

By Tyler Lee & Romina Hajizadeh 

During her term at Downtown Legal Services, a young and eager Megan Savard was called upon by an elderly man who had been accused of a domestic assault. He struggled with the weight and bureaucracy of the legal system, and Savard was his last hope to defend the case. Based on her interactions with the accused, Savard sensed something was wrong with the charge. Her intuitions were vindicated when, while carefully scanning a pile of evidence, Savard eventually found a photograph depicting a lock of hair ripped from the man’s head — a crucial piece of exculpatory evidence indicating that he was not the aggressor. Savard was hooked: from that moment onwards, she knew that she wanted to be a lawyer representing people in need of legal services, helping them navigate the justice system through their toughest challenges. 

We heard this story and many more while speaking with Savard about her career so far, her constitutional law expertise, and what she’s looking forward to in her new role as the Litigator in Residence at the David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights. We are thrilled to have Megan play an integral role in the Asper Centre student clinical program, which allows students to gain practical experience in constitutional litigation. 

Megan Savard’s legal journey began at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, where she was a member of the inaugural cohort of student clinicians at the Asper Centre. There, she partnered with OJEN to develop a trial advocacy program for students in rural Ontario. Savard felt as though she was, in some ways, “introducing a brand-new way of looking at the justice system.” In other ways, however, she was conscious of her positionality as a white woman presenting a colonial system. Mindful of this, her goal was to make the justice system as approachable and accessible as possible. For Savard, this experienced reinforced the fact that the justice system is a Western construct, and it is Canada’s obligation to make that system as inclusive as possible. Ultimately, her experience as a clinical student was extremely profound, showing her that the justice system is not solely about individual clients – in many ways, it is also about pursuing “macro-level” change.  

After law school, Savard set out to make an impact in the field of criminal law. When asked about what drew her to criminal law in particular, Savard explained that criminal law was particularly high stakes owing to the relationship between the Crown and the accused, and liberty interests at stake with cases involving potential incarceration. Though Savard noted that clients might not always be an external source of validation, she felt that her work involved shining a light on state-perpetuated injustice and vindicating the rights of society at large, rather than just one client. This inspires her relentless pursuit of justice. 

During her time at a boutique litigation firm, Savard developed strong litigation skills with a particular focus on winning the hearts of jurists and judges. When asked about her view on what makes for successful litigation in constitutional matters, Savard explained that litigators will rarely win the day if the triers of fact cannot intuitively grasp the ramifications of state excess or state overreach. Savard noted that coming equipped with easily digestible arguments (and several alternative arguments) increases a litigator’s chances of success. 

Equipped with these skills, Savard founded Savards LLP in 2021. Though Savard explained that there are quite a few “headaches” that come along with managing a firm, she explained that she enjoyed the freedom to take control of the way she does business and the clients she takes on. She wanted to maintain a practice purely in criminal law with an emphasis on assisting low-income, marginalized clients.  

When asked what misconceptions surround her practice and constitutional litigation more broadly, Savard pushed against the notion of defendants “getting off” of Charter violations on a technicality. She noted the recent Quebec Court of Appeal decision in Luamba as an example, illustrating how such litigation can unveil systemic discrimination towards marginalized communities in our justice system. “To be able to shine a spotlight on that and hold the state accountable… you could never call that a technicality.”  

Now, Savard is returning to the University of Toronto, where her legal career began. In what is a full-circle moment from her time as a member of the Asper Centre’s inaugural cohort of clinical students, she will now serve as our Litigator in Residence for the 2025/26 academic year. She hopes to positively impact the Asper Centre by getting students involved at every stage of litigation. Savard noted that the Asper Centre clinical program allows students to get the experience of being the client (in the context of interventions), while simultaneously taking a big picture look at the law. For her, this “combination of practical exposure to the trade of law” alongside the big picture perspective the Asper Centre takes to constitutional issues is what gets her most excited for the clinic.  

Ultimately, Savard sees the clinic as a space for her to learn as well. “Students are in the business of learning and questioning” our legal institutions, creating an environment that allows practitioners to revisit old notions of how to practice law. 

Read more about Megan’s appointment here and listen to Megan giving a master class in criminal defense remedies in a recent episode of the Asper Centre’s Charter: A Course podcast.

Tyler Lee & Romina Hajizadeh are rising 2Ls at the Faculty of Law and the 2025 Asper Centre summer research assistants.

Megan Savard Named Fall 2025 Constitutional Litigator in Residence

Posted on by Tal Schreier

We are delighted to announce that Megan Savard has been selected as the Asper Centre’s Constitutional Litigator in Residence for Fall 2025.

Megan will co-teach the Asper Centre’s Clinic Course alongside Executive Director Cheryl Milne during the Fall 2025 term. This upper-year course at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law offers students a unique opportunity to engage directly in Charter rights advocacy, including constitutional litigation.

With her deep expertise in constitutional litigation and criminal defence law, Megan will bring invaluable insight and experience to the Clinic. She will support student work on a range of impactful projects, including criminal law-related interventions and the Asper Centre’s ongoing Voting Age Charter challenge.

We look forward to welcoming Megan and to the exciting contributions she will bring to the Centre and our students.

Megan Savard is a partner at Savards LLP. She practices criminal, constitutional and regulatory law, with a particular focus on sexual offences, privacy law, and complex constitutional litigation. Her client-focused approach ensures that the justice system works for her clients, not against them.

Megan is an experienced trial and appellate advocate, appearing regularly at all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada. She has been counsel in some of Canada’s highest-profile cases. Megan is consulted by individuals and organizations on criminal and constitutional issues. She acts as duty counsel for the Ontario Court of Appeal’s Inmate Appeal Duty Counsel Program. Megan is recognized by Best Lawyers in Canada in Appellate Practice and Criminal Defence.

Megan is an active leader in Canada’s premier advocacy organizations. She is a past Director of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association, and has co-chaired its Litigation Committee.

Megan is a sought-after speaker on criminal law issues. She lectures frequently at conferences and universities, and educates judges, lawyers and police officers about emerging issues. Megan teaches Trial Advocacy at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law and has served on the faculty of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada’s National Criminal Law Program. She also provides expert testimony about criminal law issues in non-criminal tribunals.

In 2019, Megan received the Precedent Setter Award, which recognizes lawyers for excellence and leadership in the legal community. In 2024, Toronto Life recognized her as one of the 50 Most Influential Torontonians for her representation of high-profile clients.

View the Asper Centre’s past Constitutional Litigators in Residence HERE.

Meet Mary Birdsell, the Asper Centre’s new Constitutional Litigator in Residence for Fall 2024

Posted on by Tal Schreier

by Kate Shackleton 

From working directly with young clients to arguing cases at the Supreme Court of Canada, Mary Birdsell has advocated on behalf of children and youth for more than 25 years.  This fall, she will share her knowledge of children and youth justice, constitutional law, and appellate litigation with students in the Asper Centre’s clinic course as the Constitutional Litigator-in-Residence. I recently spoke with Birdsell about her career so far, her constitutional law expertise, and what she’s looking forward to her in her new role.  

Originally from Alberta, Birdsell chose to attend law school at Dalhousie University. She opted for Dalhousie because she was curious about living elsewhere and eager to meet classmates from across the country. When she started law school, she recalls being uncertain if she wanted to be a lawyer. However, she was drawn to law because she thought “it would be an interesting and excellent education in how society functions.” She notes that her first-year courses covering constitutional law, human rights, and the Charter affirmed her decision to pursue a law degree, since they were “exactly what [she] was interested in.”  

After graduating law school,  Birdsell articled with a full-service corporate law firm in Toronto where – coincidentally – her first case focused on section 15 of the Charter. She worked on behalf of an intervener in Thibaudeau v Canada – which examined the rule that child support payments were taxable on the receiving parents – under the tutelage of Mary Eberts and Steve Tenai.  

Following her articles, Birdsell joined Justice for Children and Youth (where she now serves as Executive Director). She knew that clinic work appealed to her thanks to the semester she spent working full-time at Dalhousie’s legal clinic and she was particularly interested in Justice for Children and Youth because of her pre-law experiences working with youth.  

During her time at Justice for Children and Youth, the organization has been involved in a number of landmark cases in the youth justice sphere – many of which centre on Charter rights. When I asked her to identify highlight cases, it was difficult for her to choose a select few. In terms of having a meaningful impact, R v D.B. came to mind first. The case, in which Asper Centre Executive Director Cheryl Milne was counsel for Justice for Children and Youth, established that diminished moral blameworthiness for youth is a principle of fundamental justice under section 7. More recently, she pointed to Justice for Children and Youth’s intervention in R. v Le,  where the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed that race relations inform the detention analysis under section 9 of the Charter.  

Although not every case has yielded the outcome she hoped for, she described constitutional litigation as a “powerful tool” in the hands of youth justice advocates. She observed that the Charter offers a “fundamental path” to confront some of the most pressing issues facing Canadian youth, such as the Saskatchewan law requiring parental consent for students under 16 to change their name or pronouns.  

For Birdsell, evidence is the key to success in constitutional litigation. She stressed that evidence is especially important in equality-based litigation, since evidence is how litigants demonstrate that “oppression is happening the way you say it is.” Especially when organizations like police services or family services are being challenged, as often happens in the youth justice context, she explained that evidence is crucial to “switch the vantage point” for courts.  

When asked if she had any advice for law students, she encouraged students to follow what interests them. For those considering public interest work, she emphasized that there are many places where you can do public interest work, including government positions and at big firms. She also highlighted the value of being well-educated in constitutional law, since it empowers you to spot Charter issues “where others might not.”  

As the incoming Asper Centre Litigator-in-Residence, Birdsell is excited to interact with and learn from students. She also welcomes the opportunity to take a pause from front-line work and spend time thinking “a little more broadly and deeply about the law.” On the voting age challenge, which will form an important part of the clinic students’ work this fall, Birdsell described the case as going beyond just the right to vote. At its core, she said, the case is about how youth “ought to be able to participate in decision-making about the present and future.”  

Kate Shackleton is a rising 2L JD Candidate at the Faculty of Law and is an Asper Centre Summer Research Assistant. 

Mary Birdsell selected as new Constitutional Litigator in Residence

Posted on by Tal Schreier

We are pleased to announce that Mary Birdsell has been selected as the Asper Centre’s new Constitutional Litigator in Residence for Fall 2024.

Mary will be co-teaching the Asper Centre’s Clinic Course in the Fall 2024 term with our Executive Director, Cheryl Milne. This course offers upper year law students at the University of Toronto the unique opportunity to engage in Charter rights advocacy, including Charter and Constitutional litigation. Mary will bring her extensive constitutional litigation and children’s rights experience to the role and will greatly enrich the Asper Centre’s Clinic students next term. Amongst other projects, Mary will work with students on our Voting Age challenge.

Mary Birdsell is a lawyer and the Executive Director at Justice for Children and Youth (JFCY). JFCY is a child and youth rights organization and legal clinic that protects and advances the legal, equity, and human rights of children and youth. It provides representation and legal assistance to young people across a range of legal subjects including criminal justice, education, victim representation, child welfare, health and mental health, homelessness, human rights, immigration, and more. Mary is a child rights expert and a tireless advocate, providing legal services to young people who are facing significant adversity, and have complex personal, social and legal issues. She has appeared as counsel or as intervener at every level of court on a range of child rights matters. Mary has been involved with countless community organizations, engages in law reform activities, provides public legal education, and professional development. She has been significantly involved with OBA and the CBA, including as having been Chair of the Child and Youth Law Section in each organization. She is a former Board Member of the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children, and is currently on the Board of A Way Home Canada. Mary is the co-author of “Prosecuting and Defending Youth Criminal Justice Cases: A Practitioner’s Handbook”, 3nd ed. 2024. 

Asper Centre intervenes in Mathur et al v His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario

Posted on by Tal Schreier

On January 15, 2024, the Asper Centre will be intervening in the case of Mathur et al v His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario at the Ontario Court of Appeal, generously represented by our counsel and recent Constitutional Litigator in Residence Ewa Krajewska of Henein Hutchison Robitaille LLP.

This case, which commenced in 2019, involves a Charter challenge to the Ontario government’s legislative response to climate change, more specifically its adoption of weaker greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets with the passing of the Cap and Trade Cancellation Act, 2018, S.O. 2018, c. 13. It is the first Charter challenge in Ontario against government actions taken related to climate change to reach a full hearing on its merits.

The Appellants are a group of 7 youth climate justice activists and their guardians, who assert that the dangers and existential risks posed by climate change violate the Section 7 and 15 Charter rights of Ontario youth and future generations.

Although the court at first instance found that the issues in the application were justiciable, it decided that the appellants had not established any violation of Charter sections 7 or 15.  

The Asper Centre is intervening on two issues in this appeal: the proper interpretation and application of the causation requirement in s. 15(1) of the Charter, and how the remedies available under s. 24(1) of the Charter can meaningfully vindicate the rights and freedoms of vulnerable claimant groups.

You can read our factum at the ONCA appeal here. The Asper Centre previously intervened in this case at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. You can find our factum in that court here.