Golnaz Nayerahmadi
Biography
Golnaz’s litigation practice focuses on class actions and complex multi-plaintiff actions. She has acted as counsel in a broad range of matters involving Crown liability and institutional abuse, professional liability, pharmaceutical and product liability, mass torts and industrial disasters, securities misrepresentation, and consumer protection.
Golnaz has represented clients in motions, applications, trials and appeals. She has appeared before all levels of court in Ontario and Quebec, as well as the Supreme Court of Canada.
Golnaz is committed to pro bono practice. She has worked extensively with the Innocence Project on matters concerning wrongful convictions, including Albon v. Attorney General, which recognized, for the first time, a Charter-based duty of post-conviction disclosure.
Golnaz is a co-author of Class Actions in Canada: Cases, Notes, and Material (3d Ed). She has been ranked by Chambers & Partners as an “Up & Coming” lawyer in Dispute Resolution: Class Action (Plaintiff) and was recognized in the 2023 and 2024 Editions of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Canada™ for Class Action Litigation.
Prior to joining Rochon Genova, Golnaz clerked for the judges of the Superior Court of Justice in Toronto and interned at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
Golnaz holds a dual degree in common law and civil law from McGill University. While in law school, she developed a new curriculum on the rights and reintegration of child soldiers, and was selected to speak at the National Council of Women of Canada’s roundtable at the 55th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
Prior to attending law school, Golnaz obtained an Honours Bachelor of Arts with High Distinction from the University of Toronto, where she graduated with the Ethics, Society and Law Prize for highest standing in the program and received several awards for academic achievement.
Golnaz leads the firm’s student recruitment. Inquiries and applications should be sent to [email protected]
Areas of Practice
- Class Actions
- Civil and Commercial Litigation
Bar Admissions
- Ontario, 2015
Speaking Engagements & Publications
- Speaker, 17th Annual Conference on Crown Liability, Osgoode Hall Law School Professional Development, “Update on Class Proceedings and Crown Liability in Negligence”, April 24, 2024.
- Co-Chair, 15th Annual Class Actions Colloquium, OBA Class Actions Law Program, December 1, 2023.
- Speaker, OBA Young Lawyers Division Program, Evidence Tips & Tricks for Early Career Litigators, “Effective Use of Business Records and Visual Aids”, May 12, 2023
- Moderator, 19th National Symposium on Class Actions, Osgoode Hall Law School Professional Development, “View from the Bench”, April 28, 2023
- Co-Chair, OBA Civil Litigation Program, Advocacy Primer Part 1: Summary Trial and Summary Judgment, April 25, 2023
- Moderator, 14th Annual Class Actions Colloquium, “Class Actions on Trial: Litigating the Merits”, December 1, 2022
- Guest Speaker, Osgoode Hall Law School, Class Actions Seminar, “The Representative Plaintiff in Class Actions”, September 13, 2022
- Speaker, OBA Class Actions Law Program, “Fundamentals of Class Actions Law: Pleadings and Pre-Certification Issues”, June 27, 2022
- Speaker, 15th Annual Conference on Crown Liability, Osgoode Hall Law School Professional Development, “Class Actions: Updates for 2022 and Beyond”, April 22, 2022
- Golnaz Nayerahmadi, “‘Protecting What Matters Most’: Crown Immunity at the Cost of Accountability?” (2021), 52 Adv. Q. 24 at 242
- Guest Speaker, Osgoode Hall Law School, “Labour Law and Governance of Global Supply Chains”, December 4, 2021
- Guest Speaker, Queen’s Law School, Class Actions Seminar, “Securities Class Actions”, November 9, 2021
- Speaker, The Advocates’ Society, Eleventh Annual Securities Symposium, “Recent Developments in Securities Class Actions”, September 23, 2021
- Speaker, the Institute of Law Clerks of Ontario, “Misrepresentations and Corrective Disclosures under the Securities Act”, September 22, 2021
- Guest Speaker, Osgoode Hall Law School, Class Actions Seminar, “The Representative Plaintiff in Class Actions”, September 14, 2021
- Speaker, “Access to Justice and Class Actions in England and Wales”, Class Actions and Rights Panel, Bonavero Institute of Human Rights and the University of Oxford’s Faculty of Law, May 7, 2021
- Speaker, Law Society of Ontario, “Class Actions: Update for Litigators 2021”, COVID -19 & Class Actions Panel, January 22, 2021
- Speaker, OBA Class Actions Law Program, “Pandemic-Related Class Actions – What Are They and How Will They Change the Law and Landscape?”, May 27, 2020
- Speaker, The Advocates’ Society, “The Class Actions Practice Group Presents: Top Class Actions Cases of 2019”, January 20, 2020
- Guest Speaker, Osgoode Hall Law School LL.M., “Transnational Labour Law and the Global Supply Chain”, December 7, 2019
Professional Involvement
- Ontario Bar Association, Class Actions Practice Group, Executive – Member-at-Large (2021-current)
- Ontario Bar Association, Civil Litigation Practice Group, Executive – Member-at-Large (2021-current)
- Warren K. Winkler Class Actions Moot, Osgoode Hall Law School – Coach (2019-2021)
- Advocates’ Society, Class Actions Practice Group, Executive – Member-at-Large (2019-2020)
- Canadian Bar Association, Constitutional and Human Rights Section, Executive – Member-at-Large (2017-2018)
Education
- McGill University, Faculty of Law, Montreal, Canada
- LL.B. / B.C.L., 2014
- Charles University, Faculty of Law, Prague, Czech Republic
- Academic Exchange Program, 2013
- Enrolled in LL.M. Course
- University of Toronto, Trinity College, Toronto, Canada
- Hons. B.A. with High Distinction, 2010
- Majors in Ethics, Society & Law and English
Languages
- Golnaz is Fluent in Farsi and proficient in French
Practice Areas
- Class Actions
- Personal Injury
- Accident Benefits And Tort Claims
- Back And Spinal Injuries
- Catastrophic Injuries
- Chronic Pain
- Commercial Vehicles And Public Transportation
- Depression, PTSD
- Disability Claims, Denial Of Insurance
- Facebook plays a growing role in many personal injury cases
- Head And Brain Injuries
- Major Insurance Claims
- Motorcycle Accidents And Amputation
- Motor Vehicle Accidents
- Occupier’s Liability
- Pedestrian And Bicycle Accidents
- Slip-And-Fall
- Wrongful Death
- FAQ’s
- Aviation Law
- Breach of Privacy
- Commercial Litigation
- Sexual Abuse/Sexual Assault
- Indigenous Rights
- Immigration