University of Toronto Department of Political Science

Soraya Farha: Lawyer, Adjudicator, Mentor

Article Published in Volume 2/Issue 1 of of News.Politics

(Soraya Farha (centre) with lawyer-husband Frank McLaughlin (right) and Prof. Rob Vipond (left) at the first Leadership Lunch, February 2011)

Soraya Farha started her undergraduate work intent on an English major, but took POL 100 without knowing what to expect. She loved it; did well in it; and switched to Political Science.

Rob Vipond’s second-year course in American politics deepened her enthusiasm. “He was an excellent lecturer – articulate, clear, accessible, wryly humorous – and he provided incredibly detailed feedback on written work, pushing you to the next level.” She also took a course in political theory, and encountered Alkis Kontos as the electrifying instructor who helped excite a long-standing interest in theory.

After a year abroad at the London School of Economics, she returned to Vipond’s fourth-year seminar on American constitutionalism – “a wonderful course.” Among the guests who stood out was Jennifer Nedelsky, a feminist interested in law and politics. She went from a B.A. to the U of T law school in 1985, and then into private practice.

Soraya took several years away from that practice while having three children with her lawyer husband Frank McLaughlin. Then on the advice of an adjudicator, she applied for a position on the Health Services Appeal and Review Board, a provincial-government-appointed tribunal which hears appeals about health matters, including the eligibility of people for health coverage in Ontario, and the coverage of specific procedures within and beyond the province.

Soraya was appointed a vice-chair of the Board, and is now one of its most experienced members. She has also been appointed to the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board, which reviews decisions made by regulated health professional bodies like the College of Physicians and Surgeons. In both capacities, Soraya chairs panels of adjudicators, and is responsible for drafting and editing written decisions. She also has mentoring functions, and helps develop and deliver educational programs. The flexibility of these jobs, more likely to be found in the broad field of administrative law than other parts of the profession, allows her a modicum of balance between career and family life.

On the invitation of Rob Vipond, Soraya Farha and her Frank McLaughlin returned to meet a group of undergraduates for the first of his “leadership lunches” on Monday, February 28. She loved the experience, and hopes it provided the students she met with the kind of “great experience” that she had when she was in their shoes.