Melissa Eldridge
Biography
Melissa L. Eldridge is a dynamic advocate who is singularly focused on achieving results for her clients. As the Co-Chair of BLG's National School Boards Practice, Melissa is an experienced school boards lawyer with extensive knowledge of school board operations. Melissa excels in high-stakes cases. She is a trusted advisor to educational institutions in Ontario and across Canada, including Catholic and public school boards, and independent schools. Melissa has a deep understanding of how schools and school boards operate. She advises school boards and independent schools on a range of education law issues, including those pertaining to student discipline, human rights, teacher misconduct, and special education. She brings her unique perspective to her commitment to client service: she is the former General Counsel of one of the largest school boards in Canada and former Governor of the Board of an independent school in Toronto. Melissa is proactive and practical: she has negotiated dozens of local collective bargaining agreements on behalf of school boards for multiple rounds of local bargaining and she has represented school boards at hundreds of grievance mediations, arbitrations, and human rights cases. Melissa recently represented school board trustees in response to an application for judicial review related to their decision to sanction a fellow trustee. She regularly appears before administrative tribunals and labour relations boards, including the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, the Ontario Labour Relations Board, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, and the Ontario Divisional Court.
Alex Battick
Biography
Alex Battick is a lawyer practicing in areas such as human rights, professional regulation, and education law. He provides advice on diverse issues that affect schools from kindergarten to higher education. Alex uniquely focuses on improving outcomes for students, families, and administrations in Ontario through the effective and thoughtful implementation of education law. In doing so, Alex seeks to not only help resolve specific cases and situations but also act as a catalyst to improve the functioning of the systems we engage.
Hilary Cook
Biography
Since her call to the Bar in 2001, Hilary Cook has worked in the areas of Labour, Employment, and Human Rights. Hilary also has experience in Professional Regulation, short- and long-term disability claims, workplace Health and Safety, Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, and Workers' Compensation, among other areas of law. Hilary's twenty years of labour relations and grievance experience include hospitals, health care, post-secondary (Universities and Community Colleges), community agencies, developmental services, arts and culture, not-for-profit, government workplaces as well as large and small private sector and for-profit employers. Hilary teaches university courses in employment law, labour law, workplace mediation, and educational law.
W. Alejandro (Alex) Munoz
Biography
Alex leads Sherrard Kuzz's Education Law/Educational Institutions practice. He is one of Canada’s leading lawyers in education law, with more than 20 years’ experience representing all levels of school boards and departments. His extensive practice focusses on employment law, human rights, criminal law, regulatory and administrative matters, as well as civil litigation in the education law context. He has appeared as counsel in courts and administrative tribunals across Ontario, including the Divisional Court and the Court of Appeal. Alex is the long-standing editor of the Annotated Ontario Education Act (Thomson Reuters). Prior to joining Sherrard Kuzz LLP, Alex was the Associate General Counsel to the Toronto District School Board (“TDSB”), the largest public school board in Canada, and one of the largest in North America. A former Board Member and President of the Canadian Hispanic Bar Association (“CHBA”), Alex remains a CHBA mentor, applying his fluency in both English and Spanish. He is a current Board Member of the Canadian Colombian Children’s Organization, as well as a youth soccer and baseball coach.
