Reem Zaia
Reem Zaia is an associate lawyer practising in the Advocacy Department of Gowling WLG's Ottawa office. Her litigation experience includes professional liability, constitutional, criminal and administrative law matters. She also advises on privacy and government relations files and maintains an active academic and advisory practice in national security law.
Reem has experience defending accused persons in the administrative and regulatory spheres, as well as the criminal justice system. Her work regularly involves files where there are allegations of sexual impropriety (civil, criminal or quasi-criminal). She also has experience with corporate investigation mandates. Prior to joining Gowling WLG, Reem practiced criminal and regulatory law at a prominent boutique litigation firm in Toronto.
Reem has served as counsel and co-counsel at all levels of court in Ontario, including the Court of Appeal, the Superior Court of Justice, and the Ontario Court of Justice, as well as matters before the Supreme Court of Canada. Reem also regularly provides legal advice to corporations, institutions and individuals in relation to administrative, regulatory and criminal law matters.
Reem obtained her law degree from the University of Ottawa. During her studies, she clerked for judges of the Ontario Court of Justice and served as law clerk to the Honourable Justice Charles Vaillancourt in the matter of Senator Michael Duffy. She then completed her articles at the Ontario Crown Attorney's Office.
Reem is also a graduate of the University of Toronto, where she received her LL.M. as the Nathan Strauss Q.C. Fellow in Constitutional Law and published a thesis on the information-sharing provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2015. While completing her Master's degree, she practiced constitutional and administrative law at the appellate level.
Reem is a part time Professor at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law. Her areas of speciality include criminal, national security and constitutional law. Her scholarship in these areas can be found in the UBC Law Review, Criminal Law Quarterly, Canadian Criminal Law Review, and several other journals.
Before joining the legal profession, Reem worked on Parliament Hill for two Members of Parliament, including the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons.