Other members are vice president Cynthia Kuehl, treasurer Monique Jilesen, secretary Cynthia Spry
The Advocates’ Society (TAS) has expressed pride in announcing the following members of its executive committee for 2026–27: Craig Ferris, president; Cynthia Kuehl, vice president; Monique Jilesen, treasurer; and Cynthia Spry, secretary.
TAS named its new leaders in a recent LinkedIn post.
Ferris is a Vancouver-based partner at Lawson Lundell LLP. He is a commercial and business litigation lawyer who focuses on shareholder remedies, trusts, pensions, securities, product liability, mining, and real estate.
Kuehl is a Toronto-based partner and chair of Lerners LLP. She handles matters involving civil litigation and complex commercial, public, appellate, and health law. She has appeared before all court levels.
Jilesen is managing partner at Lenczner Slaght LLP, based in Toronto. As a commercial litigator, she focuses on class actions, contractual and shareholder disputes, civil fraud, injunctions, professional liability, bankruptcy and insolvency, securities, and derivatives.
Spry is a partner at Babin Bessner Spry LLP, based in Toronto. Her commercial litigation practice encompasses class actions, shareholder disputes, competition law, contractual matters, and securities.
Outgoing president
At its recent end-of-term dinner, The Advocates’ Society expressed gratitude to outgoing president Hilary Book for her leadership and contributions over this past year.
“As President, Hilary led with a clear conviction: that TAS is stronger when it listens, brings together different perspectives, and leads with purpose,” TAS said in a LinkedIn post. “She delivered on that at every turn.”
According to the Year in Review for 2025–26, in the course of Book’s presidency, TAS made efforts to:
- Meaningfully promote inclusion on a structural level
- Develop a formal action plan for advancing inclusion
- Make progress on its strategic plan
- Elevate its Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee (DISC) to a standing committee
- Provide a submission to Ontario’s civil rules review
- Run an off-cycle summer recruitment process to fill six board vacancies
Book appeared before the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, represented TAS at the Supreme Court of Canada’s 150th anniversary and other events, and created a Rule of Law Task Force to safeguard the role of the courts, the judiciary, and the legal profession within the country’s democracy.
“Through it all, she travelled from Halifax to Vancouver to meet members across the country,” TAS said in the LinkedIn post. “What stands out most is how Hilary led: with openness, humility, and a genuine commitment to making this community better.”
Book is a partner at Affleck Greene McMurtry LLP in Toronto.
