Prof. Poonam Puri, Prof. Aaron Dhir and student Chanakya Sethi at York’s Osgoode Hall Law School have each received prestigious awards honouring their leadership skills, legal talent and commitment.

Puri, who is Osgoode’s associate dean, research, graduate studies & institutional relations and co-director of the Hennick Centre for Business and Law at Osgoode and Schulich School of Business, was presented with the Women’s Executive Network’s 2011 Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award in the Xstrata Nickel Trailblazers & Trendsetters Award Category.

Left: Poonam Puri

Puri joins a community of 584 women who have received the Top 100 Award, recognizing the highest achieving female leaders in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors in Canada. Winners are selected based on their strategic vision and leadership, their organization’s financial performance and their commitment to their communities. The complete list of 2011 winners can be found on the 2011 Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award website.

Dhir was named Wednesday night by Lexpert Magazine as one of "Canada's Leading Lawyers Under 40” at a gala dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto, which took place Nov. 30. Dhir, who joined Osgoode in 2007 and teaches in the field of business law, received one of Lexpert's 2011 "Rising Stars" Awards, which pay tribute "to the rising stars of the legal community." Winners were nominated by peers and selected by Lexpert's advisory board, which includes some of the most respected senior lawyers in Canada.

Right: Aaron Dhir

Third-year Osgoode student Sethi was presented with the 2011 Student of the Year award at the South Asian Bar Association (SABA) Annual Gala held Nov. 16 at the Fermenting Cellar in Toronto’s Distillery District. The award is a new award that SABA Toronto presented at this year’s gala, which celebrates South Asian achievement in the Greater Toronto legal community. 

“Poonam, Aaron and Chanakya are proven achievers who have put their extraordinary talents to work both inside and outside the law school,” said Osgoode Dean Lorne Sossin. “They are an inspiration to us all.”

Left: Chanakya Sethi

Puri, who received her award last night at the Top 100 Awards Gala Dinner at the Allstream Centre in Toronto, has received considerable recognition over the past several years for her achievements including Canada’s Top 40 under 40 award in 2005; the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce Female Professional of the Year Award in 2008; and the Professional Excellence Award from the Canadian Association of South Asian Lawyers as well as the Lawyer of the Year Award from the South Asian Bar Association in 2010.

She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority where she chairs its corporate governance and nominating committees, the Board of Governors of Mount Sinai Hospital and the National Advisory Council for Statistics Canada.

Dhir was honoured in 2009 with the South Asian Bar Association of Toronto Young Lawyer of the Year Award as well as the Osgoode Faculty Teaching Award. The following year, he was presented with the Osgoode Hall Legal & Literary Society Excellence in Teaching Award. He was also nominated for the 2011 York University President's University-Wide Teaching Award.

He has served this summer and fall as the Law Commission of Ontario’s scholar-in-residence and is currently writing a book on corporate governance and diversity, which is under contract with Cambridge University Press.

Sethi earned an A+ average in both his first and second year at Osgoode. He is actively involved in the life of the law school, and currently serves as executive editor of the Osgoode Hall Law Journal, a Dean’s Fellow and a member of the Faculty Recruitment Committee. 

This past summer, he was one of two Osgoode students selected to participate in a judicial internship program with the Supreme Court of India. When he graduates next year, he will serve for a year starting in September 2012 as a law clerk for Justice Michael Moldaver at the Supreme Court of Canada.

Republished courtesy of YFile– York University’s daily e-bulletin.