Shashu has joined Koch Thornton LLP having spent her initial associate and student years at a leading national full-service law firm. Shashu carries on a wide-ranging commercial and public law litigation practice, involving areas such as contract, negligence, product liability, insurance, constitutional, privacy and administrative law. Shashu has appeared before different levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada.

Shashu’s practice includes precedent-setting public interest litigation and she was involved in the following appeals before the Supreme Court of Canada:

• Miazga v. Kvello Estate, 2008 SCC File No. 32208 (December 12, 2008): on behalf of the intervener Canadian Civil Liberties Association to determine the test for suing Crown prosecutors in Canada for malicious prosecutions;
• R. v. A.M., 2007 SCC File No. 31496 (May 22, 2007): on behalf of the intervener Justice for Children and Youth to determine whether police are allowed to use sniffer dogs to conduct random searches of schools; and
• Hill v. Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Police Services, 2007 SCC File No. 41 (November 10, 2006): on behalf of the intervener Canadian Civil Liberties Association to determine the duty of care owed by police in Canada to persons under investigation.

Shashu maintains a keen interest in constitutional law, having worked for two years as a research assistant to Canada’s leading constitutional scholar, Professor Peter W. Hogg.

Shashu also takes seriously access to justice issues and has devoted significant time and effort to pro bono initiatives, including serving as a firm coordinator for volunteers to the Pro Bono Law Ontario Small Claims Court program.

Shashu is honoured to have been part of a small team that partnered with the advocacy group AIDS-Free World in an unprecedented journey (to southern Africa) to interview survivors just months after they had been gang-raped and tortured. This was the first step in a continuing effort by AIDS-Free World to build an international human rights case in connection with atrocities committed before and after the March 2008 Zimbabwean election.

Shashu has also been active in various equity and diversity and youth mentorship initiatives.

Shashu completed her LL.B. at Osgoode Hall Law School and was a recipient of the Dean's Gold Key Award in recognition of exceptional leadership, commitment and enthusiasm. Shashu was also awarded the Torkin Manes Cohen Arbus LLP Prize (awarded to the student who best combines academic excellence and leadership in the Law School) and the Stringer Brisbin Humphrey Essay Prize in Labour Law. She had also received the Harley D. Hallett Entrance Scholarship when she started Osgoode.

Shashu is a member of the Canadian and Ontario Bar Associations, The Advocates' Society and the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers.

Education:
Admitted to the Ontario Bar - 2007
Osgoode Hall Law School, LL. B. - 2006
York University, B.A. (with distinction) – 2003