Our Team ⁄ Niru Kumar
Niru Kumar is a former public sector lawyer with focused legal experience in Ontario’s regulated sector, and a long-standing commitment to social justice issues and community service. She is strategic and analytical, but also diplomatic and solution-oriented. Niru is collaborative, thorough and diligent. Her effective people skills engender client trust and confidence.
When she is not practicing law, Niru is a featured blogger on cultural issues, she anchors current affairs programs, and hosts radio broadcasts on the complexities of Canadian society. Niru also places a high value on civic engagement and serves countless hours volunteering on a variety of boards and committees.
Niru holds Bachelors degrees in civil law, common law and commerce from McGill University, and has a certificate from the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. She is fluent in English, French and Hindi and functional in Spanish. She was called to the Ontario Bar in 2000.
Areas of Practice
Regulated Industries/Professions
Niru has worked with a diverse range of bodies including the Commission for the Walkerton Inquiry with Commissioner and former Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal Dennis O’Connor, the Ministry of Consumer and Business Services, the Office of the Children’s Lawyer and industry regulators such as the Electrical Safety Authority and the Board of Funeral Services.
Niru’s focus has largely been on policy development, consumer protection and industry stakeholder compliance within legislative and regulatory frameworks. Niru has drafted amendments to statutes and regulations with legislative counsel in order to achieve desired policy outcomes, provided legal advice to government policy planners, and guided Designated Administrative Authorities (DAAs) in developing licensing, compliance and regulatory frameworks.
Niru’s experience as a Board Director on various organizations has added a further lens that informs her work with regulated bodies, including an appreciation of enterprise risk management, key performance indicators and relevant best practices.
Community Involvement
In Ontario, Niru Kumar has been a director on the board of the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, an agency protecting vulnerable children from abuse or neglect, for the past eight years where she has also served on the Audit & Finance, Governance and Nominating and Ad Hoc Real Estate committees. Niru recently completed a 5-year term on the TTC Customer Liaison Panel. She was a director for seven years on the board of Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights. Among other committee involvements, Niru has contributed to various school councils, as well as served on Ontario Health Study, Friends of Sir John A. Macdonald and TVO Gala committees.
Abroad, Niru worked as an intern with a Supreme Court lawyer in Delhi and with the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.