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Biography

Zara Suleman was called to the Bar in British Columbia in 2007. Prior to working at North Shore Law, she worked as an independent legal researcher and consultant and was also the Director of the Family Law Project for West Coast Women’s Legal Education & Action Fund (LEAF). While at West Coast LEAF she coordinated the research and intervention application of West Coast LEAF in the Supreme Court of Canada case, Rick v. Brandsema.

She is a prolific speaker and has presented at a variety of venues, including: the University of British Columbia Centre for Feminist Legal Studies Lecture Series; University of Ottawa, Ten Years After Touchstones Conference, National Black Law Student’s Association Conference and the Law Foundations Advocates Training Conference. Zara is a CLEBC Faculty Member for the program entitled The Family Law Act: Everything You Always Wanted to Know* But Were Afraid to Ask and will be presenting on the topic of assisted reproductive technology (ART) and Legal Parentage under the FLA, in collaboration with barbara findlay, Q.C. (upcoming 2013).

Education

Zara holds a BA in Communications and Women’s Studies from Simon Fraser University (1994); a Law degree from the University of Ottawa (2004); and a Master of Law degree from the University of Victoria (2006). In law school Zara was awarded the David Shore Prize and Canadian Scholars’ Press Award.
After completing her LL.M. Zara articled with the BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre.

Associations

Zara is a member of the Trial Lawyers Association of BC (TLABC); the Canadian Bar Association BC Branch Family Law Section and the Junior Family Law Lawyers Group.

Publications

Zara has published poetry, articles and academic research in various magazines, journals and anthologies in Canada and the United States. Some of her work includes: Falling through the Gaps: Gaps in Services for Young Women Survivors of Sexual Assault (Vancouver: FREDA, 1997); inclusion in the anthology Calling For Change: Women, Law, and the Legal Profession (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 2006); and Invisible Strings: Considerations for Judicial Case Conferences, a paper co-authored with Patricia Bond and Megan R. Ellis, Q.C. (May, 2009). She has also written the report, Not with a ten-foot pole: Law Students’ Perceptions of Family Law Practice (Vancouver: West Coast LEAF, 2009), and has authored materials for the Continuing Legal Education Society of BC (CLEBC), including CLEBC’s B.C. Family Practice Manual (2010) and the Family Law Act Transition Guide, (August 2012); and Baby Steps: Assisted Reproductive Technology and the B.C. Family Law Act, a paper co-authored with barbara findlay, Q.C. for CLEBC (publication pending: January 2013).

Public Service

Prior to law school, Zara Suleman was a front-line community advocate for over ten years, working extensively on issues including violence against women, anti-racism, immigrant and refugee issues, legal aid reform, custody and access advocacy, anti-poverty initiatives and specific coalition work with South Asian women.

Through the years, she has served on a variety of boards, advisories and steering committees. Some of these have included being a Board Member of: Povnet, the South Asian Women’s Centre, the Vancouver Custody and Access Support and Advocacy Association, Elizabeth Bagshaw Women’s Clinic, Developmental Arts Society, Women In View Festival, and LaLuna Theatre Society. Zara has also served on the Domestic Violence Unit Advisory, the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, the Regional Anti-Violence Steering Committee and the Family Relations Act Reform Advisory Committee for SPARC BC.