Elsa is a criminal defence lawyer committed to defending the rule of law. She has acted for clients accused of serious offences including sexual assault and first-degree murder, and has appeared at all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada. Merging domestic expertise with global insight, she holds an MA in International Law (UK), an LLB from Otago, an LLM from Columbia University, and is an Associate Member of London’s Church Court Chambers. She has contributed to the UK/Canadian High-Level Panel on Media Freedom (led by Amal Clooney) and serves on the IBA War Crimes Committee, spearheading its 2025 Law on the Frontline conference in The Hague. Her work has focused extensively on the rule of law and the intersection of power, legitimacy, and responsibility in international law. She supports IBA initiatives in Ukraine, ensuring war crimes adjudications meet international standards and conform to the rule of law.
Pre-law, Elsa’s experience at NATO, NORAD, and the UN in Rwanda—where she managed disarmament efforts from Roméo Dallaire’s former office—forged her understanding of legitimacy, power, and accountability. The 2020 racial justice reckoning prompted deep introspection: after inadvertently harming a Black woman, she undertook antiracism training, later urging systemic reform in Recognizing Racialization, Reforming the Law, and Raising the Bar: “there is fear…for lawyers facing the decision to raise racialized defences. We know that racialized mythologies persist… even the most unapologetic antiracist advocate would have to take serious pause in an era where calling out someone as racist is inexplicably more offensive than the racism itself…The risk we face by not using our voices is continuing to repeat what we do not repair. As we stand by, we risk clients foregoing their Charter rights for self-preservation.”
Elsa advocates for those facing discrimination, exemplified by a landmark 2024 human rights settlement securing $50,000 for a Black man wrongfully accused of “threatening conduct” by a company that later exonerated him—a case underscoring her fight against racialized policing and corporate complicity.
Five years after a car accident left her navigating serious chronic pain, she returned to practice, transforming lived experience into advocacy. She has guest lectured at UBC’s Allard School of Law, speaks at forums like the Trial Lawyer’s Criminal Law Conference, most recently focusing on the Charter and its capacity for change through litigation. She sits on TLABC’s EDI and Criminal Defence Committees.
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