Cader Law is a public interest law firm.
Fathima Cader is a skilled lawyer, researcher, and educator on workplace issues, with strong media relations.
She currently serves as Academic Director of York University - Osgoode Hall Law School's clinical program at Parkdale Community Legal Services. She has previously served as Visiting Professor/McMurtry Fellow at Osgoode Hall, Visiting Professor at City Universty of New York, and a sessional instructor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Windsor.
Legal Services
- Employment and Labour Law: Cader Law works with unions, workers, and non-profits to bring fairness to the workplace. Our areas of litigation and settlement expertise include representing unions and workers with union organizing drives and certifications, unfair labour practice complaints, grievances, arbitrations, and human rights applications. We also represent non-unionized workers facing wrongful terminations and/or discrimination in their workplaces. As well, we assist employers with workplace investigations and with drafting and reviewing contracts and policies.
- Education Law: Cader Law represents students fighting to make colleges and universities accessible, including on the basis of mental health and disability. We also conduct trainings and workshops for universities, colleges, and other educational institutions on the duty to accommodate.
- Human Rights Law: Cader Law assists individuals who have faced discrimination in services, goods, facilities, and housing. This includes discrimination on the basis of race, gender, or ability, among other grounds.
Recent Academic Appointments
- 2024-ongoing:Academic Director, Parkdale Community Legal Services, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University.
- 2014-2022: Sessional Instructor, University of Windsor, Faculty of Law.
- 2020: Visiting Professor/McMurtry Fellow, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University.
- 2019: Visiting Professor, Beyond Identity Program, Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, City College of New York, City University of New York.
Select Recent Legal Talks
- 2025: Cultivating Justice: The Role of Reflection in Legal Education for Social Change, University of Toronto, Faculty of Law.
- 2024: AI, Algorithms, and Work – What Labour Lawyers Need to Know, Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers
- 2020: Best Practices for Paralegals Appearing before the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, Law Society of Ontario.
- 2020: Annual Update on Human Rights, Ontario Bar Association.
- 2020: Workplace Sexual Harassment: Assessing the Effectiveness of Human Rights Law in Canada, Osgoode Hall Law School (commentary on report by Professor Bethany Hastie).
Select Recent Publications
- “No More Death Work,” The Funambulist, 2021.
- “Our Grievous Work,” Guernica, 2020.
- "Gig workers win the right to unionize,” Monitor, 2020.
- “Embarrassing wage gap persists,” Law Times, 2019. This article was later featured in a live radio interview on BC Today for CBC.
- "Decision good step for vulnerable workers,” Law Times, 2018.
- “Lawyers should look closer at poverty,” Law Times, 2018.
- "Why do discussions about carding ignore the experiences of women and trans people?" NOW Magazine, 2016 (co-authored with Brittany Andrew-Amofah). This op-ed was later cited by the Ontario Human Rights Commission in its 2017 report “Under Suspicion: Research and Consultation Report on Racial Profiling in Ontario.”
Select Recent Media Appearances
Recent Awards
- Nominated for Canadian Lawyer’s “Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers of 2020 Award” in the “Human Rights, Advocacy and Criminal” category, 2020.
- Alexander J Cohen Memorial Award in Law, Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia, 2012.
- Marlee G. Kline Essay Award, Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia, 2012.
- South Asian Bar Association of British Columbia Scholarship, 2011.
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