Team

Kathryn L. Smithen

Kathy is a powerful advocate. She is as persuasive on her feet in court as she is in making compelling submissions in writing.

She provides a strategic and individualized approach to the cases she takes on, tailored to the specific needs of each client. Kathy is fair, detail-oriented and fiercely loyal to her clients. She is devoted to improving family law in Ontario and beyond.

Kathy is particularly passionate about representing women who have been victims of domestic and/or sexual assault and helping them find safety, stability and financial resources through the family law process. She works regularly with women’s shelters, legislators, media, police and other stakeholders to help keep women – and their children – safe. Kathy’s passion in this area of law is as a result of her experiences as a survivor of domestic violence and as the mother of a child witness.

Kathy started her career as a lawyer at the age of 49 after articling for a criminal defence firm. She studied as a mature student and single parent at Osgoode Hall Law School where she earned a Juris Doctor degree in 2008. She was called to the Bar of Ontario after a lifetime of unusual, personal exposure to the judicial system in Canada. Her experiences give her a practical but unique perspective as a family lawyer who understands how family law is intertwined with other areas of jurisprudence. She regularly relies on her research and writing skills honed as an undergraduate student at Ryerson University where she earned a Bachelor of Journalism degree in 2002.

Kathy spends her spare time engaged in art, film, volunteer work, helping her adult daughter plan her Big Fat Greek wedding, music, sculpture, screenwriting and Jewish genealogy.

*To learn more about Kathy’s extraordinary struggles that led to a career in the law as well as her incredible fourteen-year battle with the Parole Board of Canada which resulted in the granting of a pardon via the Royal Prerogative of Mercy power of the Queen exercised on her behalf by Her Excellency, the Governor General of Canada on May 10, 2018, please click on the links below:

Armando J. Dominguez

Armando J. Dominguez is a Senior Law Clerk who joined the firm in May of 2014. He is a graduate of the Law Clerk Diploma (Honours) program at Humber College. Armando brings over eleven years of dedicated and passionate experience of working exclusively in family law to the firm. He has worked in cases involving collaborative law, mediation, arbitration, litigation and appeals.

Armando has worked on very complex family law cases throughout his career. He assisted in a file where an Anton Pillar Order was obtained as well as others where hidden properties, foreign assets and complex financial statements were involved. He is particularly powerful at dealing with the filing intricacies of each court house he deals with as a family law clerk.

Armando oversees all aspects of the firm’s client management, including telephone calls, meetings, drafting, assembling, serving and filing court documents. He enjoys working directly with clients and understands the complex emotions that result from a separation and divorce. Armando strives to remove any intimidation clients may feel about the family law process with his warm and charming personality. His focus is always on assisting the client.

Armando is a native of Venezuela. He and his wife earned law degrees before moving to Canada. He spends all his free time with his wife and two young daughters who are the light of his life. They travel internationally every year. Some of their recent adventures have been to Japan, France, Italy, Ireland and Spain. Armando loves baseball and is a proud New York Yankees fan.

We’re Looking Forward To Meeting You

Whatever your family law challenge may be, we realize that it is the most pressing and important thing in your life. Simple or complex, we are here to enthusiastically serve you.

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SMITHEN Law

Child & Family Advocacy Services

25 Montgomery Avenue, Suite 1109
Toronto, ON M4R 0A1

PHONE:  +1 416-925-2123

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