“It was absolutely fascinating to witness a crowd of close to 150 individuals come together on October 26 at Blakes to celebrate the 1st anniversary of the ILPO,” Behrouz Amouzgar tells Precedent. Amouzgar is a lawyer at Gardiner Roberts and is one of the founders of the ILPO, along with Bob Nahiddi from Gardiner Roberts and Atoosa Mahdavian, a partner at Aird & Berlis.
The ILPO is a not-for-profit, non-partisan, non-religious organization, which officially launched on October 27, 2011 in the Pinnacle Room of Sheraton Centre, an event covered by Precedent. The founding lawyers wanted to start an organization that would build, maintain and strengthen the network of Iranian legal professionals in Ontario, and appeal to lawyers at various stages of their careers.
“ILPO came to be because of a common bond among a group of lawyers, law students and paralegals who are of Iranian decent and who call Canada home,” says Mahdavian. “The response has been overwhelming. In just its first year, ILPO has succeeded in making a connection — not just among its own members but within the Iranian community at large and within the legal community in Ontario.”
In its first year, the ILPO has held networking events; resume and cover letter workshops; legal seminars; and monthly pub nights. The organization has also recently launched an individual online profile page to assist members with their professional image and provide exposure. There are now over 250 members of the ILPO and Amouzgar attributes its success to the open structure of the organization, “which allows all interested members to participate in the decision making process.”
The ILPO holds monthly meetings on the second Thursday of every month at Gardiner Roberts, which are open to all members.