How this Bay Street partner became a better advisor to her clients

By 2008, Nadya Tymochenko had built a stellar practice in education law. As a partner at a small Toronto firm, about one decade into her legal career, she advised school boards on everything from labour arbitration to human rights. She loved the work, but education law is difficult to master. Tymochenko wanted to delve into the broader aspects and evolution of the practice area.

That’s one main reason that she enrolled in the administrative law specialization of the Osgoode Professional LLM, a rigorous graduate program that she could complete on a part-time basis. The coursework deftly combined theory with practical training. “The LLM gave me the foundational construct that I was lacking,” says Tymochenko. “The professors provided a wider perspective that I could bring back to guide my own advice to clients.”

Halfway through the program, she represented a school board in the high-profile Cornwall Public Inquiry, which investigated historical sexual abuse in the small Ontario community. Tymochenko had recently completed a course in which the instructor shared her deep knowledge of public inquiries. “It was extraordinary,” she says. “That’s not the sort of learning opportunity you have without this kind of program.”

Today, Tymochenko continues her work in education law as a partner at Miller Thomson LLP. Looking back, she points to the program at Osgoode as a meaningful stage in her development as a lawyer. “Doing your master’s helps you think in a way that pulls together ideas and issues holistically,” she says. “It helped me become a better writer and advisor to my clients.”