Fireside Chat on All Things Federal Court

This fireside chat is meant to be open to new and seasoned litigators. The featured presenters will start with broad principles, and then move into practice tips and substantive discussion of law/procedure.

The purpose of this presentation is to provide some insight into litigating immigration and refugee law at the Federal Court in 2026.

The Federal Court, as many of us know, is going through considerable changes at the moment.

First, there have been several new appointments to the bench in the past few years. This includes, starting in 2023, Justices Tsimberis, Turley, Azmudeh, Ngo, Whyte Nowak, Grant, Blackhawk, Battista, Duschene (formerly AJ), Saint-Fleur, Conroy, Ferron, Brouwer, and Thorne. That is 14 new appointments in approximately three years, with a bench that hears immigration cases of over 40. That’s about one-third of the bench as newer appointments. We are also looking forward to the appointment of a new Chief Justice.

Second, the Federal Court has been under immense pressure in the past few years viz-a-viz its caseload. In 2014, there were just over 10,000 cases. In 2024, there were close to tripling that at 27,000.

Third, the Court has seen quite a bit of jurisprudential development in the past few years.

Despite the caseload – for us, our clients, and the judges – it is an exciting time to be litigating at the Court.

The structure of this presentation will be as follows: we will discuss several important steps in the litigation process at the Federal Court, providing both substantive legal developments from caselaw and policy for each of these steps. Following that, we will provide tips for litigating at the Court.

Generally, each tip derives from and is meant to further three principles of litigating: (1) make the judge’s life easy; (2) start from first principles; and (3) maintaining an ethical reputation.

What You Will Learn:

• Whether to go to court
• Practice tips
• Application record
• Memos
• Jurisprudence
• Advocacy

Meet Our Presenters

• Jacqueline (Jackie) Bonisteel is a partner at Corporate Immigration Law Firm (CILF) and leads the firm’s Ottawa office. CILF is a boutique Canadian immigration law firm that assists with all types of Canadian immigration matters including temporary work permits, business visit applications, economic immigration, family class immigration, Canadian citizenship, and litigation. Clients include both businesses and individuals.

• Matthew Traister joined CILF in September 2025, initially working from the firm’s Ottawa office before transitioning to the Toronto office. His practice is informed by his experience at Canada’s Federal Court, where he clerked for two Justices between 2023 and 2025. Over his time there, Matthew gained valuable insight into federal litigation and judicial decisionmaking.