David grew up in Toronto believing it was right to stand outside  the fence, if that was the principled place to be. His mother, an early  feminist, and his father, a progressive with Mennonite roots, encouraged  him to use law as an instrument of social change.

While at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law, David  established Canada’s first legal aid clinic housed within a psychiatric  hospital. “Law works, but only for those who can get through the door,”  he observes. David was exposed to trade union-side law as an articling  student at the pioneering law firm of Cameron Brewin and Scott. In  search of a new way to deliver legal services, he joined Ralph Nader in  Washington where he practiced public interest law.

When he returned to Canada, David shared his vision of a public  interest law centre with the leadership of the disabled community.  Together they worked to establish ARCH, the Advocacy Resource Centre for  the Handicapped. David became its founding Executive Director.

David was active in securing the inclusion of persons with  disabilities in human rights legislation and in the Charter of Rights  and Freedoms. His LL.M. thesis, published in the Supreme Court Law  Review, served as a blueprint for Charter litigation. David then pursued  real equality as counsel in a series of cases before the Supreme Court  of Canada, from O’Malley and Andrews to Eldridge, Grismer and Lovelace.  “Canada’s jurisprudence is the envy of equality-seekers around the  world. Based on precedents that have already been set, many existing  barriers will be found to be discriminatory,” he says.

David has been at the forefront of a remarkable process of  legislative reform. Regrettably, recent political setbacks have moved  much of the struggle for equality back to the courts, to labour boards  and to human rights tribunals. “My energies at Ross & McBride will be  committed to furthering the rights and interests of the disadvantaged  while at the same time defending what has already been achieved.”

David has provided training for judges and has lectured at law  schools and to seminars for the legal profession. At the international  level, David has served on the UNESCO Panel of International Human  Rights Experts. For his work at ARCH and his contribution to the legal  profession, David was awarded the Law Society Medal in 1998.

David is working with a like-minded group of dedicated  counsel to continue his Charter of Rights and Freedoms and human rights  practice. David is available to clients with employment, education,  transportation, mental health, occupation health and safety, class  action, income security, automobile injury insurance, disability rights  insurance problems, and compensation issues.

David will continue his active government relations practice and will  continue to serve as an advisor to boards and commissions. David also  designs and presents seminars for trade unions, equality-seeking groups  and professional organizations on a wide range of equality rights and  workplace topics, including the duty to accommodate.

David’s lifetime partner is Birthe Jorgensen, a criminologist who has  worked as an academic, with the NDP and as a health policy advisor.  They have two children, Zeke and Stoney.