About the Society > Medals, Awards and Honours > The Laura Legge Award

The Laura Legge Award

Laura LeggeThe Laura Legge Award recognizes women lawyers from Ontario who have exemplified leadership within the profession.

The award was established in 2007 in honour of the late Laura Legge, O.Ont., Q.C., the first woman ever elected as a bencher of the Law Society and the first woman to serve as Treasurer.

Most recent recipient


Marie T. Henein, Toronto, called to the Bar of Ontario in 1992

Marie Henein is a past president of The Advocates’ Society (2010–11). She is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Law Commission of Ontario. She is one of the founders of the Court of Appeal’s Appellate Duty Counsel Program. She is certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as a specialist in Criminal Law.

She is an adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, where she is currently co-chair of the Criminal Law LLM Program, and also frequently lectures at the Law Society of Upper Canada, The Advocates’ Society, the Ontario Bar Association, the Criminal Lawyers’ Association and the National Judicial Institute.

Ms. Henein’s experience includes a wide range of regulatory, criminal and quasi-criminal litigation representing individual, corporate and institutional clients both at the trial and appellate level.   

Past recipients

Mary P. Weaver, Q.C., 2012
Fay K. Brunning, 2011 
Crocetta (Chris) Gruppuso, 2010 
Janet A. Leiper, 2009
Susan Elliott, 2008

About Laura Legge

Laura Legge, O.Ont., Q.C., graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1948 after earning a B.A. and a nursing degree. In 1955, she and her husband established the still active law firm of Legge & Legge.

Legge served as director and chair on a number of high-profile boards. She was also the recipient of several prestigious awards including the Order of Ontario.

Laura Legge died in 2010.