Monique Jilesen, serving as Managing Partner at Lenczner Slaght, is celebrated for her client-centric, personable, and strategic approach to litigation, as noted by Chambers Canada.

Renowned as a top litigator in Canada, Monique is the go-to professional for challenging commercial disputes. Her areas of expertise encompass class actions, contractual and shareholder disputes, civil fraud, injunctions, professional liability, as well as bankruptcy, insolvency, and securities and derivatives cases.

Monique stands out as a fearless advocate, renowned for her readiness to tackle significant and high-stakes cases. Notably, she represented the Ukrainian World Congress in a judicial review regarding Canada's decision to export turbines to Germany for a sanctioned Russian company. In Li v Barber, she achieved a groundbreaking Mareva injunction, freezing up to $20 million in assets, including cryptocurrency, of Freedom Convoy leaders. Furthermore, she acted for Douglas Cardinal in seeking an injunction against the derogatory name and logo of the Cleveland baseball team, championing human rights.

Her exceptional legal prowess has been acknowledged with several awards, including The Advocates’ Society’s Douglas K. Laidlaw Medal for Excellence in Advocacy. In 2023, Monique was honored as Litigator of the Year at the Canadian Law Awards and listed among Toronto Life's Top 50 Most Influential people. Additionally, she is a Fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.

In her leadership roles, Monique co-leads the firm’s Commercial Litigation practice group and contributes to the Commercial List Users’ Committee. She is the creator of commerciallist.com, an award-winning portal that consolidates resources related to the Commercial List, showcasing her commitment to innovation in legal practice.

As Managing Partner, Monique spearheads the firm's strategic initiatives, fosters an innovative culture, and promotes a high-performing and inclusive work environment.

Her legal acumen covers appeals, class actions, commercial litigation, competition and antitrust, employment law, injunctions, insolvency and restructuring, product liability, professional liability and regulation, public law, and securities litigation. Monique was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 2000, following her LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1998, a BA in Political Science from Queen's University in 1995, and training in Legal Project Management from LawVision Group in 2015.