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Aris Daghighian is an experienced lawyer with a deep understanding of federal law and practice. He has worked for the leading law firms of Green and Spiegel LLP in Toronto and Edelmann & Company in Vancouver, where his practice focused on appeals and litigation, as well as economic immigration applications, refugee claims, and issues surrounding citizenship. He is currently serving as a legislative policy advisor for the Government of Canada.
Aris has numerously appeared before the Federal Court for judicial reviews of negative determinations and stays of removal, as well as all divisions of the Immigration and Refugee Board for appeals, criminal inadmissibility and other enforcement matters. Aris has also appeared at the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada in a number of seminal cases.
In 2019, Aris was recognized by Who’s Who Legal (WWL) as a “Future Leader” under the age of 45 in Canadian Immigration Law. He was the only non-partner to be included on the list in Canada. In 2017, Aris was awarded the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) Founders’ Award for excellent achievement by a young lawyer. Most recently in 2020, Aris was the only Canadian immigration lawyer listed as a “Rising Star” by the Legal 500, which praised his talented handling of appeals and contentious matters.
Previously, Aris worked for the Minneapolis City Attorney’s Office and completed his articles with the Refugee Law Office, a division of Legal Aid Ontario. In addition to his regular practice, Aris currently teaches with the University of British Columbia Immigration Laws and Policies Program (CILPP), and has been on the Duty Counsel roster for the Legal Services Society of B.C. He has written papers and presented for numerous conferences and is regularly interviewed as a subject matter expert by the media including the CBC and National Post.