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Raj Sharma is a founding partner at Stewart Sharma Harsanyi. Mr. Sharma graduated with his Juris Doctor (JD) from the University of Alberta. After completing his articles with the Federal Department of Justice, Mr. Sharma then worked as an Immigration Refugee Protection Officer with the Immigration and Refugee Board where he obtained experience in hundreds of immigration hearings before starting private practice. Mr. Sharma received his Master of Laws (LLM) in Administrative Law from Osgoode Hall Law School. His major research paper in support dealt with the scope of deference to immigration refugee adjudication in Canada.
Mr. Sharma has appeared before every level of Court in Alberta; regularly appears before the Federal Court, and has appeared before the Federal Court of Appeal and every Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board; he has over 200 reported decisions and possesses extensive experience in all aspects of immigration law.
He has been a speaker at numerous National Immigration Law Conferences (CBA) and other conferences and he appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration in 2017 and 2020. He is a regular speaker and commentator in local, national and international media. His academic writings include “Deference, the Universe of Discourse and the Standard of Review” published in the Alberta Law Review and a commentary on Canada’s refugee health reforms published in the C2C Journal. He is the co-author of Inadmissibility Law and Remedies, a leading text on Canadian inadmissibility law.
Mr. Sharma has sat on numerous Boards and Committees including as a Board Member with Immigrant Services Calgary, the Legal Education Society of Alberta, and the Legal Aid Alberta Appeals Committee. He is the recipient of the Access to Justice Award (Legal Aid Alberta) and was named one of Calgary’s Top 40 under 40.
Mr. Sharma was an adjunct professor at the University of Calgary, Faculty of Law where he taught the Immigration and Refugee Law course; he joined the the instructional team with the Graduate Diploma in Immigration and Citizenship Law program at Queen’s Law to teach ICL 870: Enforcement - Inadmissibility, Detention, and Removal.
In April of 2022 Mr. Sharma was appointed by the Minister of Justice and Solicitor General as King’s Counsel (His Majesty’s Counsel, learned in the law, for the Province of Alberta) due to his recognized expertise in immigration law, contributions to the legal and wider community, and outstanding ability as a lawyer. This honour reflects a demonstrated history of honesty, integrity, discretion as well as the trust and confidence of others, his fellow lawyers and the Bench and administrative tribunals.