Our Legal Team

Rachel S. West, B.A., J.D.

Rachel has spent her career practicing in the areas of employment law and human rights law. Rachel’s love of human rights law lead to her interest and practice in reproductive technology law. She regularly works with couples and individuals who wish to become parents, as well as surrogates (gestational carriers), and with all aspects of surrogacy and fertility law. Rachel works with local and international intended parents, surrogates (gestational carriers), and also with egg and sperm donors.

Rachel understands the challenges involved with creating a family through surrogacy, and takes pride in protecting her clients’ interests while allowing them to create and grow their relationship with their surrogate or intended parents.

 Rachel West is a partner at Carbert Waite LLP in Calgary. She was called to the Alberta Bar in 2007 following her graduation from the University of Saskatchewan, where she received her B.A. with High Honours in 2003 and Juris Doctor in 2006. She is a member in good standing of both the Canadian Bar Association and the Calgary Bar Association. Rachel is fluent in both english and french which proves beneficial when working with clientele from overseas.

MICHELLE FLOWERDAY, LL.B.

Michelle is a Canadian lawyer based in Toronto. Her practice focuses on fertility law (covering surrogacy laws and third-party reproduction laws) and family law. She is a passionate and tireless champion for couples facing infertility, for gay and lesbian couples wanting to start a family, for single people looking to grow a family alone, and for surrogates (gestational carriers), as well as the egg, sperm and embryo donors who assist in the process.

 Michelle’s expertise includes negotiating and drafting agreements related to surrogacy, co-parenting, egg, sperm and embryo donations, making court applications for declarations of parentage, stepparent adoptions and other legal issues related to third party reproduction. Michelle works across Canada and internationally with intended parents and surrogates, as well as egg, sperm and embryo donors. She often speaks at conferences on the topic of fertility and surrogacy law and has provided legal advice to fertility clinics and hospitals on contract laws and compliance with Canadian assisted human reproduction laws and regulations.

Prior to opening her own law office in 2011, Michelle was a partner at Dickson MacGregor Appell LLP, Canada’s largest all-women law firm, practicing in the areas of fertility law and family law. She began her legal career at McCarthy Tétrault LLP, Canada’s largest law firm, after graduating with her BA (Hons. Psych.) from McGill University in 1997 and her LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2001. She was called to the Bar of Ontario in 2002 and is a member of the Canadian Bar Association, the Ontario Bar Association, the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society, Fertility Matters Canada, the Advocates’ Society and the 519 Church Street Community Centre.

MARC KEMERER, B.A. (HONS.), M.SC., LL.B.

Marc Kemerer fell into fertility law naturally – having been an intended parent three times he drafted his own agreements. He can offer practical advice and extensive experience in this complex area of law in Canada. Marc’s fertility law practice encompasses all aspects of family planning and building. He represents intended parents, surrogates and also sperm and egg donors on the negotiation and drafting of surrogacy and donor agreements and on legal parentage applications as well as general advocacy. He provides exceptional legal services at very competitive rates.

Marc speaks regularly on the topic of reproductive law and surrogacy. He is a frequent guest for the surrogacy portion of the Daddies and Papas 2B course at the 519 Church Street Community Centre in Toronto. He has spoken on fertility law at the Balleroy Initiative in France, an international conference on current issues facing the global LGBTQ community. Most recently he met with Members of Parliament from all major political parties to advocate for a Private Member’s Bill to decriminalize payments to surrogates in Ottawa.

SARA R. COHEN, LL.B.

Sara R. Cohen is a fertility lawyer based in Toronto, with clients throughout Canada and beyond. Sara is the founder of Fertility Law Canada at D2Law LLP where her entire practice is devoted exclusively to the practice of fertility law. She regularly acts for intended parents, surrogates, donors, cryobanks, hospitals, distributors and fertility clinics on a wide range of fertility law issues.

Sara was recently named by Canadian Lawyer Magazine as one of the Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers in Canada. She is the past co-chair of the Ethics and Law Special Interest Group of Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society, president of Fertility Matters Canada, and an adjunct professor of reproductive law at Osgoode Hall Law School. Sara is one of two international members of the executive council of the Assisted Reproductive Technology Committee of the ABA’s Family Law Section, and is a fellow of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys (AAAA). She has also given expert testimony on third party reproduction and legal parentage issues at Queen’s Park for the Standing Committee on Social Policy, and has been invited by the Ontario and Canadian government to confer on various fertility and parentage related legal issues.

DOREEN BROWN, B.A.

Doreen Brown is a practicing attorney with the law firm of Green Glazer, Attorneys. She specializes in the field of family law, adoption, reproductive technology/fertility law and litigation. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Loyola College in 1974 (Political Science) Cum Laude and from the Faculty of Law, University of Montreal in 1977. She was admitted to the Quebec Bar in 1978. Doreen was also a part-time faculty member in the Department of Political Science at Concordia University for 25 years. She has lectured several times over the years on adoption, has offered webinars on reproductive technology, as well as lectured at Osgoode Hall Law School of York University. She also lectured at a CLE conference on adoption at the American Bar Association as well as at the annual meeting of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys (AAAA) and Quebec Bar lectures.

She is currently a member of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys (AAAA). She is very active on a volunteer basis in many community organizations and also sits on the Bar of Quebec committees. In 2014, she received an Honorary Doctorate from Technion - Israel Institute of Technology.