SARAH TURNEY grew up in London, Ontario oscillating between working poor and just poor, using a food bank, navigating real instability at home, and never once imagining she would become a lawyer.

Sarah Turney is a partner at Fasken, one of Canada’s largest law firms, where she heads up the real estate and property litigation practice, a niche she built from the ground up. In 2024, she argued and won a 5-4 decision at the Supreme Court of Canada on behalf of a Toronto family whose backyard the City of Toronto claimed was public parkland, a case that had been denied, appealed, and lost twice before she took it all the way to the country’s highest court.

She explains: 
◼ What it was like growing up with parents who struggled with addiction and how that instability became the fuel that drove her forward 
◼ Why she was so afraid of being rejected from law school that she did a master’s degree first just to avoid applying 
◼ How she worked full-time at a community center while attending law school full-time, up at 5AM, working until 10PM, for three years straight 
◼ What the Supreme Court case was actually about, a Toronto family whose backyard sat on city parkland since 1971, and what a 5-4 decision really means for advocacy 
◼ Why coming from nothing gave her skills that no law firm could teach, and what she’d say to young women afraid to apply to law school 
◼ Why she still sometimes passes someone on the street and wonders: could that have been me?

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0:00 – Intro
3:25 – The Supreme Court Case: Toronto Family vs. City Parkland
7:02 – Taking It to the Court of Appeal and Losing 2-1
10:21 – Getting Leave to the Supreme Court of Canada
11:42 – Hands Shaking at the Council Table Before Nine Justices
11:47 – Winning 5-4 and Why That Margin Actually Matters
13:27 – Why Real Estate Law? No One’s Freedom Is at Stake
15:49 – Did She Always Know She’d Be a Lawyer?
17:04 – Too Afraid to Apply So She Did a Master’s Degree Instead
31:24 – Grade Five Performing Arts School Changed Everything
33:53 – Going to Friends’ Houses and Seeing a Different Life
39:01 – I Cannot Afford to Fail. There Is No Safety Net.
41:08 – Leaving London for Carleton, Happiest She’d Ever Been
50:25 – Working Full-Time and Law School Full-Time Simultaneously
53:54 – Going From Insanity to Articling, One Job Felt Easy
56:05 – What She’d Say to Young Women Afraid to Apply to Law School