Remembering our colleague, Abdalla Barqawi
It is with profound sadness that Conway Baxter Wilson LLP announces the sudden passing last week of our beloved friend and colleague, Abdalla Barqawi, aged 36.
Abdalla joined our firm as an associate in 2021. He was a former law clerk to Justice Sheilah Martin of the Supreme Court of Canada, and a former litigation associate of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in Toronto. He graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2018, as the Silver Medallist. Abdalla was a leader within our firm and was a constant and stalwart supporter of our lawyers and staff. Abdalla was a natural-born mentor. He taught us all so much.
Abdalla was also a natural-born litigator. He represented his clients with passion and conviction in numerous cases before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Federal Court, the Court of Appeal for Ontario, the Federal Court of Appeal and in many arbitrations. He was an elected trustee of the County of Carleton Law Association and sat on the Ontario Bar Association’s Board of Directors as Chair of that organization’s Equality Committee. In 2024, Abdalla received the Ontario Bar Association’s President's award for his exceptional leadership promoting and advocating for accommodations for those living and working with disabilities in the legal profession.
The Barqawi family has requested privacy. Letters and cards of condolences to the family may be addressed to our firm and marked to the attention of the Barqawi family. We will ensure that the correspondence is given to Abdalla’s family. Email messages for the family may be sent to condolences@conwaylitigation.ca and we will forward them to the Barqawi family. A celebration of life will be held later.
Donations in Abdalla’s memory can be directed to the CNIB, Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind or the the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, via the Ottawa Hospital Foundation.
Abdalla was, and will always be, one of the cornerstones of our firm. We will never again experience his wit, his intelligence, his sensitivity to the plights and needs of others, his love of life and, above all, his supportive and genuine friendship. We are broken. We will heal, but we will never be the same without Abdalla. We will ensure that his legacy is never forgotten. May he rest in peace.