Sonya Shikhman

Ms. Shikhman was born and raised in the Soviet Union. Having witnessed injustices and abuses of power, she decided to become a criminal defence lawyer and to dedicate her career to ensuring that the power of the state functions within is proper limits and is not abused by those who possess power over the freedom of others. At the age of 17, Ms. Shikhman started working for a senior criminal defence lawyer pursuing her passion. At the age of 23 Ms. Shikhman graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School where she concentrated her studies on criminal law. Upon graduation Ms. Shikhman joined the firm of Adler Bytensky Prutschi as an articling student and later stayed on as an associate. She became a partner with the firm in 2010.

Ms. Shikhman has appeared in the Ontario Court of Justice, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal for Ontario. While Ms. Shikhman represents people charged with all criminal offences, sexual assault cases, drug cases and gun cases take up most of her time. She has developed a reputation as a passionate advocate with tremendous cross-examination skills.

Ms. Shikhman is also involved in Academia as an instructor in Trial Advocacy at Osgoode Hall Law School. Additionally, over the past 10 years, she has travelled to Ukraine, Russia, England, Italy and Indonesia, to judge the Jessup, a world-renowned International Law competition, and to help students around the world improve their advocacy skills.