Precedent Setter Awards 2011: Daniel Lublin

• Partner, Whitten&Lublin LLP
• Called to the bar in 2005
• National workplace law columnist for Metro News, and radio and TV commentator on workplace legal issues
• Co-founder, Whitten&Lublin LLP, a firm with five lawyers and six staff
• Counsel for Cardenas v. Kohler Canada Co., one of the largest group wrongful dismissal judgments in Canadian history
• Writing an employment law textbook with Carswell (Fall 2011)

Daniel Lublin likes to fly high. Overlooking one of the best views of the Toronto waterfront from atop the TD Bank Tower at Canoe restaurant, Lublin sips on a glass of premium vodka on the rocks while he talks about his journey to the top.

“I was meant to end up where I am,” he says.

He likes this restaurant because he can see the island where he takes flying lessons. Training is on hiatus so Lublin keeps his interest going by flying remote control planes. They’re hard to land — he’s crashed and burned a few times — but he loves the hobby. Besides, practice makes perfect.

Lublin, 31, says he’s all about success. He knew the only way to have security and happiness as a lawyer would be if he went out on his own. After articling at Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP, working at Lang Michener LLP and doing a short stint at a boutique employment law firm, he founded his own firm in 2009 — just a few years out of law school.

“Timing is everything,” says Lublin. “I really wanted to have a recognizable law firm by the time I turned 30.”

“He’s extremely ambitious,” says David Goldstein, of Cassels Brock&Blackwell LLP, who refers clients to Lublin. “Building a law firm with multiple lawyers takes a lot of hard work, time and initiative.” Lublin hopes to argue a big Supreme Court of Canada case and is just waiting for the right one to come along. His ultimate goal: “World domination.”