Lynn Harnden

Emond Harnden LLP is a labour and employment law firm based in Ottawa, Canada, established in 1987 and home to what it describes as the largest group of lawyers specialising in labour and employment law in the National Capital Region. The firm has been named Labour & Employment Law Firm of the Year in Canada at the Corporate INTL Global Awards 2025, a recognition of its focused expertise and its standing as a specialist in the field. Lynn Harnden is a partner at the firm, whose name it carries.

The firm is distinctive for the clarity of its focus. It represents management interests exclusively, acting for employers in both of Canada's official languages, and organises its practice around a philosophy it frames as a partnership for organisational performance. The emphasis is on helping clients build sound workplace practices and resolve issues early, with the aim of avoiding the cost and disruption of litigation wherever possible. This preventative orientation sits at the centre of how the firm positions its advice.

Labour and employment law is the entirety of the practice rather than one department among many, and its coverage of the field is correspondingly deep. The firm advises on employment law, labour relations, collective bargaining, human rights, occupational health and safety and workers' compensation, compensation matters, education law and privacy and access to information. This comprehensive scope allows it to support employers across the full range of workplace legal questions, from day-to-day management issues to complex, high-stakes disputes.

Emond Harnden serves clients across a variety of sectors, including aviation, construction, healthcare, education and municipal government, reflecting the wide reach of employment law across the economy. The firm operates offices in Ottawa and Toronto and maintains an in-house research department, a resource that supports the rigour of its advice and its ability to keep pace with a body of law that continues to evolve through legislation and case law.

By concentrating exclusively on the representation of employers and covering the whole breadth of labour and employment law, the firm offers clients a depth of specialist knowledge that a more general practice would struggle to match. Its recognition as Labour & Employment Law Firm of the Year in Canada at the Corporate INTL Global Awards 2025 affirms the reputation Emond Harnden has built over more than three decades, and the continuing contribution of partners such as Lynn Harnden in serving management clients across the National Capital Region and beyond.