Gathya Manoharan, Litigation Lawyer
Gathya Manoharan is a Litigation Lawyer at Nava Wilson LLP. Her area of work focuses on real estate breaches, construction liens, and mortgage enforcements. Gathya truly works for the client’s interests.
Gathya is a passionate advocate for equitable access to education. Inspired by her experiences as a student at York University and then the University of Windsor, Gathya co-founded a workshop series in 2016 to help address the unique experiences of aspiring and current law students who are visible minorities.
The series focuses on getting into law school, the law school experience and balancing the challenges of practicing as a lawyer. She also participates on panels at the University of Toronto Scarborough addressing these topics, and in the programming of the York Region Youth Leadership Program.
Gathya was driven to become a lawyer when she realized how versatile and powerful a law degree could be to protect the rights of individuals. She still considers this to be one of the most rewarding aspects of her role.
Sutharsan Vasanthan, Associate Partner
Sutharsan Vasanthan is a Associate Partner at Nava Wilson LLP. Sutharsan has extensive experience in real estate law, having worked on over 5000+ real estate closings throughout his career.
Sutharsan joined the firm in 2014, prior to which he attained his LLB from the University of Sussex, followed by his Master of Laws in Common Law from the University of British Columbia.
Sutharsan first became fascinated with the field of law through interactions with his immigration lawyer. It became a fierce passion for him when he realized how much of a positive impact a lawyer can have on the livelihood of individuals.
Umar Khan, Immigration lawyer
Umar Khan is an Immigration Lawyer at Nava Wilson LLP. He has completed two degrees at York University, the most recent of which is a Master’s in Political Science. Following the completion of his Master’s degree, Umar obtained his Juris Doctorate from Western University. During his time at Western Law, he served in many community-facing roles, such as Program Ambassador, Member of the Admissions Committee, and Program Manager of the Sport Solution Clinic. Furthermore, prior to joining the world of Immigration law, Umar began his legal career as a Sports & Entertainment lawyer at a law firm in Downtown Toronto. Then he switched to Real Estate Law, and later found his calling in Immigration law, focusing on helping new immigrants.
Also, having a diverse range of experience and exposure has helped Umar in fuelling the drive in him with which he approaches his practice each and every day with the view of client service, empathy and relationship-building being key areas.
Kubes Navaratnam, Managing Partner
Kubes Navaratnam is the Managing Partner at Nava Wilson LLP. Today Kubes leads negotiations on complex, multi-million dollar deals; has negotiated with municipal and provincial councils on land development projects; and has created models for re-structuring Canadian registered funds as investment vehicles for real estate.
The diversity in his areas of expertise is further underscored by his time in the Province of Ontario’s Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee; there he focused on civil litigation and estate matters on behalf of adults found to be mentally incapable. He is also a two-time honouree of Homes Magazine’s annual “Who’s Who of Real Estate”.
Under Kubes’ leadership, from 2015-2017, Nava Law Professional Corporation operated as a fast-growing Toronto law firm, that provided knowledgeable, value-driven, and client-focused legal advice to homeowners and entrepreneurs. Nava Law’s position within the communities it served, as a huge proponent of community building and capacity building, through investment in sustainable initiatives, served as the springboard from which Nava Wilson LLP has launched.
Kubes received an LL.M. in international humanitarian law from the University of Toronto, a J.D. from the University of Western Ontario, and a B.Eng. in Computer Engineering from McMaster University.
Malliha Wilson, Senior Counsel
Malliha Wilson is the Senior Counsel at Nava Wilson LLP and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb). Previously, Malliha served as the Assistant Deputy Attorney General, Civil, of the Government of Ontario for over 8 years. She was Senior Appellate Litigation Counsel with the Ontario Government for more than 30 years, participating in over 20 notable cases at the Supreme Court of Canada and the Ontario Court of Appeal. She specializes in international, human rights, indigenous, constitutional, corporate and labour law and other complex litigation and advisory matters. Throughout her career she has been a champion of diversity and inclusion.
Formerly she was the Special Legal Advisor at the Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO).
Malliha completed her undergraduate degree at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. She completed her law degree at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in Toronto, Ontario in 1981.
In 2009 she was recognized by the South Asian Bar Association with a Distinguished Career Award, in 2012 by her alma matter, Osgoode Hall Law School, with a Gold Key Award for the Public Sector, and in 2015 she was awarded the Daniel Mark Public Sector Lawyer award by the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers. In 2022, Malliha was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal.
Malliha currently serves on the Board of the Churchill Society for the Advancement of Parliamentary Democracy, the Board of the Toronto Foundation for Student Success, the Editorial Board of The Philippe Kirsch Institute Global Justice Journal, the Principal’s Advisory Group at the University of Toronto Scarborough, and the Advisory Board of the Canadian Tamil Congress. Previously, she served on the Board of Directors of the Osgoode Hall Law School Alumni Association and was an adjudicator on the Hearings Panel of the Mutual Fund Dealers Association.
Malliha also donated her father’s (Professor A.J Wilson, a renowned academic) and her grandfather’s (S.J.V. Chelvanayakam, an eminent lawyer and politician in Sri Lanka) papers to the University of Toronto Scarborough archives which led to the establishment of the A.J. Wilson archives and the S.J.V. Chelvanayakam Archives.
