Melissa Kluger

Fave U of T moment
Convocation. My father is a professor at U of T, and he was able to come up on stage for my hooding. It meant a lot to me.

Since graduation
After being called to the bar in 2002, I worked as a media lawyer focused on libel and freedom of expression work. After a few years, I left private practice to launch a magazine. In 2007, I published the first issue of Precedent: The new rules of law and style, a law and lifestyle magazine for young lawyers in Ontario. We publish the magazine quarterly and send it free to more than 20,000 lawyers and law students in the province. We also run a website at lawandstyle.ca that attracts thousands of visitors each month.

Your dream?
I want to see my magazine grow and expand. I have so many ideas and can’t wait to turn them into reality. The more the magazine grows, the more opportunities I will have to hire local journalists and artists – and that’s important to me.

Are you doing now what you thought you’d be doing when you attended U of T?
While at Faculty of Law, I started an independent student newspaper. I was really interested in reporting on the events in my community and providing a forum for students to learn more about one another. I had no idea I would go on to start a magazine for lawyers, but in hindsight, it makes a lot of sense.

What has winning the Gordon Cressy Award meant to you?
It was a real confidence boost. It motivated me to continue to dream up new ideas and take risks.

See full list of Cressy Award interviews