Mahmud Jamal was born in 1967 in Nairobi, Kenya, to an Isma'ili family which had originally immigrated in the 19th century from Gujarat, British India, to East Africa during a railway construction boom.^[1][2] His family moved to England in 1969.^[1][3]

In 1981, his family moved again, immigrating to Canada, settling in Edmonton, Alberta, where he graduated from Ross Sheppard High School.^[1][4] In 1984, Jamal studied at the London School of Economics for a year and earned a bachelor of arts (B.A.) in economics from Trinity College at the University of Toronto in 1989.^[5]

After his undergraduate education, Jamal attended the McGill University Faculty of Law, graduating with a bachelor of laws (LL.B.) and bachelor of civil law (B.C.L.) in 1993.^[5] Jamal then earned a master of laws (LL.M.) from Yale Law School in 1994,^[3][5] which he attended as a Fulbright scholar.^[6]

Jamal completed a clerkship at Quebec Court of Appeal working for Justice Melvin Rothman and another at the Supreme Court of Canada, working for Justice Charles Gonthier.^[6] Jamal was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1996, and started working as a litigator at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt the same year. In 2001, he became a partner at the firm, with his practice focusing on class actions and competition law.^[7] Before his appointment to the bench in 2019, Jamal was on the partnership board at Osler, and was chair of its pro bono program. He had appeared in 35 appeals before the Supreme Court, in addition to appearances to lower courts and tribunals.^[6]

In 2009, Jamal represented Imperial Oil in a Financial Services Tribunal case fighting a Financial Services Commission of Ontario order for the company to restructure its pension fund in a manner that would cost CA$16.5 million to set up and $65 million to back.^[8] Jamal represented KPMG, which was then in court over its offshore tax avoidance scheme for high-net-worth individuals involving shell corporations in the Isle of Man. In 2016, because of ongoing litigation, Jamal wrote a letter to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance, requesting that specifics of the case not be discussed so that it would not prejudice the ongoing case. In response, chair Wayne Easter imposed a gag order, and expert witnesses were not allowed to talk about KPMG in the next committee session.^[9][10]

Jamal also taught as professor of constitutional law at McGill University and administrative law at Osgoode Hall Law School.^[1][11] He has served stints as a director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Advocates' Society, and the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History.^[6] Jamal has also been a member of the Supreme Court Advocacy Institute and has served as a trustee for the Canadian Business Law Journal.^[6]

On June 24, 2019, Jamal was appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario on the advice of Justin Trudeau to replace Justice Gladys Pardu, who became a supernumerary judge.^[1][6]

Supreme Court edit

On June 17, 2021, he was nominated by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the Supreme Court of Canada, replacing Rosalie Abella, who turned 75 – the mandatory age of retirement for justices on the top court – on July 1, 2021.^[1] On that day, Jamal was sworn in as a puisne justice of the Supreme Court by Chief Justice Richard Wagner who was also acting as the administrator of the Government of Canada. A public ceremony is being planned for winter of 2022.^[12] He is the first person from a visible minority group and the first Bahá’í to sit on the country's top court.^[1][3]

Jamal speaks English and French fluently. Originally an Isma'ili Muslim, he became a member of the Baháʼí Faith. He married his wife, Goleta (a refugee from Iran),^[13] with whom he has two children Justin and Darius, both students at McGill University. ^[3]

• Supreme Court of Canada biography
• Mahmud Jamal's Supreme Court of Canada application questionnaire