Meet Kamaljit Kaur Lehal KC

Kamaljit Kaur Lehal KC earned her Law Degree from the University of British Columbia in 1989 and was called to the British Columbia Bar in 1990. She articled at the Workers Compensation Board (now known as WorkSafe BC formerly “WCB”). She worked as an associate with a local law firm successfully practicing ICBC defence work. Kamaljit opened up her own law firm in 1992 and operates a successful practice with a focus on immigration law.

Service Area Expertise

Kamaljit has successfully represented clients seeking refugee status in Canada. She is particularly passionate about advocating for women facing gender-based persecution.

As an immigration duty counsel roster lawyer she has represented individuals detained for immigration breaches and inadmissibility allegations.

She and has helped reunite families with their loved ones in Canada through family sponsorship applications. She has secured permanent resident status for clients based on their skills and economic benefit to Canada.

Kamaljit has extensive experience in securing permanent resident status on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, especially for victims of violence. In 2019, after years of advocacy by Kamaljit, the Government of Canada established an expedited process for victims of family violence under the immigration Temporary Resident Permit and humanitarian and compassionate categories. At Kamaljit’ s recommendation these files are flagged “FV” (family violence) for priority processing.

She has represented clients before all immigration tribunals, the Federal Court of Canada Trial Division, and the Federal Court of Appeal. Kamaljit has also appeared at all levels of court in British Columbia and served as co-counsel for the Canadian Council of Refugees in litigation before the Supreme Court of Canada.

Beyond litigation, Kamaljit has completed mediation training through Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation. She is a certified mediator and arbitrator for civil and family law matters.

Memberships and Associations

Kamaljit was a member of the British Columbia Review Board from 1998 to 2010. From 2000 she acted as an Alternate Chair, conducting hearings and making decisions with a panel pertaining to individuals found not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder.

Kamaljit was a member of the Civil Resolution Tribunal from 2015 to 2019.

Kamaljit has been a Director for Options Community Services since 1996 – a non-profit organization that that supports families and community health. She was Chair of this organization from 2019 to 2024.

Kamaljit is a strong self-reliant woman who strives to promote this sense of assurance in other women. She is actively involved in the Community Coordination for Women’s Safety and has acted as supervising lawyer for EVA BC (The Ending Violence Association of British Columbia) on a Law Foundation project addressing domestic violence and immigrant women. As part of this project, Kamaljit travelled to Ottawa with EVA BC to advocate for policy and legislative reform. She was part of roundtable discussions that resulted in policy reform to expedite temporary and permanent status for immigrant women fleeing abuse; her personal contribution was a coding of these files “FV” to ensure they are flagged for expedited processing. Kamaljit has also been involved in many workshops and made presentations on improving the safety of immigrant women.

Kamaljit was also a board director for the South Asian Legal Clinic of BC from 2019 to 2020.

Kamaljit is a member of the following legal organizations:

• Canadian Bar Association – Chair of the CBA National Immigration Section (2024-2025)
• Trial Lawyers Association of BC — General Member
• Canadian Bar Association — Past Chair of the National Equality Committee; member of National Women Lawyers Forum
• American Bar Association — General Member
• SABA Foundation for North America — Completed two years of service from 2018 to 2020
• Guest lecturer — SFU Criminology; Law Society PLTC Program for Law Students on the issue of Mediation

Kamaljit is connected to her heritage and enjoys participating in cultural community events. She is an alumni of the Indo Canadian Women’s Association, a non-profit organization aimed at empowering and educating women South Asian community. She is fluent in Punjabi and speaks Hindi.

Kamaljit takes pride in balancing her career while raising her four children together with her husband.