Cynthia Crysler

Cynthia is the leader of the Pensions and Benefits Practice. She has extensive experience in pension and benefits law, policy and strategy - for 25 years, she has exclusively worked in pension and benefits from alma broad range of perspectives, starting with private practice representing unions, employees and administrators. Cynthia also worked within the Ontario government, within a large jointly sponsored public sector plan and most recently, with Ontario’s new pension regulator on strategic projects.

During her time with government, she was seconded to be counsel at the Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions, chaired by Professor Harry Arthurs and resulting in the first comprehensive report on the pension system in Canada in 20 years. Her policy and strategy work has focused on effectively pursuing changes to pension legislation and pension plans, as well as anticipating and managing impacts of changes on plan design, innovation and pension coverage.

Cynthia provides legal, policy and strategic advice to her clients, including guidance on governance and compliance issues. She excels at practical and timely problem-solving, tailored to the nature of the plan (whether multi-employer, jointly sponsored, single employer) and stakeholders, with a priority on resolving disputes before they escalate. She also represents unions, employees and plan administrators in pension and related litigation.

Cynthia has been appointed by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority as a member of its Technical Advisory Committee on Public Sector Pension Plans and is the Chair of the Board of Regents of Victoria University (within the University of Toronto). She has written articles related to pension issues and was co-author of the Chapter on Canadian pension law in Tolley’s International Pension and Benefits (reference book). She has a Bachelor of Laws from University of Western Ontario Law School and Master of Laws from University College London, and is a solicitor of England and Wales, as well as a lawyer in Ontario.