Crossroads staff

Sarat Maharaj

The publication Best Lawyers in Canada for 2019 includes former Rosetown resident Sarat “Sasha” Maharaj.

Maharaj, who works in corporate law in Edmonton, sought to put the honour in perspective when contacted.

“I’m one of about 138 Canadian-based lawyers who received this ranking,” Maharaj said, noting that the magazine covers the legal industry.

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As for criteria for making the Best Lawyers list, “All I know is it’s a peer review process,” he said.

Maharaj, 44, is the second oldest of four sons of Subhas and Mona Maharaj of Rosetown. He mainly grew up here.

During his youth, he worked at summer jobs and played hockey for a year before he got into karate and football. He won a gold medal in karate during the Western Canada Summer Games in the 1980s, Subhas Maharaj said.

“I’ve got very fond memories with respect to Rosetown, even coming back, lots of sense of home, good friends, playing football, great classmates, just a really good time,” Sarat said.

He’s a partner in the Dentons law firm, which he joined in 2010, and had previously practised law in a firm in Toronto.

Maharaj is married and has two sons, Aiden, 8, and Kiefer, 6. Wife Naomi worked as a medical researcher before devoting her time to homemaking and community work.

Before he went into law, he worked as an accountant, having obtained a chartered accountant designation while working for a firm in Edmonton.

Maharaj has worked as counsel for parties in more than 10 major transactions, including sales, restructuring and financing such corporations as Rexall Health, Manning Diversified Forest Products Ltd., Stantec Inc. and McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Ltd., sometimes involving billions of dollars, according to his biography on the Dentons website.

He has also done pro bono (free) legal work for the CapitalCare Foundation and the national Parkinson and multiple sclerosis societies, instructed in corporate law at the University of Alberta and given seminars to various bodies, according to the biography.

This isn’t Maharaj’s first honour. He was a finalist for the Lexpert Rising Stars award in 2014 and won three awards in law school.

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