ashlee@froeselaw.com

Ashlee Froese is a branding, entertainment and fashion lawyer and trademark agent with over 14 years' experience, who is recognized by the Law Society of Ontario as a Certified Specialist in Trademarks Law. She is one of only 6 female lawyers in Ontario that carry that designation. Since 2017, Ashlee has been consistently recognized by the World Trademark Review as one of the top 1000 trademark lawyers in the world. In 2019, Ashlee was one of 39 lawyers across Canada to be granted the Lexpert Zenith Award, which recognizes her as a change maker in law. In 2021, Ashlee was granted the World Intellectual Property Review’s Diversity award as an Influential Woman in IP, one of only 69 lawyers worldwide. Prior to launching Froese Law, Ashlee was a partner on Bay Street. She fast tracked to partnership within 6 years.

Ashlee's scope of practice includes trademarks, copyright, contract, licensing, domain name, social media, marketing/advertising, packaging/labeling and start up corporate laws.

Ashlee holds numerous leadership and mentorship positions including, executive committee member (Ontario Bar Association), brand strategy council member (Canadian Marketing Association), advisor (Ryerson Fashion Zone), committee member (Intellectual Property Institute of Canada), committee member (International Trademarks Association), past co-chair (Fashion Group International), and past-chair (Toronto Intellectual Property Group), chair (City of Toronto's Fashion Industry Advisory Panel).

Ashlee is a frequent guest speaker and published author on branding and fashion law. She has lectured at law schools, universities, law societies and industry associations throughout North America. She has also been published in numerous magazines, academic publications and is a contributing author to a nationally published book. Ashlee frequently provides her commentary to the media on leading branding and fashion law matters.

salim@froeselaw.com

Salim Dharssi is lawyer licensed to practice in Ontario and is also called to the bar in New York. With over 10 years’ experience in contract, technology, internet and intellectual property law, Salim provides practical and responsive advice to companies in technology-related businesses including companies doing business online.

Salim provides contract services for companies from startup, through growth and to maturity.  He prepares customer-facing agreements for product launches including for SaaS and AI-based businesses, websites and online marketplaces, mobile applications, and IoT systems. Salim helps sales teams navigate negotiations with customers by using innovative processes and tools to streamline contract review cycles, thereby reducing time to market. Contracts for partner, collaboration, development and service provider relationships are also an area of focus for Salim.

Prior to joining Froese Law, Salim practiced at one of Canada’s premier national Bay Street law firms. Prior to that Salim also worked as in-house counsel in a Fortune 100 technology company. He is past-chair of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada’s Licensing Committee, and a past vice-chair of the Ontario Bar Association’s Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law Committee.  Salim holds a B Sc in computer engineering.  Salim is a regular speaker on internet and technology law across Canada.