Our People

Ira Parghi is a partner at INQ Law. She has over 20 years of experience in health law, information law, and civil litigation. She is admitted to the bar in Ontario, California, and New York.

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Ira has an extensive advisory and advocacy practice in health law. She is a trusted advisor to organizational and clinical leaders and an expert advocate before the courts, regulators (including the Information & Privacy Commissioner of Ontario), administrative tribunals (including the Health Services Appeal & Review Board), and public inquiries and inquests. Her clients include digital health and medical technology companies, hospitals, independent health facilities, community health organizations, health care professionals, and research institutes. Ira advises clients on a wide range of issues, including privacy litigation, Canada-U.S. cross-border privacy, breach prevention and management, digital health and AI, the use and sharing of data in clinical research, access to information, clinical risk management, professional discipline, medical research, and investigations.

 

Ira is a recognized thought leader and regular speaker on digital health, AI in health care, and emerging issues in information privacy and security. 

 

She welcomes the opportunity to be retained by other lawyers to consult or serve as co-counsel on litigation matters (including in public law and health law) and regulatory matters.

 

Prior to joining INQ Law, Ira worked as the Corporate Privacy Officer at an extensive U.S. health care network, a lawyer in the health care group of a global law firm based in the U.S., and a lawyer in the health law group of a large Canadian law firm.

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​Representative Experience:​

• Advised a medtech company on the privacy and regulatory dimensions of various proposed health care-related offerings.

• Represented a health care organization in a complaint brought before the Health Services Appeal and Review Board.

• Counselled a client on potential privacy litigation proceedings.

• Represented a hospital in various regulatory and court proceedings arising from access to information requests.

• Advised a start-up on its development of a  machine learning-based clinical decision support tool.

• Counselled a hospital on its implementation and use of an AI-driven health care technology.

• Represented a large number of applicants in a Charter challenge to a provision of the Citizenship Act

• Represented a hospital in court proceedings arising from a third-party subpoena process.

• Counselled a U.S.-based medtech company on its privacy obligations under Canadian law. 

• Advised a U.S.-based private equity firm on privacy-related due diligence in the context of a proposed investment in a Canadian company.

• Advised a municipality on the management of a cybersecurity incident.

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Recent Insights & Recognition:​

• Best Lawyers in Canada: Recognized by her peers in Health Care Law, Medical Negligence (2021-2023), and Privacy and Data Security Law (2023)

• “Cyberattacks in Healthcare: Where are we now? Where are we going?” Osgoode Hall Law School 2023 Legal Guide to Privacy Law and Information Management in Healthcare (May 2023)

• “Lessons from the Trenches: Planning, Launching & Scaling Digital Health Projects,” Digital Health Canada E-Health Conference (May 2023)

• “Privacy and Technology Law: Hot Topics and Trends,” Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers Annual Conference (March 2023)

• “Key Principles for Drafting Proper Affidavits,” Advocates’ Society Legal Drafting for Litigators program (February 2023)

• “What Keeps Us All Up At Night: Cyber,” HIROC (Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada) Annual Conference (October 2022)

• “Legal Considerations for Health AI,” Vector Institute and Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences AI for Healthcare Leaders program (October 2022)

• Moderator, “Machine M.D.: Law and Ethics Case Studies in Health-Related A.I.” (University of Ottawa, March 2022)

 

Professional and Community Involvement:​

• Canadian Blood Services Research Ethics Board (volunteer member)

• South Asian Bar Association of Toronto (member, Board of Directors)

• University of Toronto Tribunal (chair)

• Digital Health Canada (member)

• Medico-Legal Society of Toronto (member)

• International Association of Privacy Professionals (member)

• Advocates’ Society (member)

• Group of Racialized Ontario Women Litigators (GROWL) (member)

• Canadian Bar Association – Ontario (member)