Our People

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

 

Ira has an extensive information law practice. She counsels clients on Canada-US cross-border privacy, privacy and cybersecurity breach prevention and management, digital health and AI-driven technologies, the use and sharing of data in clinical research, privacy litigation, access to information requests, and data governance. She conducts privacy training and tabletop breach exercises with her clients. Her clients include medical technology companies, start-ups, private equity firms, hospitals, health care providers, research institutes, universities, and non-profits. Ira is an expert in a range of privacy laws, including PIPEDA, PHIPA, and U.S. legislation such as HIPAA. She has successfully represented clients before federal and provincial/state regulators in Canada and the U.S.

 

Ira’s health law practice focuses on clinical practice and medical research. She advises hospitals, community-based health care providers, independent health facilities, and professionals on matters involving risk management, clinical research (including cross-border trials), medical negligence, investigations, and adverse event management. Ira is a trusted advisor to senior leadership in hospitals and health care organizations, counselling on issues management, board and internal stakeholder engagement, regulatory compliance, and patient and client relations. She also advocates and litigates on behalf of clients before regulators, administrative tribunals, and the courts.

 

She welcomes the opportunity to be retained by other lawyers to consult or serve as co-counsel on litigation and regulatory matters.

 

Ira is a recognized thought leader and regular speaker on emerging privacy and security issues, digital health, cross-border privacy, and cyber breach prevention and management. 

 

Prior to joining INQ Law, Ira worked as the Corporate Privacy Officer at an extensive U.S. health 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.

 

​Representative Experience:​

• Advised start-ups and health care providers on developing and adopting digital health and AI-driven health care technologies such as operating room “black boxes” and machine learning-based clinical support tools.

• Counselled hospitals, universities, and think tanks on creating and using large data repositories for clinical research and quality improvement.

• Advised hospitals, community-based health care and social service providers, and school boards on the shift to virtual service provision in the context of COVID-19.

• Counselled a U.S.-based MedTech company with Canadian customers 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.

• Counselled hospitals, health care organizations, colleges and schools on access to information requests, privacy policies, privacy notices and consent forms, and day-to-day issues involving handling and sharing personal information. 

• Advised hospitals, municipalities, and schools on handling cybersecurity incidents, including the cyber forensic investigation, communications with internal and external stakeholders, and notification to the regulator and potentially affected individuals.

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Recent Insights & Recognition:​

• Recognized in The Best Lawyers in Canada (Health Care Law and Medical Negligence)·(2021-2023)

• “Privacy Hot Topics in 2022,” INQ Law (December 2022)

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

• "Virtual Care Medicine: Risk Management and Best Practices,” Osgoode Hall Law School Certificate in Mental Health Law (October 2022)

• “Bill C-27: Understanding the new law and its implications for your organization,” INQ Law (June 2022)

• “Benchmarking your Privacy Business Practices,” International Association of Privacy Professionals Canada Privacy Symposium (May 2022)

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

• Speaker, “Privacy vs. Innovation: Time for a Paradigm Shift?” (Canadian Bar Association Health and Privacy chapters, September 2021)

 

Professional and Community Involvement:​

• Volunteer Member, Canadian Blood Services Research Ethics Board

• 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)