Ms. McCarthy is a partner with Epstein Cole LLP. She was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1991, winning the Silver Medal and the Family Law and Advocacy Prizes. She has practised family law since her call. In 1997, she published Family Law for Every Canadian, a mass-market book about separation, divorce and other personal legal matters. She was counsel to M. in M. v. H., the applicant couples in the Halpern freedom to marry case, and Hendricks and LeBoeuf, the couple in the Quebec gay marriage case. She is a frequent advocate, author and commentator on issues of gay and lesbian equality and our evolving concept of family. Apart from same-sex equality and separation issues, her areas of specialty include the interaction of family issues with business organization and valuation, shareholders remedies, marriage contracts, child representation and the effect of divorce on children. In 1999, Ms. McCarthy received the Canadian Bar Association Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Conference AAlly Award. In 2002, she became a Fellow of the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.