As Judy Goldring and Samantha Horn approach the 25th anniversary of their graduation from Queen’s Law, they have one more reason to celebrate: the Women’s Executive Network (WXN) has named them both to its top 100 list of Canada’s Most Powerful Women for 2015.

“I believe women have greater opportunity and flexibility as part of the legal profession today than they did 25 years ago,” says Goldring, who was inducted into the WXN Hall of Fame at the Nov. 26 gala in Toronto. This honour is given to women nominated for the fourth time.

As Executive VP and Chief Operating Officer of AGF Management Limited, Goldring provides strategic leadership and vision to promote her organization’s operational effectiveness and long-term growth. She was a General Counsel before moving into the operating side of a business. “At AGF, I have seen and helped shape corporate policies to ensure that diversity and women in particular are fairly represented at every level of our organization,” she says. “I can proudly say that women represent 33 per cent of our Board of Directors.”

For the second consecutive year, Horn received her Top 100 Award in the KPMG Professionals category. A partner with Stikeman Elliott LLP’s Toronto office, she practises corporate and commercial law and is co-head of the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) and Private Equity Group.

While Horn would like to see more women in senior and leadership roles in law firms and in the profession, particularly in the M&A field, she notes this is a key issue law firms are continuing to work on and gains have been made. Through speaking roles and her involvement with the American Bar Association, she has taken her message to law students about the benefits of working in corporate law.

Over her years of practice, Horn has also seen changes to the profession that have benefitted many women lawyers. One of these changes is the large degree of flexibility. “The increasing role that technology plays has had (mostly) good influences on the ability to work remotely,” she says. “While attempting to disconnect from work can be more difficult, technology has, on the whole, created more opportunities for flexibility in where and when lawyers work and in being able to balance and schedule multiple commitments.” In addition, she notes the increasing role of in-house counsel. “Many large corporations and banks now have in-house departments that are really their own law firms, creating opportunities for lawyers who choose not to stay in private practice.”

An inspiration to women professionals as is Goldring, Horn says she is most proud of being seen as a role model by her three daughters (ages 16, 14 and 9) as they start to consider their own career choices.

2016 will mark the first major milestone anniversary for Goldring, Horn and their classmates, with a reunion taking place at Homecoming Weekend in the fall.

“I have a lot of nostalgia for Kingston,” says Horn, who spent two years at Queen’s as an undergraduate student in economics before entering law school. It’s also where she met her future husband, Fraser Horn (Sc’89), and since graduation they’ve come back a number of times for reunion visits. “I’m most looking forward to catching up with classmates I haven’t seen in years,” she says about Homecoming 2016, “and also to just wandering around Kingston, going to the market, visiting the university and eating in some of our favourite places.”

“To be able to say that we have been practising law for 25 years is quite an achievement,” adds Goldring. “I am hoping to attend the reunion – say hello to many old friends and enjoy Kingston.”

The Queen’s Law community is certainly looking forward to welcoming back Judy Goldring and Samantha Horn, two of the Most Powerful Women in Canada.