2026 TLA Awards Gala

2026 TLA Emerging Excellence Award Recipient - Dasha Peregoudova

Dasha Peregoudova, a former world-class athlete who has established a wide-ranging labour, employment, and sports law practice, will receive the Toronto Lawyers Association Emerging Excellence Award on February 26, 2026, at The Omni King Edward Hotel.

“Dasha is an extraordinary person whose talents have been evident in the athletic world and the practice of law,” said TLA president Anna Wong. “A gifted athlete and a tireless volunteer, she has distinguished herself in employment and labour-related matters.”

The Emerging Excellence Award is presented to a Toronto lawyer in practice for 10 years or less or a Toronto organization in existence for 10 years or less who/that exemplifies leadership or innovation in advancing the TLA’s three pillars of Knowledge, Advocacy and Community.

Peregoudova, a partner at Aird & Berlis LLP and a member of the Litigation & Dispute Resolution, Workplace Law, and Sports, Media & Entertainment Groups, is described by her firm as a “confident and compassionate litigator” who has appeared as counsel before a variety of courts and tribunals in Ontario, including the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Ontario Divisional Court, the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.

She emigrated from Russia with her family when she was eight-years-old and soon developed a talent for taekwondo. She later excelled as a Canadian national team athlete and national team captain, winning two Pan American gold medals in 2006 and 2008, a US Open gold in 2007, and bronze at the 2008 Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships.

A long-time advocate for athletes, Peregoudova represented the Professional Women’s Hockey League Players Association during the establishment of the PWHL, helping to secure the players’ first collective bargaining agreement.

Among her many varied roles in the sports world, she worked as a legal intern for the National Basketball Association, served as an athlete representative for Taekwondo Canada, was the President of AthletesCAN – the association of national team athletes in Canada, serves as labour counsel and executive director for the Canadian Men’s National Soccer Team Players Association, is the director of Sanctions and Outcomes for Abuse-Free Sport, Canada’s first independent safe sport mechanism, and served as Team Canada’s Ombudsperson at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and 2019 Pan American Games.

Peregoudova’s practice is focused on such matters as drafting and negotiating complex contracts, collective bargaining, as well as civil and commercial actions involving employment disputes. As well, she regularly advises clients on workplace accessibility and accommodation issues. Peregoudova also conducts policy, ethical and statute-driven investigations for a wide variety of clients, and works closely with Aird & Berlis’ M&A, capital markets and corporate teams on transactional matters involving complex employment and labour issues.

Dasha received a Precedent Setter award from Precedent Magazine in 2023, was named an upcoming partner in labour and employment by Chambers in 2025, and was named as a leading lawyer in sports by Best Lawyers and Legal 500 in 2025.

Sponsorship Opportunities

For inquiries about becoming a sponsor of the TLA Awards Gala 2026, please contact Joan Rataic-Lang at jrataiclang@tlaonline.ca.