Felipe Alberto Paredes-Canevari | Top 40 Under 40 2025

Age: 39

Occupation: Lawyer and Partner, Reliance Legal Group LLP; Musician

While Felipe Alberto Paredes-Canevari doesn’t exactly live a double life, there are two distinctive sides to his career. Most of the time, he’s a busy litigator and partner at his mid-sized, full-service law firm, Reliance Legal Group LLP.

At other times, however, he becomes Felipe Alberto, a soulful singer and guitarist specializing in Música Criolla, a traditional style of Peruvian music, and other Latin American music.

“I’m always doing both, but sometimes, depending on the seasons of my life, I’m doing more of one or more of the other,” he says.

Paredes-Canevari has always been academically inclined, and law school seemed like a natural progression for him professionally. He developed a love for Peruvian music as a child during family trips to his father’s native Peru, where he would hear his father’s friends playing traditional music.

After law school, Paredes-Canevari recorded two albums and what became a viral music video with tens of thousands of views, catching the attention of Peruvian music producer Oscar Pasache, who immediately invited him to perform in New York City. That 2015 performance led to more performance opportunities for Paredes-Canevari in the U.S., Latin America and on Peruvian television, while he continued to perform at Calgary festivals like Fiestaval Latin Music Festival.

Cultural exchange drives Paredes-Canevari, both in his artistic work and as a lawyer proudly representing newcomers to Canada from around the world. Since he joined Reliance, Paredes-Canevari has become the owner of his firm and has doubled the staff size while personally mentoring law students.

For Paredes-Canevari, promoting the authentic, ancestral art form of Música Criolla is just as important.

“The greatest answer to who I am is found in my own history; in my roots and in the traditions and values handed down to me from previous generations,” he says.

Thank yous
“Almighty God and the Blessed Virgin Mary; my wife Carolyn; my three children Milagros, Serafina, Rafael; my parents who have tirelessly sacrificed so much for me; my business partners Taranjeet Aujla, David Jung, and Gurteg Gill; my friend and colleague Taylor Johnson, who is a never-ending source of positivity and encouragement; all of my family, those who remain with us and those who have gone on to their eternal reward, for teaching me the value and power of tradition.”