Legal Feeds Blog

Monday, 03 October 2011 10:50

Feds announce seven judicial appointments

The federal government has announced seven new appointments to courts across the country.

Randall Bocock joins the bench of the Tax Court of Canada.

Starting from the West, litigator Patrice Abrioux joins the British Columbia Supreme Court bench in Vancouver. A lawyer with Quinlan Abrioux in Vancouver, he replaces Justice J.S. Sigurdson, who became a supernumerary judge on April 4.

In Alberta, Craig Jones, of Felesky Flynn LLP in Calgary, heads to the Court of Queen’s Bench in that city. A tax and trusts and estates lawyer, he takes the place of Justice C.A. Kent, who moved to supernumerary status on May 18.

Saskatchewan’s Court of Queen’s Bench will see the addition of Richard Danyliuk, a lawyer with McDougall Gauley LLP in Saskatoon. His areas of practice included civil litigation and criminal and family law. He fills the vacancy left by Justice P. Foley, who became a supernumerary judge on Sept. 1.

In Ontario, Crown attorney Brian O’Marra leaves the Ministry of the Attorney General to take a spot on the Superior Court bench at the busy Brampton courthouse. A criminal lawyer, he has been a Crown in Halton region since 1993. He replaces Justice E.R. Kruzik, who became a supernumerary judge on May 7.

Moving to Quebec, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP’s Thomas Davis becomes a judge of that province’s Superior Court. A lawyer at BLG since 2000, his main areas of practice included labour and employment, workers’ compensation, and health, administrative, and education law. Davis will sit in Montreal, where Justice D. Richer resigned as of April 2.

In addition, Michael Wood of Burchell Hayman Parish in Halifax joins the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. A lawyer since 1982, his practice areas include commercial litigation, professional discipline, human rights, professional liability, aboriginal rights, and administrative, municipal, and employment law.

The final appointment was to the Tax Court of Canada, where Hamilton, Ont., lawyer Randall Bocock of Evans Philp LLP replaces Justice P. Archambault. Archambault became a supernumerary judge on April 23.