NSBS at-large reps elected

Three new council members were elected to the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society on Monday in the at-large election.

A total of 915 members cast ballots in the at-large poll, or 31.46 per cent of a possible 2,906 eligible voters. Online voting took place April 20 to 27.

Election of at-large members of council is the second phase of the NSBS election process. The first took place in March to choose eight members in district elections. The two-phase election arose from recommendations of the task force on council composition (2009).

Four candidates were in the running for three member-at-large positions for the 2015-2017 term. The three elected were Gavin Giles, a litigation partner with McInnes Cooper in Halifax; Robert Gregan of Nova Scotia Legal Aid in Amherst, and Tuma Young, in private practice and at Cape Breton University in Sydney.

The results were as follows:

• Gavin Giles: 527 votes (28 per cent)
• Robert Gregan: 510 votes (27 per cent)
• Tuma Young: 464 votes (24 per cent)
• David Schembrucker: 398 votes (21 per cent)

The members will begin their two-year terms following the 2015 annual meeting June 13.

The NSBS council for 2015-2017 will consist of 21 members: President Jill Perry; R. Daren Baxter, first vice president; second VP Julia Cornish; 10 members elected and acclaimed in the judicial districts; three at-large members to still be elected; David Bartol of the Legal Services Division of the Departmen of Justice as the representative of the attorney general; Kim Brooks, the dean of the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University; and three public representatives.