Christine A. Palmer and Emem Madu also join the bench as justices
The Alberta Court of Justice has expanded its capacity with the appointment of Gordon Putnam, Christine A. Palmer, and Emem Madu to the bench.
Putnam has been named assistant chief justice for the Edmonton region, while Palmer will sit as a justice in the Northern region. Madu will be a justice for the Edmonton Family and Youth Division.
“I have prioritized filling vacancies at the Alberta Court of Justice as part of my commitment to improve access to justice for Albertans. I am confident each of these appointees will serve Albertans well, and I congratulate them on their new roles,” said Mickey Amery, minister of justice and attorney general, in a statement.
Putnam steps into the assistant chief justice role with immediate effect. He was named a judge of the then-Provincial Court of Alberta on June 1, 2022, before the court was renamed as the Alberta Court of Justice.
Before joining the bench, he was the managing partner at Morinville-based Putnam Law LLP – a role he held from 1996 to 2022. He also spent four years as an associate lawyer at Thomas Walter & Company in Gibbons.
Palmer commences as a justice on January 20. She began serving as a Crown prosecutor in 2011, based in Hinton.
She logged a stint at Reid Law Office in Drayton Valley as an articling student and associate from 2006 to 2011. She obtained her bachelor of laws from the University of Alberta.
Madu joins the bench on January 31. She has been a sole practitioner since 2012, working with Edmonton-based Laurier Law Office and Tisel Law. She also spent time at Brownlee LLP as a research lawyer.
She was previously a regulatory compliance specialist at ATB Financial as well as a policy and legislation analyst at Alberta Justice.
James Hunter, chief justice of the Alberta Court of Justice, praised the appointments of Palmer and Madu.
“Their experience and knowledge will benefit the court and Albertans as we strive to provide timely and effective access to justice,” he said in a statement.
