Judicial appointments announced in Alberta and Quebec: Jane Sidnell, Barbara Johnston, Mark Phillips

David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, has announced two new judicial appointments in Alberta and one new appointment in Quebec.

Jane Sidnell, Q.C., has been appointed a justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta, in place of Sandra Hunt McDonald (Calgary), who elected to be a supernumerary judge, effective Sept. 9, 2019.

Sidnell initially worked at an architectural firm then at her own home design business before earning a law degree from the University of Calgary. She articled with Alberta courts then went on to work at the Calgary offices of firms that would later become Miller Thomson LLP and Dentons. She was then a founding partner of the Calgary-based Rose LLP. She has held leadership roles in the Canadian College of Construction Lawyers, the Canadian Bar Association’s Law for the Future Fund and the Canadian branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Barbara Johnston, Q.C., has also been appointed a justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta, in place of Justice John McCarthy (Calgary), who elected to be a supernumerary judge, effective Jan. 6.

A partner in the Calgary office of Dentons, Johnston obtained law degrees from Queen’s University and from Osgoode Hall Law School. She has since centred her practice in the fields of labour and employment law, human rights law, health and safety law, constitutional law, administrative law and privacy law. She is a fellow of the U.S.-based College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and has served in leadership roles in the Canadian Association of Counsel to Employers and in the Queen’s Alberta Alumni Council for the Faculty of Law. She has been distinguished by various publications, including by Lexpert, which has recognized her as a litigation lawyer to watch, as a Lexpert Rising Star and as a recipient of the Lexpert Zenith Award for mid-career excellence.

Mark Phillips has been appointed a puisne judge of the Superior Court of Quebec for the district of Montreal, in place of Justice Claude Auclair, who elected to be a supernumerary judge, effective Sept. 24, 2019.

Admitted to the Quebec bar in 1995, he holds law degrees in civil and common law from McGill University. He has worked at Guy & Gilbert, at McCarthy Tétrault LLP and most recently in the disputes group at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP’s Montreal office. He focuses his practice in the areas of civil and commercial litigation, professional liability, health law, disciplinary law, constitutional law, Indigenous law and statutory offences. He has appeared before various Quebec courts and federal courts and before around 20 different administrative tribunals.