They are appointed in the Court of Appeal and Court of King's Bench
Minister of Justice and Attorney General Arif Virani has announced the appointments of Alice Woolley and Kevin Feth to the Alberta Court of Appeal and Ayla Akgungor, Jonathan Martin Darren Reed, and Chidinma Thompson to the Alberta Court of King's Bench.
Alice Woolley was a justice of the Court of King's Bench before her appointment to the Court of Appeal. She was also a professor at the University of Calgary Faculty of Law, where she became a nationally and internationally recognized scholar of lawyers' ethics and professional regulation. Woolley also served as associate dean and co-chair of the faculty's curriculum committee. She was president of the Canadian Association for Legal Ethics and the International Association of Legal Ethics.
Kevin Feth was also a justice of the Court of King's Bench. Before his appointment to the bench, he was a partner with Field Law LLP in Edmonton, where he practised education law, employment and labour, human rights, administrative law, commercial and constitutional litigation, and Aboriginal law. Feth was a sessional instructor in labour law at the University of Alberta Law School and a litigation instructor at the Alberta Bar Admission/CPLED course for 15 years. He was president of the Law Society of Alberta and Pro Bono Law Alberta.
Woolley will sit in the appeal court in Calgary, while Feth will sit in Edmonton.
Ayla Akgungor was a partner at Field LLP, where she practised labour and employment, human rights and professional regulation. She was the practice group leader for the firm's Edmonton labour and employment group from 2014 to 2022. Akgungor has been vice chair of the Alberta Labour Relations Board since 2019 and is the co-editor of Remedies in Labour, Employment and Human Rights Law. Akgungor will sit as a judge in Edmonton.
Jonathan Martin was a chief federal prosecutor at the Public Prosecution Service of Canada in Edmonton, where he gained extensive legal experience through his trial and appellate work. He has argued numerous matters before the Court of Appeal of Alberta and has appeared before the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. He has co-coached the University of Alberta's Laskin Moot team for the last two years. Martin will sit as a judge in Edmonton.
Darren Reed was a partner at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP in Calgary. He maintained a broad commercial dispute resolution practice. He is also the co-author of the Lexis-Nexis text, Civil Procedure and Practice in Alberta, a yearly publication in its fifth year. Reed was a sessional lecturer at the University of Calgary Law School and a constant volunteer with the Legal Education Society of Alberta. Reed will sit as a judge in Calgary.
Chidinma B. Thompson was a partner at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG) in Calgary. She was born and raised in Nigeria. She practised law in Africa until she immigrated to Canada in 2004. She joined the research department of Bennett Jones LLP in 2008, articled with BLG in 2009, and was called to the Alberta Bar in 2010. She became a partner at BLG in 2017. Thompson maintained a diverse commercial litigation, arbitration, and regulatory law practice. She was a sessional instructor of various law courses at the University of Calgary and authored several law textbook chapters and articles. Thompson will sit as a judge in Calgary.
"I wish Justices Woolley, Feth, Akgungor, Martin, Reed, and Thompson every success as they take on their new roles. I am confident they will serve Albertans well as members of the Court of Appeal and the Court of King's Bench of Alberta," Minister Virani said.
