Series Chair


















Speakers

Elizabeth Sanderson, former senior Justice Canada and Justice Nunavut lawyer and former sessional law professor at the University of Ottawa.
Elizabeth is the author of Government Lawyering: Duties and Ethical Challenges of Government Lawyers (LexisNexis, 2018), written with over 35 years of experience in Justice Canada and Justice Nunavut.

Elizabeth was the Nunavut Government's Deputy Minister of Justice from 2014 until early 2016.  In Iqaluit, she led the Government of Nunavut’s interface with courts and RCMP, and was responsible for detentions and inmate custody, victim services, the Coroner, and provision of legal services. 
Upon her return to Ottawa, she taught Public and Constitutional Law at University of Ottawa Law School.

For well over three decades, Elizabeth held numerous positions in Justice Canada, including assignment as the Justice Public Servant-in-Residence at UOttawa, where she developed and taught courses focussed on the practice of law in government, Torts, and Legal Ethics.  She was also an Ottawa Law Review Faculty Advisor.

Shalene Curtis-Micallef, Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General of Canada

Shalene Curtis-Micallef was appointed Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General of Canada on February 13, 2023. She had served as Associate Deputy Minister of the Department of Justice Canada since September 1, 2021.

Over the course of her career she has held various positions at Justice Canada including the roles of Assistant Deputy Minister Tax Law Services Portfolio, Deputy ADM for the Policy Sector and Executive Director and Senior General Counsel of Health Legal Services and of Agriculture and Food Inspection Legal Services. Her career at Justice Canada has touched on a variety of areas of law, with an emphasis on regulatory law and international law. Over the years she has had the opportunity to contribute to the advancement of significant legislative reforms including in the areas of cannabis legalization and regulation, tobacco control, food safety modernization and public health. She started her career with Justice in the Tax Law Services Portfolio as tax litigation counsel.




Eric Boucher, Senior Lawyer, Office of the Attorney General, New BrunswickEric spent most of his youth playing Dungeons and Dragons.  He then graduated with a degree in arts in 1997 and a LLB in 2000, both from l'Université de Moncton.  He articled with the Military Police Complaints Commission in Ottawa and was admitted to the Law Society of Ontario in 2001.  After a brief stint as a criminal defence lawyer, he joined the Legislative Services Branch of the New Brunswick Office of the Attorney General in November 2002 as legislative counsel.  He was called to the Law Society of New Brunswick in 2003.   As legislative counsel in a small jurisdiction, Eric has had the opportunity to draft both primary and secondary legislation under most heads of provincial jurisdiction, notably in the areas of municipal government law, labour relations, education, public health, taxation, insurance, public safety and environmental law.

Steven Chaplin, Fellow uOttawa Public Law Centre and former Senior Parliamentary Counsel for the House of Commons. 

Steven Chaplin has been a member of the Ontario bar since 1987.  He has earned an LLM (Osgoode) along with a BA (Queen’s), and LLB (Queen’s). He has practiced in both the federal public sector as well as in private practice in Ottawa. He was employed as Senior Counsel for the House of Commons from 2002 to 2017.  In that position he was responsible for advising the House of Commons, its Speaker, Members, Committees and Administration on numerous administrative and constitutional law questions particularly in the area of parliamentary privilege, including independence of Members of Parliament and the House of Commons from the executive branch and the courts. He has appeared before the Supreme Court, the Federal Court, and the Federal Court of Appeal in cases relating to the protection of the constitutional independence of the House of Commons.  He is at present a Part-time Professor at the University of Ottawa, Common Law Section, a Fellow of the uOttawa Public Law Centre and continues to practice as a consultant to various legislative assemblies and parliamentary entities.




 

Adam Dodek, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa




Barbara Kincaid, General Counsel, Supreme Court of Canada
Barbara Kincaid, B.A., LL.B., is the General Counsel at the Supreme Court of Canada and has extensive experience in Court administration.  Barbara is the Director-General of the Court Operations Sector, which comprises the Court’s Registry, legal services, publication of the Supreme Court Reports, information management and the Library.  Barbara obtained both her degrees from the University of Ottawa and was admitted to the Law Society of Ontario in 1981.  She practiced law in Ottawa before joining the public service.  Over the years, Barbara has been active in various legal and judicial administration organizations.