Reviewers
May 31 2012
The Honourable Patrick J. LeSage C.M., O.ONT., Q.C.
The former Chief Justice of the Ontario Superior Court retired from the bench after 29 years of distinguished service and joined Gowling, Lafleur Henderson LLP, one of Canada's leading diversified law firms, in February 2004.
His practice is focused on providing advice on complex disputes and he also acts as a mediator, arbitrator, and/or fact finder in significant private and public sector matters.
Patrick LeSage began his career as a Crown Attorney in the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General where he rose to the position of the Director of Crown Attorneys for Ontario. In 1975, he was appointed to the County and District Court and became Associate Chief Judge of that Court in 1983. In 1994, he became Associate Chief Justice and in 1996, was appointed Chief Justice of what is now the Superior Court of Justice for Ontario, a position he held until September 2002.
In almost three decades on the bench, Mr. LeSage presided over some of Canada’s most publicized and complex cases.
He lectured extensively to judges, law students and law societies. He was involved in introducing gender and racial equality seminars for judges in the late 1980s. He was a member of the Equality Committee and the Administration of Justice Committee of the Canadian Judicial Council and is a past director of the Canadian Judges Conference.
In 2004, Mr. LeSage was appointed to the Board of Governors of York University and was elected a Senior Fellow of Massey College, University of Toronto, in 2005.
In July 2004, he was appointed by the Government of Ontario to conduct an Extensive Review of Ontario’s Police Complaints System. His final report, presented to the Attorney General in 2005, contained 27 recommendations, which were incorporated in the independent Police Review Act.
In December 2005, Mr. LeSage was appointed by the Attorney General of Manitoba to conduct an Inquiry into the first-degree murder conviction of James Driskell. The Commission of Inquiry Into Certain Aspects of the Trial and Conviction of James Driskell began in April 2006, and Mr. LeSage’s findings and recommendations were provided to the Attorney General on January 30, 2007.
In December 2005, he was appointed as a Commissioner of the Ontario Securities Commission and served in that capacity until February 2011.
In March 2007, he was appointed by the Government of Ontario as Vice Chair of the Consent and Capacity Board. In August 2007, he was appointed as an Advisor to the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association for a two-year term.
In April 2007, the former Chief Justice was appointed as Senior Independent Consultant to the Ontario Criminal Conviction Review Committee, a Standing Committee within the Criminal Law Division of the Ministry of the Attorney General. The OCCRC was established in May 2006 to provide expert leadership in the prevention of wrongful convictions.
In 2008, Mr. LeSage was appointed by the Attorney General to conduct a review of large and complex criminal case procedures. He and Michael Code (now Justice Michael Code of the Superior Court of Justice) presented their report to the Attorney General in November 2008. The LeSage-Code Report led to Bill C-2 Fair and Efficient Criminal Trials Act being passed by the Parliament of Canada in June 2011.
In October 2008, Mr. LeSage accepted an invitation to attend in Tanzania to address the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on the issues involved in managing complex trials.
In November 2009, he was appointed by the Board of Directors of The Toronto Community Housing Corporation to conduct an Independent Review of the Eviction of Al Gosling and the TCHC’s Eviction Prevention Policy. His report was delivered in June 2010.
In December 2009, Mr. LeSage was retained by the Ministry of the Attorney General in connection with matters involving the Special Investigations Unit and the police in Ontario. He provided Recommendations to the Ministry in April 2011.
In August 2010, he and Dr. Alan Meek (Dean Emeritus of the Ontario Veterinary College) were retained by the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to conduct an Independent External Review of events that occurred in May 2010 at the York Regional Branch of the OSPCA. Their report was delivered in April 2011.
In March 2011, he was appointed by the Minister of National Defence to conduct an Independent Review of the Military Justice provisions of the National Defence Act.
On April 26, 2012, the Ontario Bar Association presented its President’s Award to Mr. LeSage for his outstanding contributions to the practice of law in Ontario.
K. Lynn Mahoney
Lynn Mahoney is a partner in the advocacy department at Gowlings’ Toronto office with a practice consisting primarily of commercial litigation matters.
In addition to her commercial litigation practice, She has criminal law experience as both a prosecutor and defence counsel. Her practice has also involved professional disciplinary matters.
Ms. Mahoney has acted as counsel before the Law Society of Upper Canada and as independent counsel to the Ontario College of Pharmacists and the College of Midwives of Ontario.
She has appeared before all levels of court in Ontario, including the Court of Appeal, and has represented her clients before regulatory tribunals, and in large public inquiries, including the Walkerton Inquiry.
Most recently, she has acted as counsel on several inquires and also reviews commissioned by the provincial government: The Review of the Roots of Youth Violence, Report of the Review of Large and Complex Criminal Case Procedures and the Report on Financial Assistance for Victims of Violent Crime in Ontario.
Ms. Mahoney was called to the bar in 1988, after having received her law degree from the University of Toronto and a BA in French and English Literature from Memorial University of Newfoundland.