The National Dean’s Advisory Council is designed to foster meaningful engagement among alumni who have the expertise, networks, and resources to support the Dean in advancing the Faculty’s mission and strategic priorities. Through collaboration and shared leadership, Council members help strengthen connections across our national alumni community, expand the Faculty’s profile and impact, and support efforts to build international partnerships, attract outstanding students from around the world, and reinforce Queen’s Law’s reputation for excellence in legal education and legal research. To view The National Dean’s Advisory Council Alumni click here.
Robert Anderson, KC
Robert Anderson practices as general counsel representing clients in court and in alternative dispute forums. He regularly appears in court on matters that involve a wide variety of areas of law including securities, white collar criminal matters, corporate, commercial, class actions, media, administrative, environmental, constitutional, property assessment, municipal expropriation and criminal. Robert has appeared in all levels of the courts of British Columbia, the Federal Trial Court, the Federal Court of Appeal, the Tax Court of Canada and the Supreme Court of Canada.
Council Member
Peter Brady
Peter was most recently Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Lundin Mining where he provided strategic advice on all corporate matters including legal, regulatory, internal audit and governance issues. He has over 25 years of experience in industry and private practice working with major international mining companies.
Council Member
Hugh A. Christie
Chair
Hugh Christie is the founding managing partner of Ogletree Deakins (Canada), having started the firm in 2016 and been it's managing partner until 2024. Hugh provides commercial and public sector clientswith advice on all elements of employment law, from pre-hiring through recruitment, drafting agreements, benefit plans and policies, discipline, promotion, succession planning, termination and post-employment obligations. Hugh deals with employment issues arising out of restructuring of the workplace as a result of corporate transactions and trans-border employment issues.
Council Member
The Honourable Thomas Albert Cromwell C.C.
The Honourable Thomas Albert Cromwell received law degrees from Queen’s and Oxford, practised law in Kingston and Toronto and taught law as a sessional instructor at Queen’s and as a full-time professor at Dalhousie University. During his time at Dalhousie, he was active as a labour arbitrator and served as Vice-chair of the Nova Scotia Labour Relations Board.
Council Member
James Dorr
General Counsel, Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropies, London England
James is General Counsel of Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropies (AGGP), a global group of philanthropies that invest in charities and projects around the world that effect meaningful long-term transformation and sustainable change.
Council Member
Peter Griffin
Peter Griffin is Managing Partner and one of the five founding partners at Lenczner Slaght. According to Chambers Global Client Guide, he is “One of the top lawyers in Toronto, if not the top – he's a tough, aggressive but fair and smart commercial litigator who you can rely on, as he has fantastic judgment."
Council Member
Manjot Hallen
Manjot S. Hallen is a founding partner of Warnett Hallen LLP, a personal injury and civil litigation firm in Vancouver. He is an experienced trial lawyer and has appeared on behalf of clients in British Columbia Supreme Court and Provincial Court. Manjot has been practising law since 2005 and has lectured on personal injury issues for the Trial Lawyers Association of BC, Continuing Legal Education Society of BC, and the South Asian Bar Association of BC.
Council Member
Imran S. Hussainaly
Imran S. Hussainaly serves as Senior Legal Counsel for Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG).
OEG owns the 5-time Stanley Cup Champion Edmonton Oilers, Edmonton Oil Kings and Bakersfield Condors and operates Rogers Place, North America’s premier and most technologically advanced sports and entertainment venue.
Council Member
Jennifer Keenan
Jennifer is a seasoned lawyer and community leader whose career has spanned more than three decades, with a focus on global health and immigration. She recently retired from the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, where she served as an adjudicator of refugee claims.
Council Member
James Kershaw
Mr. Kershaw is a lawyer (Ontario) and a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia. He is currently Pacific Region Head for TD Wealth Private Wealth Management with responsibility for the investment management, private banking, private trust, wealth preservation and wealth advisory services teams. Prior to joining TD, he was a Partner with Davies, Ward and Beck in Toronto and a manager with KPMG in Vancouver. He received his LL.B from Queen's University and a Bachelors of Commerce degree from The University of British Columbia.
Council Member
Alexandra Manthorpe
Alexandra Manthorpe is a lawyer at Cunningham, Swan, Carty, Little & Bonham LLP in Kingston, Ontario. Her areas of practice include estate and trust planning, estate and trust administration, and business succession planning.
Council Member
Allan McGavin
Allan's practice focuses on business law and he serves as the Chief Legal Officer of Corix, a leading district energy business with operations across North America.
Allan obtained both his commerce and law degrees at Queen’s, where he played and coached rugby and managed the Queen’s Business Law Clinic.
Allan enjoys spending his spare time with his wife Julia, daughter Becky, and dog Bernie. They also have a cat.
Council Member
Kelley McKinnon
Kelley McKinnon is a Harvard Fellow, Advanced Leadership Initiative 2020.
Kelley is former Deputy General Counsel and Chief Regulatory Officer at BMO Financial Group, and prior to this was Vice-President and Chief Compliance Officer at BMO Capital Markets. Formerly a partner and head of the securities litigation practice at Gowlings LLP, Kelley has conducted highly sensitive internal corporate investigations and handled multiple securities class actions, corporate disputes and defence of numerous regulatory matters.
Council Member
Kristin J. Morch
Kristin J. Morch, Honours BA (Queen’s), LLB (Queen’s) of the Ontario Bar, is General Counsel to the Continental Saxon Group, a diversified real estate, venture capital, and oil and gas company. Kristin was formerly a partner of Aird & Berlis, and acted as General Counsel to Ernst & Young, in the liquidation of Standard Trust Company. In private practice, she specialized in real estate law, corporate finance and related insolvency matters.
Council Member
Sheila A. Murray
Past Chair
Sheila A. Murray, BComm (Queen’s), LLB (Queen’s), of the Bar of Ontario, is President and General Counsel of CI Financial, Canada’s second largest independent mutual fund company. In this role she provides strategic, securities regulatory and governance leadership for the company and its Board of Directors. Sheila joined CI in 2008 after a 25 year career at Blake, Cassel’s and Graydon LLP where she practiced securities law with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and corporate reorganizations.
Council Member
Jean-Ann Naysmith Rooney
Jean-Ann is a member of the Queen's Law 1984 class. She was born in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and grew up in Ottawa. She obtained a B.A. in English and Politics at Queen's University and then her Law degree. She had the privilege of playing on the varsity squash team at Queen's. She articled at the law firm of Mason MacLeod Lyle Smith in Calgary and then practised at the law finn of Reed Donahue for four years in the areas of corporate, commercial real estate and criminal law. In 1989 she established her own law firm and practices primarily real estate law.
Council Member
Tamsin Plaxton
Growth Advisor, entrepreneur, former CEO and lawyer, skier, cyclist, and proud mom.
Tamsin Plaxton is a growth advisor, entrepreneur, and former lawyer and CEO with over 30 years of experience helping organizations scale, evolve, and navigate pivotal moments of change.
Council Member
Alicia Quesnel
Alicia K Quesnel (BA 1987, MA 1989, LLB (Queen's) 1993 and LLM 1994) is Managing Director of Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP (BDP) in Calgary, Alberta. As Partner, she practiced in the energy/commercial transactions and competition law groups.
Council Member
Aliya Ramji
Aliya helps startups seize opportunities, navigate challenges and grow into highly successful businesses.
Aliya Ramji is a partner of McCarthy Tétrault and co-founder of MT>Ventures, a wholly-owned division of the firm. Based in Toronto, Aliya is focused exclusively on startups, scale-ups and other fast growth businesses. In addition to delivering tailored legal advice and other strategic value to high-potential businesses in the startup or scale-up phase, Aliya regularly advises venture capital, angel and strategic investors, as well as parties looking to create strategic alliances or partnerships with founders or start-ups.
Council Member
Jeff Read
Jeff practices corporate and securities law at the Vancouver office of Veritas Law, focusing on advising local, national and international companies and securities dealers on their Canadian activities.
Council Member
Anton Sahazizian
Anton Sahazizian is a Managing Director and Global Head of Mergers & Acquisitions at Moelis & Company. He previously served as the Firm’s Head of U.S. Mergers & Acquisitions where he was responsible for the growth and expansion of the U.S. franchise. Anton has over 25 years of investment banking experience, with expertise in originating and executing M&A mandates across a broad range of industry verticals.
Council Member
Richard Tory
Richard Tory is a Managing Director and President of Morgan Stanley Canada, the global investment bank. Richard is responsible for the firm’s Canadian investment banking and global metals and mining practices. Now based in Toronto, Richard spent 15 years working in London, England and 7 years working in Hong Kong. Richard has spent the last 25 years advising leading Canadian and global companies on strategic and capital markets initiatives. Prior to embarking on his banking career in 1998, Richard was a partner at Torys.
Council Member
Andrew J. Trevoy
Andrew (“Andy”) Trevoy is an associate with Ogilvie LLP in Edmonton where he practices Small Business Corporate Commercial Law and Not-for Profit and Charities Law. Three years ago he merged his business law firm, Trevoy LLP into the Ogilvie practice. Andy is also a partner in an Edmonton based private equity firm investing in and providing director level leadership to several Alberta-based private business organizations. He does some Human Resources consulting, and is the co-founder and part owner of a business resourcing U.S. based small business trade mark owners.
Council Member
Patrice Walch-Watson
Patrice is Senior Managing Director, Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary at CPP Investments, where she serves on the senior management team and leads the legal, compliance and corporate secretarial functions globally, and oversees the internal assurance and advisory function. She is a seasoned business lawyer and trusted advisor with deep experience in transactions, regulation, corporate governance and providing strategic counsel.
Council Member
Frank E. Walwyn
Vice-Chair
Frank is a partner at WeirFoulds LLP, one of Canada's oldest law firms. Frank appears as counsel on complex multi-jurisdiction litigation matters. He is licensed to practise law in Canada, and is also a member of the bars of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Dominica, Grenada and St. Kitts and Nevis.
Council Member
The Honourable Darla Wilson
Justice Darla A. Wilson received a Bachelor of Arts from Queen’s University in 1981, and a Bachelor of Laws from Queen’s University in 1984. She was admitted to the Bar of Ontario in 1986.
Council Member
Blair C. Yorke-Slader
Blair is Vice-Chairman of Bennett Jones LLP and a partner in the Calgary office. A Fellow of both the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, he is a leading Alberta practitioner in high-stakes corporate and commercial litigation with an active trial and appellate business and energy litigation and arbitration practice.
Council Member