Award winners Brian Rose, Law’74, Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Law’10, Justice Harvey Brownstone, Law’80, and Leslie O’Donoghue, Law’88.
Award winners Brian Rose, Law’74, Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Law’10, Justice Harvey Brownstone, Law’80, and Leslie O’Donoghue, Law’88.

The Dean’s Council Awards Committee has announced the names of four distinguished graduates who will receive this year’s Queen’s Law alumni awards. In addition to the existing accolades – which are named in memory of founding faculty members H.R.S. Ryan and Dan Soberman, and in honour of Supreme Court Justice and alumnus Tom Cromwell – the Faculty has inaugurated the J.A. (Alec) Corry Distinguished Alumni Award commemorating the Queen’s Principal who spearheaded the school’s re-establishment.

The 2016 honorees, chosen from among a lengthy list of nominees whose names were put forward by fellow alumni, are:

  • Brian Rose, Law’74, H.R.S. Ryan Law Alumni Award of Distinction (for overall distinction in the legal profession), internationally recognized as one of Canada’s most experienced and trusted legal counsels in the fields of corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions, for 37 years a builder-partner in Stikeman Elliott LLP and currently Senior Counsel to Bennett Jones LLP, winner in 2012 of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Medal, and a selfless champion of women and diversity within the business and legal professions.
  • Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Law’10, Dan Soberman Outstanding Young Alumni Award (for early-career success), a civil liberties champion and skilled civil and commercial litigator, he was elected as the Liberal MP member for the Toronto riding of Beaches-East York in the 2015 federal election.
  • Justice Harvey Brownstone, Law’80, Justice Thomas Cromwell Distinguished Public Service Award (for sustained outstanding public service), a one-time Legal Aid counsel, criminal lawyer, former Director of Ontario’s Family Responsibility Office, a bestselling author and a TV talk show host, he became Canada’s first openly gay judge when he was appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice in 1995.
  • Leslie O’Donoghue, QC, Law’88, J.A. (Alec) Corry Distinguished Alumni Award (for excelling in a career outside the traditional practice of law), Executive VP at Agrium Inc., member of the Queen’s Law Alberta Alumni Council and past member of the Dean’s Council, Director of Calgary United Way and Pembina Pipeline Corporation, she has been recognized as one of Canadian Lawyer magazine’s Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers, Alberta’s 50 Most Influential People and WXN’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women.

“We’re delighted to honour such an illustrious group of alumni,” says Dean’s Council Chair Sheila Murray, Law’82. “Each of these outstanding individuals has made a great contribution to the profession and is a credit to Queen’s Law. I hope all our alumni will join with us in saluting this year’s honourees.”

Leslie O’Donoghue will receive her award at an alumni reception in Calgary on May 2. The other three award recipients will be honoured at the Celebrate Queen’s Law in Toronto reception on May 31.