Canadian Lawyer magazine has named two alumni, both judges, among its 2015 “Top 25 Most Influential” people in the justice system and legal profession. Justice David Stratas, Law’84, LLD’12, of the Federal Court of Appeal and Justice Ian Nordheimer, Law’76 (Com’73), of the Ontario Superior Court were both selected in the corporate-commercial category.
 
Stratas has sat on the Federal Court of Appeal since 2009, and during that time, he has delivered a number of prominent decisions. Most recently, he wrote the Court’s unanimous reasons in Wilson v. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd, which contentiously held that non-union federal employees did not have any right to unjust discharge protections. One voter described Stratas as the “greatest administrative law jurist of our age; the only one going deep into doctrine, making sense of it all.”

Stratas has maintained a long-standing association with Queen’s Law, serving as a sessional lecturer since 1994. He has won 10 teaching awards and received an honorary doctorate from Queen’s University in 2012.
 
Nordheimer was appointed to the Superior Court in 1999 and his tenure has been notable. Last year, he was responsible for allowing an appeal from a decision of the Divisional Court about the carriage of a high-profile class action concerning Barrick Gold. Just this year he made waves when he excluded improperly obtained police evidence in R. v. Jinje, a case highlighting some of the tensions in policing policy. In selecting him for the “Top 25 Most Influential,” the panel commented that “[Nordheimer] is the kind of judge who should be on the Court of Appeal...or higher. A judge of absolute integrity.”

Canadian Lawyer magazine has run its popular Top 25 poll for six years. This year, 135 nominations were submitted and 9,105 people participated by voting and commenting on the nominees. Others making the list include Supreme Court of Canada Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin and (retired) Supreme Court Justice Louise Arbour.