Two Queen’s Law alumni in Ottawa -- Bryan A. Carroll, Law’71, and Ian Carter, Law’02 -- were recognized at the County of Carleton Law Association’s most recent AGM and awards dinner in the Capital. 

Carroll, counsel in the General Litigation Group at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, won the Carleton Medal for those “most deserving of recognition for great diligence, high ideals and outstanding leadership in the practice of law.” 

Award presenter Lawrence Elliot, a partner at BLG, cited Carroll as “a ‘lawyer’s lawyer’ who is universally respected for his skills as an advocate and who epitomizes the highest standards of fairness, professionalism, integrity, and civility. Over 35 years within the firm,” Elliot added, “Bryan has served as a leader and mentor. His door is always open, and there is consistently a line-up of people looking for his advice. He’s an exceptional role model.”

Highlights from Carroll’s distinguished career include winning the Catzman Award for professionalism and civility in 2011; being recognized by Best Lawyers in Canada in 2011 as Ottawa’s Insurance Lawyer of the Year and in 2014 as the city’s Personal Injury Litigation Lawyer of the Year; and being elected a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers in 2012.

Asked what motivates him, Carroll says simply, “I enjoy the challenges of a legal practice and trying to assist clients with their problems. Ultimately that’s what it’s all about.”

His university studies formed the basis for his career, he says. “Law school gives you the foundation, and I got a good one at Queen’s. It was a fabulous experience.” Among the “consistently superb and dedicated professors” he recalls were Ron Delisle and Morley Gorsky.

Ian Carter, Law’02, a partner at Bayne Sellar Boxall, won the CCLA’s Regional Senior Justice Award honouring lawyers in practice 10 years or less who have made outstanding contributions as litigators or solicitors. As an RSJ recipient, he received $1000 to donate to the charity of his choice – in this case, the Alzheimer’s Society.

In presenting Carter’s award, Justice Hugh Fraser of the Ontario Court of Justice noted how he’d quickly earned his reputation as “a highly skilled counsel who is fearless, organized and always well prepared.” Fraser also pointed to Carter’s reputation as “a persuasive, but fair, advocate [whose] level of integrity and ethics is beyond reproach.”

In his first decade as a criminal lawyer, Carter has represented a variety of clients at trials in both Provincial and Superior Courts and has argued numerous appeals at the British Columbia Court of Appeal, the Court of Appeal for Ontario, the Court Martial Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. 

“I enjoy working with people, often at the most difficult time in their lives,” Carter says, “and I love the cut and thrust of a trial and the theatre of the courtroom.”

During his days at Queen’s, Carter received 13 awards, including the renewable Blakes Scholar Award given to the first-year student with the highest academic standing. “I chose Queen’s because it is the law school for criminal law,” he says. “I was taught by leading lights such as professors Ron Delisle and Don Stuart, so I received great grounding.”