NOVA SCOTIA SUPREME COURT JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS ANNOUNCED

OTTAWA, August 6, 2010 – The Honourable Rob Nicholson, P.C., Q.C., M.P. for Niagara Falls, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, today announced the following appointments:

The Honourable Pierre L. Muise, a Judge of the Provincial Court of Nova Scotia (Digby), is appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in Yarmouth, to replace Mr. Justice D.P.S. Farrar, who was appointed to the Court of Appeal on February 10, 2010.

Mr. Justice Muise received a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from Dalhousie University in 1995. He was admitted to the Nova Scotia Bar in 1996.

Mr. Justice Muise was appointed to the Provincial Court of Nova Scotia in 2009. Prior to his appointment, he was a Crown Attorney with the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service (2001-2009). He was also an associate with Pink Macdonald Harding (1998-2001), a lawyer with Nova Scotia Legal Aid Commission (1997-1998), and an associate with Patterson Palmer Hunt Murphy in Truro (1996-1997). His main area of practice was criminal law.

Mr. Justice Muise was Secretary and Director of the Yarmouth County Barristers’ Society (1999-2008), as well as President in 2008-2009. He was a member of the Diversity and Equity Committee of the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service and of the Restorative Justice Regional Committee (2003-2009) as well as a French-language training coordinator and liaison with the Association des juristes d’expression française de la Nouvelle-Écosse (2005-2009).

The Honourable Patrick J. Murray, Q.C., a lawyer with Murray, Gouthro, Wall, is appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in Sydney, to replace Mr. Justice F.E. Edwards, who elected to become a supernumerary judge as of April 23, 2010.

Mr. Justice Murray received a Bachelor of Arts (B.A. – Economics and Political Science) from the University of New Brunswick in 1978 and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from Dalhousie University in 1981. He was admitted to the Nova Scotia Bar in 1981 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1999.

Mr. Justice Murray has been a senior partner with Murray, Gouthro, Wall since 2002. He practised with Stewart McKelvey Stirling Scales (1991-2002); Stewart McKeen & Covert (1990- 1991); Boudreau, Beaton & LaFosse (1983-1990); Gillies & Murray (1981-1983); and the Dalhousie Legal Aid Clinic in 1981. His main areas of practice included general litigation, real estate, corporate/commercial, wills and estates, labour and employment law.

Mr. Justice Murray has been a member of the Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Barristers’ Society since 1981 and a member of the Canadian Bar Association since 2006. He was appointed to the Nova Scotia Bar Society Discipline Hearing Committee (2006-present) as well as to the Nova Scotia Bar Society Advisory Committee on Queen’s Counsel Appointments in 2008. He was a past director of the Nova Scotia Legal Aid Commission. He is an active member in numerous charitable and community organizations.

These appointments are effective immediately.

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Ref.:

• Pamela Stephens
  Press Secretary
  Office of the Minister of Justice
  613-992-4621

• Media Relations
  Department of Justice
  613-957-4207