Justice Ian. Binnie served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada for almost 14 years, retiring in 2011. He authored over 170 opinions on the country's top court, including leading cases in patent interpretation and validity, protection of famous trademarks, media law, commercial disputes, punitive damages, expert evidence, and many aspects of constitutional, criminal and administrative law.
Justice Binnie was educated at McGill University, University of Cambridge (he was called to the English Bar) and the University of Toronto. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1967 and argued numerous cases in most of the common law provinces and the Supreme Court of Canada. He appeared before the International Court of Justice and international tribunals in both governmental and private law disputes.
Justice Binnie was appointed Associate Deputy Minister of Justice for Canada in 1982. In 1986, he returned to private practice as a senior litigation partner at McCarthy Tétrault until his appointment directly to the Supreme Court of Canada in January 1998.
In 1993, Justice Binnie was elected a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He is a member of the Middle Temple and the Commercial Bar Association (U.K.). Justice Binnie was elected a Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists (Geneva) in April 2003.
The Honourable Eleanor Dawson
Justice Eleanor R. Dawson is a former judge of the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal. Justice Dawson completed her Bachelor of Laws (LLB) at the University of Manitoba. She was called to the Manitoba Bar in 1977 and appointed Queen's Counsel in 1988. Justice Dawson practiced with Aikins, MacAulay & Thorvaldson and was a sessional lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba from 1987 to 1992. She was Commissioner of the Uniform Law Commission of Canada from 1987 to 1989 and Commissioner of the Law Reform Commission of Manitoba from 1987 to 1999.
Justice Dawson was appointed judge of the Federal Court of Canada, Trial Division and ex officio member of the Federal Court of Appeal in 1999 and judge of the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada in 2000. She was appointed a Judicial Member of the Competition Tribunal in 2002. She was appointed a judge of the Federal Court of Appeal, December 28, 2009.
The Honourable Marshall Rothstein
Justice Rothstein served as Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada from 2006 until his retirement in 2015, and he has over 50 years of judicial and legal experience.
Justice Rothstein has authored more than 100 judgments and arbitral decisions on domestic and cross-border cases of commercial significance and complexity. He is currently a partner at Osler LLP in Vancouver, focusing on a wide variety of dispute resolution matters, including mergers and acquisitions, tax, competition, intellectual property and issues in the transportation and energy sectors.
A Winnipeg native, Justice Rothstein attended the University of Manitoba (B. Comm., LL.B.) and was called to the Manitoba Bar in 1966 before becoming a civil litigator in private practice. He was appointed King's Counsel in 1979.
Justice Rothstein was appointed to the Trial Division of the Federal Court of Canada in 1992, was elevated to the Federal Court of Appeal in 1999 and appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 2006.
Justice Rothstein was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2017.
