Retired judge, Court of King’s Bench of Alberta
Chief Judicial Officer Emerita of the National Judicial Institute (NJI),
Retired Chief Judicial Officer, NJI
Education
- LLB, University of Alberta
- Honours BA in Political Science, University of Calgary
Work
- Member of the Law Society of Alberta
- Judge, Court of King’s Bench (formerly Queen’s Bench) of Alberta for 27 years
- Chief Judicial Officer, National Judicial Institute of Canada
- Chief Judicial Officer Emerita, National Judicial Institute of Canada
- Currently consulting with administrative tribunals on decision-writing and writing reasons
Committees and Appointments
- President of the International Association for Judicial Training, since Fall, 2022
- As a judge, member and then co-chair of the Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics, a joint committee of the Canadian Judicial Council and the Canadian Association of Superior Court Judges. The Committee provides confidential ethics advice to federally appointed judges across Canada.
- As a judicial associate of NJI and then as CJO, concentrating on designing and teaching courses for Canadian judges in ethics, science, civil law, and social context. In addition to designing and organizing judicial education in Canada, worked extensively with judges and judicial institutes internationally in several countries including Ukraine, Albania, Ghana, Slovakia, Zambia, Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Mexico and Vietnam. Examples of the projects completed include assisting in the design of the following programmes:
- Combatting domestic violence and creation of Domestic Violence Model Court
- Social Context
- Gender equality
- Judicial ethics
- Commercial law
- Courtroom management and commercial law
- Former member of Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta Strategic Planning Committee, charged with developing and implementing a strategic plan for the Court.
- Lectured domestically and internationally in gender equality, judicial ethics, class actions, globalization in the legal context and expert evidence
Community involvement
- Committee member, Board member and Chair of the Legal Aid Society of Alberta,
- Chair of Student Legal Services, University of Alberta
- Associate editor of the Alberta Law Review, University of Alberta
Publications
- Devlin, Richard, Kent, C. Adele & Lightstone, Susan (2013) The Past, The Present… and the Future (?) of Judicial Ethics Education in Canada. Legal Ethics 16(1): 1-35
- Medical Ethics: The State of the Law, LexisNexis Canada Inc., 2005
- Conflicts, Choice of Forum, Coordination and Other Issues, Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice, October, 2003
Languages
- French (fluent) and Spanish (in progress)