Curriculum Vitae
Law Practice:
Jack commenced articles with the now Bennett Jones law firm in June 1957 and remained with that firm for 34 years, appearing frequently before the Court of Queen's Bench, the Alberta Court of Appeal, the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.
Jack represented the Province of Alberta before the Supreme Court on several occasions, including in respect of Constitutional questions concerning French language rights and the right of the federal government to tax Alberta's undeveloped natural resources. He was Alberta Counsel for the Canadian Medical Protection Association, Counsel for the City of Calgary Police Service, Counsel to the Estey Inquiry into the financial failure of the C.C.B. and Northland Banks, and Counsel for the Province of Alberta at the 1983 Code inquiry into the collapse of the Principal Group.
For many years, Jack was a member of the Board of Domtar Inc. (Montreal), a member of the Board of Alberta Telephone Co. (now Telus), and Vice Chairman of P.W.A. and later Vice-Chairman of Canadian Airlines.
Jack was made a Queen's Counsel in 1971, and is also a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He received the 2006 Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Toronto, and was named a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2008. He was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal, and is the recipient of honorary degrees from the University of Calgary, University of Ontario and Concordia University. In 2015, he was awarded the Canadian Bar Association President's Award.
Judicial Experience:
Jack was appointed to the Alberta Court of Appeal in 1991, and then soon after to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1992, where he presided over approximately 1000 cases over the succeeding years. He returned in 2006 to Bennett Jones as Counsel, and also served as a member of the Alberta Securities Commissions and as a Commissioner in the Federal Inquiry into the tragic bombing of Air India Flight 182. He retired from Bennett Jones in March 2020.