SQLFusion - John Callaghan, legal counsel for Cornwall Police Services

John Callaghan

(John E. Callaghan)

John Callaghan is a partner in the Toronto-based law firm Gowlings (Gowlings, Lafleur, Henderson LLP). He is a lawyer for the Cornwall Police Service at the Cornwall Public Inquiry. Callaghan also represented the Cornwall Police Service after Perry Dunlop was charged under the Police Services Act.

1989: called to the bar.

Law degree: University of Windsor, Ontario

Info on the Gowlings website

John is a partner with a broad practice in civil litigation, commercial and regulatory offence work. He has appeared before all levels of courts in Ontario including counsel work before the Ontario Court of Appeal. As well, he has appeared before the Federal Court of Appeal, New Brunswick Queen’s Bench and a wide variety of administrative tribunals. Mr. Callaghan is qualified as an arbitrator through the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in London, England. He is a member of the Civil Rules Committee, having been appointed by the Chief Justice of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The committee is responsible for drafting and revising the Rules of Civil Procedure for the Province of Ontario. He is also co-author of Class Actions – Law and Practice, the leading Canadian text on class actions.

John was called to the Ontario Bar in 1989 after earning his law degree at the University of Windsor. In addition to his law practice, he was appointed Chairman of the Special Sub-Committee of the Civil Rules Committee by the Associate Chief Justice of Ontario for the implementation of the simplified rules that came into force in March of 1996. He spent a number of years as an instructor of trial advocacy with the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto. Mr. Callaghan is a frequent lecturer on issues of procedure and trial advocacy.

17 September 2007: appointed to the Board of Directors of ICES (Institute for Clinical Evaluative Studies)

Press release provides the following information:

Mr. John Callaghan is a Toronto-based partner in the law firm of Gowling, Lafleur, Henderson LLP. Mr. Callaghan practices in the area of civil and commercial litigation. Mr. Callaghan has been at the forefront of many civil justice initiatives and is presently a member of the Civil Rules Committee. Mr. Callaghan is a frequent lecturer on issues of procedure and trial advocacy, including having been an instructor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto. He is a Director of the Advocates’ Society and is also the Co-author of Class Actions – Law and Practice, a leading Canadian text on class action.

REPORT OF THE COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO

10 January 2000

Excerpt from Chief Justice R. Roy McMurtry’s address upon The Opening Of The Courts Of Ontario For 2000

DELAY IN THE PRODUCTION OF TRIAL TRANSCRIPTS CONTINUES TO BE THE MAJOR FACTOR IN DELAYING THE TIMELY HEARING OF APPEALS. HOWEVER, I RECOGNIZE THAT THE MINISTRY HAS TAKEN INITIATIVES TO ENSURE THAT THIS SOURCE OF SYSTEMIC DELAY IS REDUCED TO A REASONABLE LEVEL. I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO THANK JOHN CALLAGHAN, DAVID STOCKWOOD AND RON SLAGHT FOR THEIR WORK ON THE AD HOC COMMITTEE IN RELATION TO TRANSCRIPT DELAYS.

[David Stockwood is the founder of the Toronto-based Stockwoods LLP law firm. Stockoods was retained by Justice Normand Glaude to argue first that the Ontario Divisional Court issue an Interprovincial Summons to compel Perry Dunlop to testify at the Cornwall Public Inquiry and then to urge the Ontario Divisional court to charge Perry Dunlop with contempt of court]

Toronto Advisory Committee for the Civil Justice Reform Project (The “Review”)

Callaghan was chosen by the Honourable Coulter A. Osborne, Q.C. as a member of the Toronto Advisory Committee for the Civil Justice Reform Project (The “Review”). The review was commissioned in June 2006 by the office of the Ontario Attorney General, specifically then Liberal Attorney General Michael Bryant ( Bryant commissioned the Cornwall Public Inquiry, approved and/or crafted the mandate and selected Justice Glaude as commissioner). Members of the Toronto Advisory Committee included John Callaghan and Peter Wardle.

2007-2008: The Advocates’ Society Board of Directors (Treasurer at the time: Marie T. Henein of Henein and Associates in Toronto . Henein defended Jacques Leduc at his Project Truth sex abuse trial. She is also representing Leduc at the Cornwall Public Inquiry. )

2005-2006: Advocates’ Society Board of Directors. (other directors include Marie T Henein & Peter C Wardle) New “government” member to the Advocates’ Society Leslie McIntosh. McIntosh is representing the Ministry of the Attorney General at the Cornwall Public Inquiry) (A Patricia Latimer of Stockwoods LLP is also identified as a member of the Young Advocates’ Committee in 2006. Patricia Latimer is one of the Stockwood lawyers retained to represent Justice Glaude’s interests before the Ontario Divisional Court, including but not limited to: (1) the succesful request for an Interprovincial Summons which forced Perry to take the stand at the Cornwall Public Inquiry, and (2) the succesful request to have Perry Dunlop charged with contempt of court.

23-30 April 2006: The Advocates’ Society held its International Conference in Dublin and Adare County, Ireland. The conference was chaired by John E. Callaghan of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, Michael Eizenga of Siskind, Cromarty, Ivey & Dowler LLP, and David S. Morritt of Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP.