A St. Albert lawyer and former city councillor has become a judge on Alberta’s highest court.
Federal Justice Minister David Lametti announced May 22 that he had made Edmonton-based lawyer Kent H. Davidson a Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench in Alberta. Davidson will also sit on the Court of Appeal as needed.
The Court of Queen’s Bench and Court of Appeal are the highest courts in Alberta, outranked only by the Supreme Court of Canada.
Davidson is a long-time St. Albert resident who served two terms on city council and once ran for mayor against Anita Ratchinsky. He is president and co-founder of the St. Albert Community Foundation, a charter member of the Rotary Club of St. Albert, and recently stepped down as chair of Miller Thompson LLP, a major law firm with offices across Canada.
Davidson was travelling in Europe and could not be reached by deadline.
A biography provided by the federal justice department says that Davidson earned his law degree from the University of Alberta in 1982 and moved to St. Albert in 1986. Davidson practiced law for 18 years with the firm of Lucas, Bishop, Bowker and White and its successors before joining Miller Thomson in 2001, becoming the firm’s chair in 2014. As a lawyer, he participated in many legal cases before Alberta’s Court of Queen’s Bench and the Supreme Court of Canada.
Dave Reidie, executive director of the St. Albert Community Foundation, said Davidson was a great person to work with and very professional.
“Nobody deserves this more than he does.”
Long-time associate and Great West Newspapers president Duff Jamison said Davidson has always been an active member of the community and has shown excellent judgment in all his affairs.
“He’s a very thoughtful, reasoned person,” he said, and isn’t one to run around with a lot of personal biases. He was also “one of the most articulate people I’ve ever met,” which would be important when it came to issuing judgments in cases.
Jamison said he was very happy to hear of Davidson’s appointment, although he was a bit concerned that it might mean the St. Albert Community Foundation would lose him as president. (Jamison co-founded the foundation and serves as its treasurer.)
“I know this is something he’s very well suited to, and it’s something he’s really wanted to do for a long time.”
Davidson will be stationed at the Edmonton Court of Queen’s Bench. His appointment starts June 15.
Also appointed to the court were Kevin Feth of Edmonton and Johanna C. Price and Nicholas E. Devlin of Calgary.
