On his final day sitting as a full-time judge with the NWT Supreme Court, lawyers surprised Justice Andrew Mahar with words of praise.
John Hale, a defence lawyer based in Ontario who also practises in the NWT, told Mahar he had been the first judge before whom Hale appeared in the territory.
“Whenever your name comes up … it’s always in the context of what a good draw,” Hale said on Monday morning.
He described Mahar as a fair and respectful judge who listens and is knowledgeable about the law.
“I think you really are the epitome of what counsel look for in a judge,” he said.
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“It’s been a pleasure and an honour to appear in front of you.”
A Crown lawyer also spoke favourably of Mahar on behalf of the public prosecution office, telling him: “It’s a very demanding profession and you’ve dedicated your life to it.”
Retired defence lawyer Peter Harte, who was present in the courtroom on Monday, told Cabin Radio in an email that Mahar was an excellent lawyer who worked hard to take care of his clients.
“Andy took that concern very seriously as a judge and was also keenly aware of his responsibility to the community,” Harte wrote.
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“In the cases that I had with him, he always took time to explain his decisions not only to the accused but also to the complainant or family members and the public.
“His many years of experience as a lawyer in the North – and the time he spent ‘lawyering’ in what I am sure was all (or nearly all) of its communities – left him well equipped to understand the impact of criminal misconduct on our tiny northern hamlets and, as a judge, fairness to everyone was always his lodestar.”
Mahar was appointed to the NWT Supreme Court in May 2015.
He had previously practised criminal law in Toronto before becoming clinical director of the Cambridge Bay-based Kitikmeot Law Centre, which bills itself as Canada’s most northerly legal aid clinic, from 1994 to 1997.
Mahar practised in Yellowknife from 1997 to 2001, then moved to Iqaluit, where he served as president of the Law Society of Nunavut from 2004 to 2006. He was appointed a judge of the Nunavut Court of Justice in March 2012.
Mahar will continue to appear in the NWT Supreme Court as a deputy judge.
