Minister Hogan Announces Queen’s Counsel Appointments

  • Justice and Public Safety

July 20, 2022

The Honourable John Hogan, QC, Minister of Justice and Public Safety and Attorney General, is pleased to announce the province’s newest appointments to the Queen’s Counsel by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

The honourary title of Queen’s Counsel recognizes senior lawyers for exceptional merit and contribution to the legal profession. These lawyers have served a minimum of 10 years as a member of the bar, have gained the respect of the legal community and are in good standing with the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Appointments are made after consultation with the Legal Appointments Board as outlined in the Queen’s Counsel Act.

Those appointed to Queen’s Counsel are Kenneth J. Brothers, Denis Mahoney, Beth McGrath, Gary P. Mooney and Stacey O’Dea. Biographies of each appointee can be found in the backgrounder below.

Quote
“I would like to congratulate the lawyers being appointed to the Queen’s Counsel. The lawyers that are receiving this recognition have provided significant contribution to the justice system and the community in this province. I want to thank this year’s appointees for their continued dedication, leadership and commitment to law.”
Honourable John Hogan, QC
Minister of Justice and Public Safety and Attorney General

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Emily Jane-Gillingham
Justice and Public Safety
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BACKGROUNDER

Biographies Queen’s Counsel Appointees

Kenneth J. Brothers
Kenneth J. Brothers was born and raised in Corner Brook. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts (English). A four year letterman with University of Michigan hockey program, while at Michigan he was awarded the Carl Issacson award for high scholastic achievement and athletic ability, the Coach Allen M. Renfrew award for continuing post graduate studies as well as Academic All Big Ten honours.

A graduate of the Dalhousie University Schulich of Law in 1995, he articled under Justice William H. Goodridge and Robert M. Matthews, Q.C. and was called to the bar of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1996. Kenneth has spent his entire career in private practice in Corner Brook where he has focused on residential real estate, personal injury and estate law. He is a former Chair of the Canada Pension Plan Review Tribunal, municipal tax Commissioner and board member for the Corner Brook Civic Centre.

A former captain of the Corner Brook Royals, the Corner Brook Barons and an athlete at both the Canada winter and summer games Kenneth is a supporter of the arts, academics and athletics in the province.

Kenneth resides in Corner Brook with his wife, Trudy, their daughter Keely and son Will.

Denis Mahoney
Denis Mahoney completed his articles of law and was admitted to the Bar in 1994. He served as a senior labour and employment partner in the St. John’s office of McInnes Cooper and a member of the firm’s Board of Directors until his retirement from private practice on December 31, 2021. During his lengthy tenure with the firm, Denis served in a variety of leadership roles including inaugural board director, member of the firm wide management team and Regional Lead Partner of the St. John’s office. Effective January 1, 2022, Denis was appointed as Deputy Minister of Justice and Public Safety and Deputy Attorney General with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Denis has served on a number of committees and boards and has volunteered with several organizations including the 2025 Canada Games Host Society Inc., Memorial University’s Board of Regents, the province’s Labour Management Arbitration Committee, St. John’s Board of Trade, the Strategic Partnership Coalition, Newfoundland and Labrador Oil and Gas Industries Association, TaskforceNL Inc., and the Boys and Girls Club in St. John’s.

Denis holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from Queen’s University (1993) as well as a Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) Co-operative Degree from Memorial University of Newfoundland (1987).  In 2020, he received the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Beth McGrath
Beth McGrath is a Partner with the law firm McInnes Cooper, practicing in the areas of corporate and business law, energy and natural resources, corporate governance and securities law.

Beth graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Acadia University where she was awarded the Acadia University Medal for highest academic achievement in the faculties of Professional Studies. She received a Bachelor of Laws degree from Dalhousie University Law School and was awarded the Honourable H.G. Puddester Prize Scholarship for both academic and leadership ability. She earned the Hunt Award for the highest overall marks in the Newfoundland and Labrador Bar Admission Course exams and was the co-recipient of the Penney Award for academic performance in family law.

Beth completed the Business Leadership for Women Lawyers program at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. She is a part-time instructor of business and contract law within the Faculty of Business at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador and presents regularly on corporate law at the Law Society’s annual Bar Admission Course. She is also a guest instructor for the Director’s Education Program Course through the Institute of Corporate Directors on corporate governance.

Beth is Past President of the Newfoundland and Labrador branch of the Canadian Bar Association and past National Chair of the National Executive of the Young Lawyers – Canadian Bar Association. She has also served on the National Board of the Canadian Bar Association.

Beth was selected as a Lexpert® Rising Star for 2016, a national award celebrating Canada’s leading lawyers under 40. She is ranked by Best Lawyers™ in Canada for her practice in corporate law and mergers and acquisitions law, and by Chambers Canada for her corporate/commercial practice. She is a director of the St. John’s Port Authority and director of Energy NL and has served on a variety of community-based organizations, including Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Care Foundation, YMCA (NL) and Victorian Order of Nurses.

Beth lives in St. John’s with her husband Andrew and their two boys Benjamin and John Raymond.

Gary P. Mooney
Gary P. Mooney is a member of the bars in Newfoundland and Labrador, Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia. He specializes in re-engineering legal processes for financial institutions and is a pioneer in the digitization of legal services. Gary is the CEO of Canadian Lender Services Limited and the CEO and Chairman of MyClosing. He pioneered title insurance and the outsourcing of legal processing for financial institutions in Canada. In the late 1990s, Gary founded LandCanada Title and Settlement Services Inc. which he ran until 2004, before selling the company to Fidelity National Financial, a Fortune 500 company. He subsequently became the President and CEO of FNF Canada and Chief Agent of Chicago Title. He is now Chairman of LCTS and all its subsidiaries.

Gary served for ten years on the Executive Committee of the Board of the University of Toronto and on the Dean’s Advisory Committee at Osgoode Hall Law School. He was endowed the JDM Chair in Corporate Governance and Ethics at Osgoode Hall and the Schulich School of Business, as well as, the Alternative Learning Centre at St. Mary’s University.

Gary is a Newfoundlander and Labradorian and a St. Bon’s alumnus (1962). He is a foundational supporter of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Shallaway Choir and Stella Bury House. Gary has hosted events at the Toronto Club for Memorial University’s School of Medicine and provided scholarships for local students to attend Osgoode Hall in Toronto. Most recently, Gary served as a member of the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Economic Recovery Committee.

Stacey O’Dea
Stacey O’Dea graduated from Dalhousie University with a Bachelor of Arts (1996) and obtained her Bachelor of Laws from the University of New Brunswick (2000). She began her career at McInnes Cooper in Moncton, New Brunswick, and was called to bar in New Brunswick in 2001. She joined the McInnes Cooper office in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador and was called to the Newfoundland and Labrador bar in 2002.

Stacey became a partner at McInnes Cooper in 2007 practicing primarily commercial litigation, intellectual property and natural resources law before becoming in-house legal counsel with Imperial Oil Limited in 2010.  Stacey is Legal Manager – Canada East (Imperial Oil) in St. John’s, where she is on the leadership team at ExxonMobil Canada and manages legal support to ExxonMobil Canada’s assets and interests offshore Newfoundland and Labrador. Her position includes being legal counsel to Hibernia Management and Development Company Ltd., operator of the Hibernia project.

Over the past 21 years, she has appeared before all levels of court in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as the Federal Court of Canada, the London Court of International Arbitration, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, and numerous regulatory and administrative bodies, including commissions of inquiry. Her current practice in the energy sector includes elements of regulatory, commercial litigation/international disputes resolution, public international and commercial law in the context of upstream resource development projects.

Stacey has been an active community volunteer, participating on a number of local not-for-profit boards and school councils. She is a past director of the Canadian Energy Law Foundation and currently a director of the ADR Institute of Canada (ADRIC). Stacey is committed to contributing to the practice of law in Newfoundland and Labrador. She serves on the Bar Admission Committee as section chair of Lawyering Skills/Practice Management for the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador and facilitates a panel session at the bar admission course aimed at helping new lawyers succeed in practice. Stacey is also a past course instructor with the Memorial University Faculty of Business Administration. She is a member of the Canadian Bar Association, past section chair of the Newfoundland and Labrador branch for Insolvency as well as Intellectual Property sections.

Stacey lives in St. John’s with her husband Regan O’Dea, their two teenage children, Cian and Reese, a lively Gordon Setter and two uninspired cats. She has been committed to the practice of yoga since 2010 and enjoys biking.

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