The coming year marks the 25th anniversary of John Sopinka’s appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada after 28 years as one of the country’s busiest and most effective trial and appellate lawyers. Early in his tenure on the Court he hired as one of his law clerks Mark Gelowitz. They became collaborators on a number of important initiatives.
This book is essentially about the nuts and bolts of conducting an appeal. It is a quick guide for lawyers unfamiliar with the appellate process as well as for those who think they know the answers but are not quite sure. It is a comprehensive guide to the steps that are necessary, when to take them, and the considerations that should serve as guidance.
Few judges in the history of the Supreme Court have brought to bear the skill and interest in evidentiary and practice issues demonstrated by John Sopinka. Within a short time of his arrival in 1988, he had rewritten the law of mootness in Borowski v. Canada (Attorney General), [1989] 1 S.C.R. 342, laid down the basic guidelines that still govern intervenor status in the Supreme Court in Reference Re: Workers Compensation Act, 1983 (Newfoundland) (application to intervene) [1989] 2 S.C.R. 335, and, a couple of years later, completely revolutionized the disclosure obligations of the Crown in R. v. Stinchcombe, [1991] 3 S.C.R. 326. Less visible than these famous cases but of great practical importance, he worked behind the scenes to vastly improve the processes of the Supreme Court. For example, the procedure for dealing with Leave Applications described in Chapter 7 was entirely his invention and represented a great advance on the procedure used before his arrival. Under the previous system it could be of great importance which panel of three judges dealt with your application. Under the Sopinka reforms every judge has the opportunity to look at every leave application. The effect of panel allocation is much reduced.
Justice John Sopinka was uniquely well qualified to write about the Conduct of an Appeal. He was fortunate to find in Mark Gelowitz a younger collaborator with equally high standards of scholarship. Together they produced a book of great utility. The profession owes Mark Gelowitz a debt for updating it in this third edition.
Hon. Ian Binnie, Q.C., C.C.
Formerly a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada