Mr. Lieberman was appointed Judge of
the District Court of Northern Alberta in November of 1966. He was appointed
Justice of the Trial Division of the Supreme Court of Alberta in February of
1970, and was elevated to the Court of Appeal of Alberta and the Northwest
Territories in December 1976. In November 1982, he was appointed Deputy Judge
of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories. He served in these offices
until his retirement from the Bench in 1997.
Mr. Lieberman graduated from the
University of Alberta, where he was affiliated with the Sigma Alpha Mu
Fraternity, obtaining his B.A. in 1947 and his LL.B. in 1948. In 1990, the
University of Alberta conferred an Honorary Doctor of Laws upon him.
Mr. Lieberman was called to the
Alberta Bar in 1949 and was appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 1962. Prior to
his appointment to the Bench, he practised law from 1949 to 1966, specializing
in insurance litigation.
While on the Bench, Mr. Lieberman
organized the Alberta Board of Review (Section 546, Criminal Code of
Canada) dealing with the criminally insane. He became the first Chairman of
that Board and served as such for nine years. Mr. Lieberman also organized and
chaired the first national conference of the Boards of Review of the Canadian
provinces and organized Boards of Review for the Northwest and Yukon
Territories under the aegis of the Alberta Board of Review.
Mr. Lieberman was the Chairman of
the Alberta Boundaries Commission in 1970 and the former Director of the
Canadian Judges Conference. He served as Chairman of the committee presenting
the first proposal for Legal Aid to the government of the province of Alberta
and became the first Chairman of the Alberta Legal Aid Society.
Mr. Lieberman was a Member of the
Canadian Panel for NAFTA and was appointed Chairman of the Alberta Criminal
Injuries Appeal Board in 1997.
Following his retirement from the
Bench, Mr. Lieberman became Counsel to the law firm of Cook Duke Cox, and was
appointed a member of the Alberta Crimes Compensation Board.
Mr. Lieberman has delivered numerous
papers and served on panels at National and Provincial Bar meetings. In 1980,
he delivered a paper at the International Conference of Ombudsmen in Jerusalem.
Mr. Lieberman is a former sessional lecturer for the Faculty of Law, University
of Alberta.
Mr. Lieberman enlisted in the
R.C.A.F. in 1940 and completed two tours of operations overseas as a pilot in
R.A.F. Coastal Command, the first tour being in the United Kingdom and
Gibraltar; the second in Arabia and the Persian Gulf. His rank on discharge was
that of Squadron Leader. Mr. Lieberman served in the R.C.A.F. Auxiliary in
Edmonton until 1956, during which time he was R.C.A.F. Aide-de-Camp to the late
Lt. Gov. J.J. Bowlen. He was awarded the Canadian Forces Decoration in 1956; a
Centennial Medal in 1967; a Jubilee Medal in 1977; and the Canada 125th
Anniversary Medal in 1992. Mr. Lieberman was also awarded the La Croix Due
Combattant De L’Europe. He was a former National Director of the Air Cadet
League of Canada and was appointed Chairman of the Council of the Alberta Order
of Excellence.
Present Focus
As a member of ADR Chambers,
Alberta, Mr. Lieberman is available for all forms of alternative dispute
resolution, including Mediations, Arbitrations and Mini-Trials.
As a member of the ADR Chambers
Appeal Panel, he is also available to hear Private Appeals from Arbitral Awards
and Trial Judgments in Alberta.
Mr. Lieberman received alternative
dispute resolution training through ADR Chambers.
