Mr. Maddison was the pilot of a
Lancaster Bomber in World War II. He obtained his B. Comm. and LL.B. from the
University of Alberta after the war. He articled and practised in Edmonton with
Field, Hyndman, specializing in real property law. From 1956 to 1960, he
managed Field Title Service, in Calgary, a special service to the oil patch.
Missing the practice of law, he moved in 1960 to the town of Peace River,
Alberta, bought a general practice and spent the next ten years practising as
both Barrister and Solicitor, latterly as senior partner in the firm of
Maddison and Marceau. In 1969 he was appointed a Federal Judge in Whitehorse,
Yukon, where he continues to reside.
His experience as a judge extended
from trials in the Yukon Supreme Court to appeals in the Yukon Court of Appeal
and the Northwest Territories Court and its’ 40 non-resident deputy
judges. In his capacity as one of the trial judges of the Supreme Court of the
Northwest Territories, he sat in almost every community in the NWT, usually
hearing criminal matters in the smaller communities, civil matters in
Yellowknife.
As a trial judge of the Yukon
Supreme Court, most of Mr. Maddison’s work was civil. He decided myriad
civil disputes involving a wide spectrum of law including estate, mining,
construction, personal injury, employment, banking and constitutional law.
Mr. Maddison retired in August 1999,
after more than 30 years on the Bench.
His longstanding interest in
Alternative Dispute Resolution has involved him in innovative dispute
resolution in the Yukon and Northwest Territories, including circle sentencing.
From the beginnings of mediation techniques and peacemaking circles in Yukon
criminal court, Mr. Maddison has been keenly interested and involved in these
and other initiatives based upon the principles of appropriate dispute
resolution. He was also active as a judge in mediation-type pre-trial
conferences.
Mr. Maddison has extensive education
in Mediation and Negotiation, including the following workshops and
seminars:
Queens College, Cambridge
University, England, Mediation workshop conducted by Roy Heenan and Paul Emond
as part of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Legal Studies program, July
1989;
Harvard Law School Negotiation
Workshop, Universidad Computense, Madrid, Spain, conducted by Roger Fisher and
Bruce Patton, July 1989;
Harvard Law School Advanced
Negotiation Workshop, Cambridge, MA, directed by Roger Fisher and Bruce Patton,
June 1992;
Harvard Law School Mediation
Workshop, Cambridge, MA, led by Frank Sander and Linda Singer, November
1992;
Canadian Forum on Dispute
Resolution, Toronto ON, February, 1995;
Society of Professionals in
Dispute Resolution Mediation Workshops, Anaheim, CA, October 1996;
Canadian Institute for the
Administration of Justice Advanced Settlement Skills for Judges Seminar,
Toronto, ON, December 1998;
Harvard Law School Negotiation
Workshop, Cambridge MA, headed by Robert Mnookin, June 1999.
Mr. Maddison continues to reside in
Whitehorse.
