Joseph Phillip Kennedy
Encyclopedia
Joseph Phillip Kennedy is the Chief Justice
Chief Justice
The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...
of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court
Nova Scotia Supreme Court
The Nova Scotia Supreme Court is a superior court in the province of Nova Scotia.The Court comprises the Chief Justice , the Associate Chief justice, twenty-one judges and six supernumerary Justices, who sit in 18 different locations around the province.-Jurisdiction:As with all superior courts...
.
He was previously a judge of the Provincial Court from 1978 to 1993 at which point he was appointed Chief Judge of the Provincial Court of Nova Scotia
Provincial Court of Nova Scotia
The Provincial Court of Nova Scotia is the inferior court for the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. There are twenty-three Justices and one Chief Justice on the bench, who sit in one of 33 locations over the province.The Justices are appointed by the province....
. He served as the Associate Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1996 to 1998, and finally was elevated to Chief Justice in 1998.
Joseph Kennedy graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
from St. Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1965. He attended Dalhousie Law School and was called to the bar on January 3, 1969. He practised privately from 1969 to 1978 in the Bridgewater
Bridgewater, Nova Scotia
Bridgewater is a town in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, Canada, at the navigable limit of the LaHave River. It is the largest town in the South Shore region. While the majority of the South Shore's economy is based upon the tourist trade, Bridgewater is more a commercial and industrial centre and...
firm of Kenney, Theakson, Kennedy & Allen.
He was appointed on the recommendation of a recruitment committee, which considered applications from current Provincial Court judges. The committee consists of the Chief Justice of Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
(who chairs the committee), the Chief Judge of the Family Court, the outgoing Chief Judge of the Provincial Court, the president of the Provincial Judges'
Association, and a lay person (without a law degree) designated by the Canadian Minister of Justice.