Owen Minns

Contact information

• Website: https://minns.ca/owen/
• Email: owen@AT@minns.DOT.ca
• Some contact details are omitted from this public document. Please contact me another way.

Education, Qualifications, Interests

Barrister & Solicitor

• Called to the bar of Ontario
• Member of:
  • the Canadian Association for Legal Ethics
  • the Advocates’ Society
  • the Association for Computing Machinery
  • the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers
  • the [US] National Organization of Bar Counsel
• Conference-goer: e.g., International Legal Ethics Conference (2014 in London, 2016 in NY)

Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in Toronto, Ontario

• Juris Doctor, Law
• Earned mooting prizes: Second Place Team in two national criminal law Gale Cup Moots, 1st Place Oralist & 1st Place Team (Goodman & Carr Moot), Distinguished Oralist (Lerners Cup)
• International Intellectual Property Program at St Peter’s College, Oxford (summer semester)

Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario

• Bachelor of Science (Honours), Psychology
• Focused on cognitive and experimental psychology, psycholinguistics, and statistics
• Bachelor of Arts, Computer & Information Science
• Completed while continuing to work full-time

Interests Include

• Learning
• Reading (history, mythology, current events, fiction)
• Puns
• Computer games and theory
• Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
• Photography (open, textural subjects, with vibrant colour and high spatial frequency: see my website)

Practical Experience

Law Society of Ontario (LSO) in Toronto

• Discipline Counsel, since 2017 (aside from secondment, see below), and previously (Articling Student and Associate Discipline Counsel)
• Representing the Law Society fairly and resolutely in regulatory proceedings before the Law Society Tribunal and in court; prosecution of conduct and capacity applications
• Examining evidence gathered by investigators through the lens of relevant legislation, common law, and other authorities to develop recommendations for the disposition of regulatory cases in the public interest
• Managing assigned cases
• Conducting thorough legal research, for case work and other priorities
• Drafting originating processes and other litigation materials (factums, affidavits, motion records)
• Working with litigants in person or their representatives to reduce the scope of disputes (drafting and negotiating agreed statements of facts and joint submissions)
• Advancing the Law Society’s case in oral hearings; examining witnesses, presenting evidence
• Participating in, helping to develop, and supporting a collegial team; assisting others
• Compiling a digital library and promoting its effective use; fostering paperless processes
• Special Project Joint Counsel, Office of the Executive Director, Professional Regulation, and Regulatory Knowledge & Evidence, as a secondment from 2022 through 2024
• Supported the regulatory work of the Executive Director regarding emergent priorities
• Supported the business analysis and technical work of a Law Society-wide capital project
• Communicated with and facilitated coordination with other regulatory bodies and law enforcement, including outside Ontario and outside Canada
• Provided information and analysis for external communications from the Law Society

Air Miles Reward Program (then part of Alliance Data Corporation, NYSE:ADS) in Toronto

• Senior Analyst, Strategic Planning, for two years immediately prior to law school
• Researched and wrote recommendations and reports for the senior management regarding financial and operational strategy, business modelling, market research
• Championed a reassessment of how to measure Air Miles market penetration internally and how it was reported to the public markets and securities regulators
• Senior Analyst (also Coordinator, Analyst), Operations, four years
• Managed key activities in the production of millions of collector statement mailings
• Earned awards, for example, company-wide ‘Spirit of Loyalty’ (when the corporate name was The Loyalty Group), two divisional awards from the CIO

Alma Mater Society of Queen’s University Inc. in Kingston, Ontario

• Vice-president (Operations) and Chief Financial Officer, one-year term
• Elected by 12000 students to provide executive management (strategic, financial operational) to the university’s primary student government, including its 20 businesses and service programmes (annual revenues then ~$6 million, 400 staff, 1000 volunteers)
• Guided middle management: every revenue-generating unit beat its five-year average results
• Served as Reserve Director of the Canadian Campus Business Consortium, elected by student governments across Canada representing 300 000 students: investigated new legal models to enable the sharing of profits back to member groups
• Further student service: Director (Media & Services); Assistant Manager (Publishing), Publishing & Copy Centre; and House & Projects Manager, The Queen’s Journal