Hugh is an international arbitrator and mediator with JAMS in Toronto and New York City. He is a retired Judge, having spent over 25 years as a Justice of the Ontario Court of Justice in Ottawa and Toronto, Canada.

 

Prior to this appointment to the bench, Hugh worked as a barrister in private practice, as counsel to the Canadian Department of Justice, and as corporate counsel for a multinational technology firm. He also served on the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. 

 

Hugh is an Olympian and is recognized as an international expert in sports law. He has been an arbitrator with the Court of Arbitration for Sport for 25 years and served on the the first ad hoc Court at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, in 1996. He has been a member of several other ADR panels in North America and Europe including, the PGA/LPGA Anti-Doping Panel, the World Athletics Disciplinary Tribunal, the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC), the Swiss Arbitration Association, and the International Centre for Dispute Resolution. Hugh has resolved sports disputes throughout the U.S. and Canada as well as in Australia, Brazil, Grenada, Malaysia and Switzerland. 

 

Hugh is currently a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Complex Case Independent Resolution Panel and serves as the Panel’s Administrative Officer. 

 

Hugh has held several administrative positions in sport including President of the Sports Federation of Canada; President, Commonwealth Games Foundation of Canada; VicePresident, Commonwealth Games Association of Canada; and Chef de Mission for the Canadian team at the World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki, Finland. From 1988-1990 Hugh was a member of the Dubin Commission of Inquiry into the use of anabolic steroids and other banned substances in sport. The recommendations from that Commission provided the impetus for a new drug testing regime for sport in Canada. 

 

Hugh has taught and lectured in Sports Law and dispute resolution at Carleton University and Concordia University and speaks often on these topics at various seminars held by universities and dispute resolution providers. 

 

Hugh is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators. In 2020, he was named a co-recipient of the Canadian Bar Association’s President’s Award, given for significant contribution to the legal profession in Canada.