Martin H. Freedman, , was appointed a judge of the

Manitoba Court of Appeal The Manitoba Court of Appeal () is the court of appeal in, and the highest court of, the Canadian province of Manitoba. It hears criminal, civil, and family law cases, as well as appeals from various administrative boards and tribunals. Seated i ...

on July 16, 2002, and retired from the court in 2012. He replaced Bonnie M. Helper, who resigned. Freedman received a

bachelor of law A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...

in 1963 and won the Gold Medal in Law from both the University of Manitoba and the

Law Society of Manitoba The Law Society of Manitoba (LSM) is the self-governing regulatory body of the legal profession in Manitoba, Canada. Membership in the LSM is required in order to practice law in the province. , the LSM had 2072 members with active practising ...

. At the time of his appointment, he was a partner at the

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

law firm Aikins MacAulay & Thorvaldson. He served as the firm's managing partner from 1991 until 2001. Throughout his career, he acquired expertise in corporate-commercial law and arbitration-mediation matters. In recent years, Freedman has concentrated his practice on

arbitration Arbitration is a formal method of dispute resolution involving a third party neutral who makes a binding decision. The third party neutral (the 'arbitrator', 'arbiter' or 'arbitral tribunal') renders the decision in the form of an 'arbitrati ...

, especially in labour-related disputes in different jurisdictions throughout Canada. Over the course of his legal career, Freedman was active in a range of professional organizations, including as president (1978–1979) and bencher (1971–1979) of the Law Society of Manitoba and as a director of the

Federation of Law Societies of Canada The Federation of Law Societies of Canada () is the national association of the 14 Canadian regulators of the legal profession. The 14 law societies are mandated by the provinces and territories to regulate the legal profession in the public inter ...

(1981–1983). For twenty years, he was a lecturer at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Law and a frequent presenter at professional and continuing legal education seminars. Freedman was appointed

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 1975. His father,

Samuel Freedman Samuel Freedman, (16 April 1908 – 6 March 1993), was a Canadian lawyer and judge, who served as Chief Justice of Manitoba from 1971 to 1983. Personal life and education Born on 16 April 1908, to Nathan and Ada (Foxman) Freedman in Zhytomyr, ...

, also served as a judge of the Manitoba Court of Appeal (1960–1983).

References

20th-century births Living people Judges in Manitoba University of Manitoba alumni Canadian King's Counsel Robson Hall alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) {{canada-law-bio-stub