Three alumni appointed to Provincial Court of Alberta

Three alumni of the University of Alberta Faculty of Law have been appointed to the Provincial Court of Alberta.

Gordon Hatch, ‘03 LLB, T. Michael Scrase, ‘93 LLB, and Olugbenga Shoyele, QC, ‘03 LLM, each join the bench on July 12.

Hatch has been appointed to the Provincial Court’s Red Deer/Central Region. He was called to the British Columbia bar in 2004 and started his career as a Crown prosecutor and with Hope Heinrich LLP in Prince George, B.C. Subsequently, he was an agent for the Public Prosecution Service of Canada and with the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service in Wetaskiwin, Vegreville, Fort Saskatchewan and Peace River. Since 2014, Hatch has been a sole practitioner.

Scrase has also been appointed to the Red Deer/Central Region. He has worked as a sole practitioner and criminal defence lawyer since 1995. Scrase is currently vice-president of the Red Deer Criminal Trial Lawyers Association.

Shoyele has been appointed to the Edmonton Criminal Division. He obtained his bachelor of laws in 1980 and his master of laws in 1984, both from the University of Ife, Nigeria. He earned a doctor of philosophy of laws in 1995 in Nigeria and a master of laws from the University of Alberta in 2003. Shoyele worked as a law professor in Nigeria and practised in Edmonton, most recently as legal counsel for the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench.