Current Council

Mark Scott KC graduated with his LLB in 1994 from the University of New Brunswick Law School and was first admitted to the NL Bar in 1995. In 1996, he was admitted to the Nova Scotia Bar and he joined Burchell MacDougall in Halifax focusing on criminal defence, appeals and per diem work for both the federal and provincial Crown.

In 1998, Mark was appointed a Crown attorney in the Halifax office of the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service and in 2000 he moved to Special Prosecutions. In July 2019, he was appointed as Chief Crown Attorney of the newly merged Appeals and Special Prosecutions Section. Mark received his King’s Counsel (KC) designation in February 2016.

As a dedicated Society volunteer, Mark serves as a member of the Society’s Criminal Standards Committee and as Chair of the Complaints Investigations Committee. He has also assisted the Society by presenting at continuing legal education conferences and evaluating examinations skills at bar admissions courses.

Since June 2020, Mark has been Co-Chair for the National Heads of Prosecutions subcommittee on Preventing Wrongful Convictions. 2021 was his final year since 2008 as coach for Dalhousie University Schulich School of Law’s Gale Cup national moot competition and he is a Schulich School of Law second year moot judge.

Mark contributes to his community as the Board Chair for the Bayers-Westwood Family Resource Centre, a non-profit centre aimed at providing support for low-income and recent immigrant families in the Bayers-Westwood region of Halifax.

Originally from Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Cheryl Hodder brings deep executive leadership experience to the role of Chief Executive Officer for Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society. Cheryl has more than 30 years of legal, governance and executive business experience, earning the respect of her peers through leadership in corporate, legal, and community organizations regionally, nationally, and internationally.

Cheryl has most recently served as Chief Sustainability and Legal Officer with Canada Post Corporation (CPC), based in Ottawa, and she has been leading a team across a diverse portfolio that is directly relevant to NSBS’s mandate. Cheryl’s role saw her as executive responsible for Indigenous Reconciliation and with other executives shared responsibility for EDI, as a pillar of Canada Post’s ESG strategy. She also provided support to the work of a diverse employee group involved in developing a new anti-racism charter. And, as part of the learning path and process around the organization’s accessibility strategy, she has undertaken extensive consultation across the country involving diverse groups with lived experience, and she has had the opportunity to be involved in intensive unconscious bias training. Cheryl is an officer of the corporation and a member of the senior management team reporting to the CEO. CPC is one of Canada’s largest crown corporations, generating $8.2B in revenue annually, with more than 64,000 employees across Canada.

Prior to her role at CPC, she was a Partner at McInnes Cooper from 2005-2019, one of Canada’s 25 most prominent law firms. Her primary areas of practice were corporate governance and business. She was Managing Partner of the Halifax Office for four years and Vice-Chair of the firm. Cheryl was named one of the best lawyers in Canada in corporate governance every year from 2011-2018 by Best Lawyers in Canada. In 2010, she was named Atlantic Canada’s first Women of Influence and was appointed to the Queen’s Counsel. She was previously Vice President, Legal Services and Risk Management for a large Atlantic Canadian company, where she also acted as General Counsel to a group of private companies.

Cheryl is a corporate governance expert, a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors, and earned her ICD.D designation in 2012. She has served as a private company and crown corporation director and is currently a Mount Allison University Board of Regents member. She is a past director of Nova Scotia Business Inc., Halifax Chamber of Commerce, Scotsburn Dairy Cooperative, past chair of the Atlantic Chapter of the Institute of Corporate Directors, past chair of Film and Creative Industries Nova Scotia, and past chair of the national board of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. She has served as a board director of many volunteer organizations, including Lex Mundi, Symphony Nova Scotia, Neptune Theatre, and the QEII Health Foundation. Cheryl is also a past Honorary Consul of Sweden for Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland & Labrador. She has served as Academic Director and Facilitator for the Institute of Corporate Directors and has taught law and business courses at Dalhousie Law School and Saint Mary’s University. She has had direct experience as a regulator and served as Chair of the Human Rights Board of Inquiry.

Cheryl received the Canadian Bar Association’s Community Service Award for contributing to many community organizations and boards, including the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. In 2013, she received a Progress Woman of Excellence Award.

Called to the bar in 2004, Shannon is the Managing Lawyer of the Nova Scotia Legal Aid Conflict Office in Sydney.  She has practiced both family and criminal law, with a current concentration in child protection.   Shannon is the Chair of Nova Scotia Legal Aid’s Children and Family Services Act best practices committee.

Shannon recently joined the NSBS Complaints Investigation Committee and the Professional Standards (Family Law) Committee. 

Shannon is a board member of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Cape Breton.  An active member of the Cape Breton Barristers’ Society, she has served as a past President, and currently sits on the Supreme Court Family Division Liaison Committee, the Court Administration Collaboration Committee and the Library Committee.   Shannon has mentored articling students and junior associates. 

Jennifer C. MacDonald is a Partner at Portside Law LLP in Sydney, with a practice focused largely on family and children’s law. Jenn was admitted to the New Brunswick Bar in 2009 and the Nova Scotia Bar as a transfer in early 2011. She has worked extensively in child protection, both doing Agency work and representing Respondents. Jenn spent the last three years working in Eskasoni First Nation representing Mi’kmaw Family and Children’s Services of Nova Scotia in Indigenous child protection. She worked for five years in family, child protection and social justice law with Nova Scotia Legal Aid and the four years prior working in general litigation and family law in private practice in both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. She has appeared at all levels of court in Nova Scotia and has served on a number of Bench and Bar committees through the courts.

Jenn is a passionate advocate for access to justice and has served on a number of access to justice initiatives. She acts as a per diem Summary Advice Counsel, has been a volunteer Parent Information Program facilitator at the courts since 2014 and served on Legal Aid’s Children and Family Services Act (CFSA) and Gender Equity Committees. She has served on the Family Services of Eastern Nova Scotia’s Board of Directors since 2018 and presently serves as the Executive Treasurer and is a past Board Member for Junior Achievement New Brunswick and was a committee member for Nova Scotia’ chapter of Health Providers Against Poverty.

Jenn has a Bachelor of Laws from University of New Brunswick (2008) and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Memorial University (2005). She founded and ran a small business consulting firm as a law student and in 2007 was named the Student Entrepreneur of the Year for New Brunswick by Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship and CIBC Small Business. Jenn is also a self-professed adrenaline junkie, marathoner, skydiver, downhill skier, hiker and world traveller. She lives in Sydney, Cape Breton with her husband, 6-year-old daughter and rescue pup.

Kelly Rowlett is a Senior Staff Lawyer with Nova Scotia Legal Aid and has spent the last 15 years of 25 years as a member of the Nova Scotia Bar practicing in the area of mental health law.

Kelly is the proud mother of two girls, stepmom to a son and daughter and Nana to two grandsons.

She has worked to implement and advance the Dartmouth Wellness Court since 2008 and is actively involved in the expansion of wellness courts throughout Nova Scotia. She has also worked with the Society in the past on the Fitness to Practice Committee and is currently working with the College of Nurses on both their Fitness and Discipline Committees.

Kelly regularly speaks at local universities, conferences, and consults throughout the country in the area of therapeutic justice. She is very honoured to have been selected to fill an interim position as one of the Halifax District Council Representatives for the remainder of the current term.   

Morgan Manzer (he/him) is a Staff Lawyer for Nova Scotia Legal Aid (NSLA) practicing child protection and family law. Morgan is presently finishing his Masters of Laws in Dispute Resolution with a focus on culture, equity, and power at Osgoode Hall Law School.

At the Society Morgan has served as a Council member since 2021 and also serves on the Racial Equity and Fitness to Practices committees. For the first half of 2020, Morgan was seconded to the Society’s Equity and Access Office to advise on equity and access issues affecting the legal profession.

Over the past several years, Morgan has also been a practice manager for the bar admission program (PREP). Within Nova Scotia Legal Aid Morgan is an active member of their equity and racial diversity Committee. In early 2021 Morgan concluded four and a half years as Chair of Halifax Pride’s board of directors. He also presently serves as Vice-Chair of the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia, and as a member of Global News’s DEI Advisory Committee. In 2019, he was presented the Zöe Odei Young Lawyers Award from the Canadian Bar Association (CBA), Nova Scotia Branch, for his work within the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and he is a recent recipient of the Queen’s Jubilee Medal for his volunteerism in the areas of mental health and equity.

D. Fraser MacFadyen graduated from Dalhousie Law School in 1985. He proceeded to article and then practice in BC until 1989.

In 1989, Fraser returned to Nova Scotia and joined Stewart McKelvey where he currently practices in the commercial area with a current concentration in more complex commercial property matters.

He has previously an instructor for several years with the Society’s Bar Admission program and he co-instructed Corporate Finance at Dalhousie Law School. Fraser was also previously the President of the CBA Real Estate Subsection for NS.

Fraser has contributed to his community throughout his career and is the past Chair of Feed Nova Scotia (2005-2010) and he was a board member at Halifax’s Sacred Heart School.

David Hirtleis a sole practitioner with Hirtle Legal Services Inc. in Lunenburg. His areas of practice include civil litigation, family law, criminal law, real estate, and estates and trusts. He was previously employed with Power, Dempsey Cooper & Leefe in Bridgewater. He was called to the Nova Scotia Bar in 1998.

David joined Council in July 2017 as the acclaimed byelection candidate for the Southwestern District for the 2017-2019 Council term. He was acclaimed to the position again in 2019. David currently serves on the Credentials Committee and the Trust Account Regulations Working Group. He was previously a member of the Professional Standards (Criminal) Committee.

David is an active volunteer in the legal community, his home community of Lunenburg and in the province. He has been a member of the Lunenburg County Barristers’ Association since 1998 and currently serves as President, a post which he has held since 2012. Since 2013, David has sat as a non-voting member of the CBA Nova Scotia Council. He is a past active member of the Lunenburg & District Volunteer Fire Department and is now an Honorary member. Since 2013 David has served as a member of the advisory board for CNIB Nova Scotia.

Jamie A. Vacon is a bilingual Mi’kmaq lawyer, and grew up in Quinan, NS. He has a Bachelor of Laws and graduated from the Indigenous Black and Mi’kmaq Initiative in 2006. He was called to the Bar in 2011.

Jamie is currently a Senior Lawyer with the Legal Aid office in Yarmouth. Jamie’s practice is mostly in Criminal Law with a passion for Indigenous/ Customary Law.

Jamie is the co-chair of the Truth and Reconciliation sub-committee, he is on the Racial Equity committee, the Provincial Judicial Appointments sub-committee, and the Nomination committee. He has worked on many mentorship programs for both the Judiciary, students and lawyers.  

M. Ingrid Brodie KC began her career in 1990 as a staff lawyer with Nova Scotia Legal Aid in Yarmouth practicing family & criminal law for four years. For the next 16 years, she was a Crown Attorney with the NS Public Prosecution Service (PPS) in Yarmouth then Kentville handling increasingly complex cases. 

She had a four-year hiatus after 9/11 when she was seconded to the NS Department of Justice in Halifax engaged in strategic planning and policy development regarding issues in policing, counterterrorism, organized crime, and emergency management.

In 2010, Ingrid was appointed Chief Crown Attorney for the Western Region of the NS PPS managing financial, human resource and administration issues as well as supporting all manner of legal work including major cases. She has contributed to two key initiatives in the past ten years as Co-Chair of the NS PPS Equity & Diversity Committee and a steering committee member and assigned Crown to the Mental Health and Drug Treatment Courts based in Kentville. In 2017 she was appointed King’s Counsel.

In 2006-2007, she was a member of the Attorney General’s Safer Streets & Communities Task Force. From 2010 -12, she was a mentor for the Society’s mentorship program for women lawyers and then on the planning committee and a presenter at the Society’s UnCommon Law event in the Annapolis Valley in 2014.

Throughout her career, Ingrid has contributed to her community as a volunteer and member on non-profit boards. She served on the board for Juniper House, NS Coalition for Children and Youth and most recently for the last nine years on the board of PeopleWorx. 

Ingrid has volunteered for the VON Infant Daycare Program, the Yarmouth Interagency Committee for the Prevention of Violence, the Annapolis Valley Sexual Violence Partnership, and Girl Guides.

Michelle Kelly KC is a partner in the Halifax office of Cox & Palmer. Called to the Nova Scotia Bar in 2004, Michelle’s practice focuses primarily on insurance defence work, as well as commercial litigation and property litigation, including expropriation work. She has appeared at all levels of court in Nova Scotia, consistently appears in front of the NSUARB and has been involved in many mediations and commercial arbitrations.

Michelle was elected to Council in 2019 as a District Representative for Halifax and was appointed to Council in 2021 as a Member at Large. She currently serves on the Gender Equity Committee, the Professional Responsibility Policies & Procedures Committee and the Supreme Court Liaison Committee.

Michelle was appointed to the Nova Scotia Advisory Council for the Status of Women in 2014 and currently sits as their President. She is also the Chair of The Coalition of Provincial and Territorial Advisory Councils on the Status of Women. The Coalition consists of advisory bodies from across the country dedicated to advancing women’s issues within their individual regions but who come together in the interest of women on a national level. Michelle is also a board member of the Jamaican Cultural Association of Nova Scotia.

Michelle has been consistently recognized in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory as a leading practitioner in Personal Injury and as a leading practitioner in Insurance Law by the publication The Best Lawyers in Canada.

Angeli Swinamer is a partner at MacGillivray Law.  She currently represents Plaintiffs in personal injury litigation including cases arising from motor vehicle accidents, long term disability denials, and slip and falls.  She has previously appeared before the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia.

Angeli was called to the Bar in Nova Scotia in 2017.  She moved to Canada from the Philippines in 2011 and was accredited by the National Committee on Accreditation (Federation of Canadian Law Societies) as having an equivalent Canadian Law degree in 2016.  She worked as a Research Analyst and Intake Specialist for MacGillivray Law before commencing her articling year in 2016.

Angeli graduated with a Juris Doctor from the University of the Philippines.  Prior to law school, Angeli graduated magna cum laude from the same university with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.  She was called to the Philippine Bar in 2010 and practiced as an Associate in a law firm in Southern Philippines.  She appeared before provincial and criminal courts in her hometown of Davao City.

While pursuing her J.D., Angeli worked as a Legislative Researcher for the House of Representatives. She was engaged in volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity and held the position of Chairperson for the Union of Journalists of the Philippines.

Angeli, her husband, Jon, and daughter Hadassah live in rural Pictou County and happily reside in their self-sustaining family homestead.

Bryan Darrell, P. Eng, FEIC of Halifax was appointed as a Public Representative on Council in 2019 and also currently serves on the Governance & Nominating Committee.  

A professional engineer, Bryan is the Senior Executive Director, Infrastructure Department of Seniors & Long Term Care for the Province of Nova Scotia, where he oversees the development, planning and delivery of major provincial health care projects. He is recognized nationally as an expert in health care infrastructure management. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Acadia University, a Diploma in Engineering from Saint Mary’s University and a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering from the Technical College of Nova Scotia (TUNS).

Bryan brings vast board and governance experience to the Society, having served as both a Councillor and President of Engineers Nova Scotia, as board member of the Capital District Health Authority, as Chair of the Dalhousie Legal Aid board, as Treasurer of the Halifax Community Investment Fund and the St. Margaret’s Sailing Club, among others. From 2008 to 2018, he sat on the National Research Council’s Standing Committee on Energy Efficiency in Buildings.

An active community member, Bryan volunteers with local organizations such as Feed Nova Scotia, Hope Blooms, Ride for Cancer and Harbour Swim.

Deepak Prasad, M.O.M., AdeC, BA(hons), CPS, CTSS, CTR, BCECR, CATSM, CCISM, Deepak is a Police Officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and a doctoral student at London Metropolitan University. Deepak was the first Divisional Wellness Coordinator for the RCMP Nova Scotia Division and authored the first Divisional Integrated Wellness Strategy. Prior to joining the RCMP, Deepak worked with the Canada Border Services Agency as a Border Services Officer and as a Police Dispatcher. 

Deepak has attended various post-secondary institutions focusing his studies in the area of leadership and first responder wellness, these institutes include the Justice Institute of British Columbia, Dalhousie University, Laurier University, and the University of Toronto. In addition to his studies, he holds six international professional designations in first responder wellness.

Deepak is currently the Vice-Chairperson and Commissioner with the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission, and he sits on a number of non-profit boards including St. John Ambulance NS/PEI, Nova Scotia International Tattoo Foundation, and Family Services of Eastern Nova Scotia.

Deepak is originally from Vancouver, BC, but now lives with his partner Tara in Halifax.

Carole Lee has enjoyed an extensive career in executive leadership and management supplemented by a Graduate Degree in Management and a CPA designation. Her expertise in organizational development, strategy and financial management saw her leading major initiatives in investment, immigration, innovation, policing, and productivity. During her three-decade career in the public sector, she produced over a thousand policies, three hundred business plans and over a hundred strategic plans through collaborative processes.  For the past six years, she has focused on leading member-based organizations and consulting on policy and governance matters. 

Carole Lee lives in Mahone Bay and enjoys getting out on her water on her vintage Boston Whaler, mountain biking and restoring her mid-century modern home. She is a dedicated member of the “Home Exchange Network” and loves to travel. 

Michelle Ward of Westville was appointed as Public Representative on Council in September 2017.

Michelle is the Executive Director of the Kids First Association, which offers programs and services to children and families in Pictou, Antigonish and Guysborough counties. Managing an organization of over 30 staff and overseeing the policy development, budget management, funding relations, community outreach and other operational tasks, Michelle brings 20 years of leadership experience to her position on Council. Through her tenure as Executive Director of Kids First, she has formed excellent working relationships with local partners, provincial departments and federal funders, and has demonstrated a strong understanding of the social determinants of health, diversity and social inclusion. In addition to her work with Kids First, Michelle also works as a clinical therapist for Family Services of Eastern Nova Scotia, where she provides telephone grief support for individuals across the Northeastern region of the province.

Michelle has served on a number of committees relevant to her profession. She currently serves as Chair of the Nova Scotia Association of Family Resource Programs and as Chair for Pictou County Early Years Network. She previously served as the Chair for Pictou County Partners for Children and Youth. Michelle also serves on committees for North East Network for Children and Youth, Antigonish Early Years, Guysborough Early Years, Quality Improvement and Safety Team, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Northern Network and many others.

Michelle has also shown extensive involvement within her community. She served as a member of the board of directors for the Pictou County Women’s Resource and Sexual Assault Centre, and of the Student Advisory Committee for Highland Consolidated Middle School. From 2011-2015 she was the secretary of the Westville and Area Minor Hockey Association. Additionally, Michelle has volunteered with the Metropolitan Immigrant Settlement Association, Catholic Children’s Aid Society and United Church Emergency Refugee Relief.

Michelle holds a Bachelor of Arts from St. Francis Xavier University, as well as a Bachelor of Social Work from Dalhousie University. Michelle is a Registered Social Worker with the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers. 

With her keen interest in law, Michelle believes that her experience of working within systems designed to support vulnerable populations will add an important perspective to Council.