Kenneth Adrian MacInnis

LL.M. University College London
(Shipping and International Law of the Sea)

LL.B. Dalhousie Law School

B.A. Saint Dunstan’s University

Ken MacInnis is a lawyer and former senior manager in public service. He served (1998-2006) as the Administrator of Canada’s Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund in Ottawa (previously in private practice in Halifax he had advised the Fund). He has expertise in marine oil pollution damage and compensation, including prevention, investigation, assessing claims and recovery actions. In this respect he also made significant contributions internationally as Head of the Canadian delegation at sessions of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds’ (IOPCF) governing bodies

at IMO Headquarters in London, and in other capacities. As Head of the Canadian Fund he was recognized as a proactive manager at strategic and operational levels who had introduced innovative management practices, launched fruitful outreach initiatives, and achieved notably positive financial results - evidenced in his eight informative Annual Reports (1998-1999 to 2005-2006) published and laid before Parliament (see: Annual Reports at www.ssopfund.gc.ca). In 2006, he also wrote the Fund's comprehensive website (above) for the benefit of claimants.

He was called to the Bars of British Columbia and Nova Scotia. Ken’s practice since 1975 has included Marine, Environmental, Administrative and Fisheries Law. Imbued with a strong sense of the rule of law, he has represented community-based, private sector and government clients adroitly before the Supreme Court of Canada, Superior and Federal Courts, tribunals and arbitrators. In the Maritime field he has advised ship-owners, operators, insurers, salvors, foreign banks, fishing interests and government departments.

Ken has been Counsel to the Water Transport Committee of the Canadian Transport Commission, Legislative Counsel to the Chairman of a Federal Cabinet Committee, and a Special Assistant to The President of the Privy Council and Government House Leader in the Government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. In private practice he has been engaged internationally. He acted for foreign clients before a Canadian Royal Commission Inquiry (“Ocean Ranger”), and for the Canadian Government at a Formal Inquiry in London under the British Merchant Shipping Act of 1894 (“MT Kurdistan”) . When acting for the Nova Scotia fishing industry to protect International fishing grounds, he collaborated with the Conservation Law Foundation of New England (CLF), including representations to a Parliamentary Committee, in effectively persuading the Government of Canada to ban hydrocarbon exploration on the Canadian section of Georges Bank, Gulf of Maine. As Head of the Canadian Fund he pursued International outreach. In 2005 he participated in marine pollution response cross-border exercises, acting as Facilitator on Canada/US legal issues. After serious oil pollution damage in France caused by the Erika (1999) he initiated a first hand look at operations of a new joint (P&I – IOPCF) claims handling office established in Lorient, Morbihan. In  2003, he was invited to present a paper at a multi-disciplinary conference at Ghent University, Belgium (see; MacInnis QC, K.A. (2005) The Canadian SSOP Fund and environmental damage assessment (EDA) in Canada, in: Maes, F. (ed.) Marine resource damage assessment, liability and compensation for environmental damage, Springer Publishers, Dordrecht, 67-84).

He has a been a former Chairman, Administrative Law sub-section, Canadian Bar Association, and a former National President, Dalhousie Law School Alumni Association. His current professional affiliations include the Nova Scotia Barrister’s Society, the Eastern Admiralty Law Association and the Canadian Maritime law Association.

Ken has a history of volunteer leadership in political, education, legal and social services sectors.