Senate Ethics Officer

Pierre Legault

Senate Ethics Officer

Pierre Legault was appointed Senate Ethics Officer on January 10, 2018, after occupying the position of Interim Senate Ethics Officer from July 2017 until the date of his appointment.

Mr. Legault had a long and distinguished career spanning more than 34 years with the Canadian federal Department of Justice, where he held progressively senior positions at the executive level.

At the time of his retirement from Justice Canada in 2016, Mr. Legault was Associate Deputy Minister of Justice, the highest ranked civil law lawyer position in the Government of Canada with broad co-shared executive, policy, and law advisory responsibilities with the Deputy Minister of a department of some 2,500 lawyers. Prior to that, he served as Assistant Deputy Minister of the Business and Regulatory Law Portfolio where he was responsible for all business law and regulatory law matters for the Government of Canada.

He also held several leadership positions during a 15-year tenure with Industry Canada Legal Services, at the time one of Justice Canada's largest legal services units, culminating with the position of Senior General Counsel and Head of Industry Canada Legal Services. In this role, Mr. Legault lead a large group of specialized lawyers and provided legal and strategic advice to Ministers and senior officials in several areas of the law including commercial, telecommunication, intellectual property, bankruptcy, government, ethics, and lobbying law.

Mr. Legault also served as Senior Counsel and Head of the National Capital Commission Legal Services and assumed the roles of Corporate Secretary, Senior Counsel and Head of Investment Canada Legal Services.

Mr. Legault is a former Senior Vice Chair of the North American Forum of the International Bar Association and a co-founder and past director of the “Réseau francophone d’éthique et de déontologie parlementaires”.  He is a member of the Canadian Conflict of Interest Network and of the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws.

Pierre Legault holds a Bachelor of Civil Law (LL.L.) and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from the University of Ottawa and is a member of the Québec Bar.