Gowling WLG partner E. Patrick Shea has received a Minister of Veterans Affairs (MVA) Commendation for his outstanding service to veterans and ongoing work to recognize and honour Canada's war dead.
Shea was one of 29 recipients presented with a Commendation at a July 2019 ceremony in Hamilton. Notably, this was Shea's second MVA Commendation, an extremely rare achievement in itself. He received his first in 2014.
A former officer in the Canadian Forces reserves, Shea has devoted significant time and energy advocating for Canada's veterans and fallen soldiers. He was the principal force behind the Great War Law Student Memorial Project, a commemorative initiative that, in 2014, resulted in the Law Society of Ontario (LSO) granting honorary calls to 59 Ontario students-at-law killed in the First World War and similar events in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2016 and Alberta in 2018. The Law Society of Manitoba, the Law Society of Saskatchewan and the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society will be honoring their own law students lost in the First World War in 2019 and 2020. Patrick also secured honorary calls for the fallen Ontario law students from the Second World War.
Outside of these initiatives, Shea is recognized as one of Canada's leading commercial lawyers. A certified specialist in bankruptcy and insolvency law, he focuses his practice on large corporate restructuring and insolvency matters across a diversity of sectors. He has also advised the governments of Canada and in the Caribbean with respect to the reform of their insolvency laws, and was Vice-Chair of the Ontario government's Business Law Advisory Council.
In recognition of his esteemed legal career and ongoing volunteer and advocacy work, Shea has received a number of awards and distinctions in recent years. In 2015, the LSO presented him with the Law Society Medal, one of its very highest honours. He is also a Member of the Order of St. John, and has been awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers.