Bio
Professor Thompson is a leading and respected academic with expertise in the law of child support, spousal support, evidence, civil procedure, relocation and child protection, and an encyclopedic memory of caselaw across the country. Rollie is a dynamic teacher and communicator. He taught for almost four decades at the Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, the University of Toronto law faculty, and the Osgoode LL.M. program, and regularly presented across the country for audiences of lawyers, judges, legislators and mental health professionals.
Rollie and Professor Carol Rogerson (University of Toronto) devised and wrote the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines ("SSAGs") in 2005, as well as the subsequent Revised User's Guide in 2016. Today, the SSAGs are considered and applied by all courts across the country.
Rollie is also the Editor of Canadian Family Law Quarterly and the Nova Scotia Civil Procedure Rules (LexisNexis).
He is passionate about legal education and continues to speak to audiences across the country. Rollie will be an invaluable resource to the firm’s lawyers and clients.
For his contributions to the area of Family Law, Rollie has been recognized with the 2024 Award of Excellence in Family Law in Memory of James McLeod by the Ontario Bar Association.
Rollie divides his time between Toronto and Halifax.
Recognition
- 2024 Award of Excellence in Family Law in Memory of James McLeod - Ontario Bar Association
- 2018 Recipient (with Carol Rogerson) of one of the AFCC-Ontario’s “10 in 10” 10th Anniversary Awards of Excellence in Family Justice
- 2016 Recipient of Award for Teaching Excellence in the Osgoode Professional LL.M.
- 2005 Recipient of the Vincent J. Pottier Award for Exceptional and Outstanding Contribution to Dalhousie Legal Aid Service
- 2001-02 Recipient of the Dalhousie Law Alumni Association and the Dalhousie Law Students’ Society Award for Excellence in Teaching
Professional Involvement
- Editor of the Canadian Family Law Quarterly.
- Editor of the Nova Scotia Civil Procedure Rules (LexisNexis)
- Co-director (with Prof. Carol Rogerson), Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines Project, Department of Justice Canada 2001-2008
- Professor Emeritus (since 2020) - Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University
- Professor (1982-2020) - Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University
- Executive Director, Dalhousie Legal Aid Service (1982-85 and 1991-94)
Education, Admissions & Designations
- King's Counsel (2011)
- Called to the Bar of Nova Scotia (1980)
- Clerk to Justice Brian Dickson, Supreme Court of Canada (1978-1979)
- LL.B. from Dalhousie Law School (1978)
- B.A. (Hons. Economics & Political Science) from McGill University (1971)