Daniel F. Gallivan, KC

Danny is Counsel in the Halifax office. Before being called to the Nova Scotia Bar in 1976, he obtained a law degree at Dalhousie Law School and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel (now King’s Counsel) in 1997. Danny’s practice is primarily transactional, concentrating on corporate, commercial, energy, financing, securities, and governance.

Experience

Danny has acted on retainers jointly involving private and public sector stakeholders, and has had a number of retainers at the federal, provincial and municipal levels of government involving the joint interests of private and public sector stakeholders.

He has extensive experience in governance matters, and over 50 years of aggregate directorship experience. Such experience includes serving as a director of the Bank of Canada, and he currently sits on the board of VIA Rail; opportunities providing significant insight into the unique balancing between autonomy and accountability required by Crown corporations, and the appreciation of the public policy considerations applying to entities.

Danny served as Vice Chair of the Nova Scotia Securities Commission, which provided capital markets experience and experience in implementing public policy objectives, as well as insight into the challenges of dealing with inter-provincial cooperation among the various levels of government. He was also a director of Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) for 19 years and a director of the Greater Halifax Partnership (GHP). Both organizations are multi-stakeholder environments and are examples of significant experience in managing diverse stakeholder interests.

Collectively, his legal career and directorships have allowed him to gain extensive knowledge of corporate governance and best practices, strategic corporate planning, monitoring and evaluation of corporate performance, the ability to anticipate emerging issues, and the ability to develop and maintain effective relationships with stakeholders, public institutions, senior government officials and other organizations.