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Nunavut has a new chief justice

Susan Cooper, a longtime Nunavut judge and lawyer, will now be the territory's new chief justice, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in a news release Friday. 

Susan Cooper replaces outgoing Chief Justice Neil Sharkey

Blue and silver exterior of large building in snow.
The Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit. (David Gunn/CBC)

Nunavut has a new chief justice, after its former top judge retired earlier this year. 

Susan Cooper, a longtime Nunavut judge and lawyer, will now take on the job, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in a news release Friday. 

Outgoing Chief Justice Neil Sharkey retired because he turned 75 — the mandatory retirement age for judges. 

Cooper was appointed to the Nunavut bench in 2009. Before that, she was an associate at Cooper and Johnson, a firm in Yellowknife, from 1988 to 1992. 

She then practised as a sole practitioner in Yellowknife and Iqaluit and became a partner with Chandler and Cooper in 1998. 

Her practice focused on civil, criminal, family, child protection, municipal and administrative law, among others.