Today, Allan Gotlieb is retiring after 13 years with Bennett Jones. He served clients in Canada and internationally as a Senior Business Advisor on the firm's exceptional Government and Public Policy team.

A former Canadian ambassador to the United States, Mr. Gotlieb provided clients with critical insights into policy developments in Canada and the United States. His international law and diplomacy experience has been honed over the past 50 years through his legal and public service careers. He was centre stage in a number of important foreign policy initiatives affecting Canada, including the Free Trade Agreement and the Treaty on Acid Rain.

Mr. Gotlieb is emeritus chairman of the Canadian Group and former North American Vice-Chairman of The Trilateral Commission. He is a past director of a number of international public corporations in Canada and the United States, Canadian crown corporations and agencies, and has held board and leadership positions in numerous charitable and not-for-profit organizations focused on public policy, foreign relations, education and the arts.

A native of Winnipeg, he is a Companion of the Order of Canada, the highest civil honour in the country, a recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Government of Canada and of the Order of Manitoba.

Mr. Gotlieb has taught at numerous universities and has written five books and countless articles on international law, diplomacy and political science. His latest book, The Washington Diaries: 1981-1989, was nominated for The Writer's Trust of Canada's 2007 Shaughnessy Cohen Award for Political Writing.

Bennett Jones wishes Allan and his wife Sondra the very best in the future.