Mr. O'Leary is a mediator and arbitrator exclusively with ADR Chambers. Mr. O'Leary retired as a judge of the Court of Appeal of Alberta after 12 years on the Court. Before that, he was a trial judge with the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta for 11 years. Prior to becoming a judge, he was in private practice in Calgary for 20 years.

As a trial and appellate judge, Mr. O'Leary authored and participated in many significant decisions in a variety of areas of law, including tort liability and damage assessment, corporate and commercial, contract and statutory interpretation, employment law, insurance, oil and gas, regulatory, municipal and planning law, real estate and property, judicial review, family law and civil procedure.

Mr. O'Leary's practice was primarily in the area of civil litigation, with emphasis on insurance, resource law and corporate and commercial disputes. He negotiated and drafted corporate, commercial and oil and gas agreements and handled wills and estates, real property transactions and corporate matters.

He was a member of the Legal Aid Appeal Committee and the Legal Aid Account Taxation Appeal Committee for several years. He was chairman in Calgary of the Board of Referees under the Unemployment Insurance Act for five years.

Mr. O'Leary attended the University of Denver on an athletic scholarship and graduated with a degree in business administration. He studied law at the University of British Columbia, winning many academic awards including the gold medal for highest standing in the graduating class. He earned a Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School.

Mr. O'Leary has an ongoing interest in legal education. He administered the Bar Admission Course on behalf of the Law Society of Alberta from 1975 to 1978. For several years before 1976 he was a member of the joint Canadian Bar Association/Law Society of Alberta Committee responsible for continuing legal education in Alberta. He was one of the founding directors of the Legal Education Society of Alberta and served as its chairman for two years and as a director for many years. From 1974 to 1978 he was the director of the commercial law program for the Society of Industrial Accountants.

He is a member of the Canadian Bar Association, the litigation and dispute resolution sections of the American Bar Association, the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice, and is a director of the Legal Archives Society of Alberta. For many years he was actively involved in the administration of minor hockey in Calgary.