Meet our Alumni: Sandy Hermiston, LLB'84

As the temperatures begin to drop and the snow begins to fall in Canada, many of us dream about living and working on a tropical island. Sandy Hermiston, LLB’84 has done just that. She was recently appointed as the first Ombudsman of the Cayman Islands after an exciting public service career in Canada.

Sandy’s career path towards taking on this new role started many years ago, with her decision to go to law school.  As an undergraduate student, Sandy was working towards becoming an interpreter when she decided that she wanted a more active role in the creation of ideas, not simply the repetition of them.  Attending law school gave Sandy the opportunity to gain skills in learning, synthesizing and analyzing large amounts of information from a critical perspective.  For Sandy, law school was significantly more than simply gaining a degree, but gave her the opportunity to explore opportunities from an open-minded perspective.  During this time, she was also incredibly active in the school -playing sports, volunteering with Student Legal Assistance, and representing student interests on the Faculty Counsel and the University of Calgary Senate. 

When looking back at law school, Sandy reflects that, “the theoretical study of law and the practice of law are two different things, you don’t have to be the gold medalist to have an interesting legal career or to be a good lawyer.  The skills you learn will support you, and once you’re in practice and the rubber hits the road is where it really counts.”    

In considering Sandy’s significant career history it’s clear that this advice holds true.  After working in private practice and in-house for several years, Sandy started working in the public service and felt an instant connection.  For many years, Sandy practiced administrative law as General Counsel for the Appeals Commission for Alberta Workers’ Compensation Board and then as General Counsel to the Alberta Ombudsman and Public Interest Commissioner’s Office.  Sandy enjoyed these roles because, “ensuring that decisions are made fairly is incredibly meaningful work because it has the capacity to effect regular, everyday people in a significant way.”  She also enjoyed working with people from many different walks of life, not simply lawyers speaking about strictly legal issues. 

To complement her work in public service, Sandy was also an extremely active volunteer throughout her career.  She was on the board of various Paralympic sport organizations, primarily in the cerebral palsy sport world, where her knowledge of legal issues and critical analysis made a significant, positive impact for many people.  In reflecting on this role, Sandy notes that, “the legal issues that seem simple to me can be overwhelming for a volunteer-dependant organization, and through my legal training I was able to contribute in a very valuable way to the organization.”  Volunteering with provincial, national and international organizations also helped Sandy to gain leadership skills and experience managing people which have contributed to her professional success. 

The role of the Ombudsman’s office is to monitor the public sector by investigating and mediating complaints made by the public against public bodies. This office is a critical part of any government system because it uses an independent review process to provide oversight for public institutions.  Sandy describes the Ombudsman’s role as, “existing to shine the lamp of scrutiny on the darkest corners.”  The specific role of the Ombudsman is crucial to this process because, with input from knowledgeable experts and advisors, she makes important recommendations that directly impact the public sector. 

Sandy is the first person to be appointed as the Ombudsman of the Cayman Islands.  This is a new position in the government structure.  The new office will combine two existing offices (Complaints Commission and Information Commission) and take on additional responsibilities for whistle-blowing, public complaints against the police and data protection in the near future.  The Cayman Islands Government viewed the creation of a single office as a more efficient way to address the oversight of government.  Overseeing this transition to a single office is an exciting challenge that involves everything from redesigning the office space to presenting new budgets before the legislative assembly.  Although it has only been a few months since Sandy began her appointment in the Cayman Islands, the experience has been incredible so far.

And after living in the Northwest Territories and Edmonton, Alberta for several years, Sandy is settling into the tropical climate of the Cayman Islands quite nicely and is looking forward to paddle-boarding on the ocean in her free time.