The McLachlin Court at Ten

This week's issue of The Lawyers Weekly takes a look at Beverley McLachlin's first decade as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.

The article draws attention to her intellectual leadership and to the atmosphere of openness that she has fostered:

"As she approaches her 10th anniversary as chief justice on Jan. 7, 2010, her energy, stamina and discipline still impress and confound those around her. She keeps up a killer pace: presiding over weighty and complex appeals by day, smiling her way through frequent diplomatic, arts and charitable functions by night and traveling domestically and abroad to deliver 35 to 50 speeches annually to lay and professional audiences alike."

(...)

"Retired Supreme Court Justice Jack Major, who left the court in 2005, suggests that her successful efforts to reach out to the public might be the defining accomplishment of her first decade as chief justice."

" 'I think that she has presented the best public face of the Supreme Court to the public of any of the chief justices of my time,' he says. 'And I would say of all time, because the court’s judges were more and more isolated the further you go back in the court’s history. She is very conscious of going to law schools, Bar conventions, and actively participating and being available to groups and to people. That’s been a very big plus'. "