Library Boy: Interview with Retired Supreme Court of Canada Justice Louise Charron

The most recent issue of The Lawyers Weekly features an interview with retired Supreme Court of Canada Justice Louise Charron:

"The court’s most prolific author of majority and unanimous criminal law judgments says she leaves satisfied after 23 years of judging at all levels (...)"

"Justice Charron says she doesn’t anticipate practising law again, but she doesn’t rule out eventually doing some law-related work, such as conducting a commission of inquiry."

"Asked how she managed to author the bulk of the criminal law majority decisions in a court that has been sharply divided over search and seizure, police powers, and the right to counsel, the former Crown counsel replies: 'I was on the court at a time when there were likeminded people on how we should resolve these cases — perhaps I was persuasive in some cases'."

"Indeed, her conviction that working on an appellate court is a highly collegial and institutional (rather than individualistic) exercise and that judgments are generally strengthened, rather than weakened, by incorporating multiple perspectives likely helped those majorities materialize."

"Justice Charron analogizes appellate judging to looking at a coffee of cup: viewed from one angle it has a handle, but from another angle it doesn’t. Drawing on others’ perspectives, wisdom and knowledge produces a more complete and accurate picture, she explains."

She was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada on August 30, 2004 after having sat on the Ontario Court of Appeal. She officially retired from the Supreme Court on August 31, 2011.

As readers know, Justice Ian Binnie also retired this year from the Supreme Court of Canada. Earlier Library Boy posts about Binnie include: