Interview With Newly Retired Supreme Court of Canada Justice Louis LeBel

The National, the magazine of the Canadian Bar Association, has published an article based on a recent interview with Justice Louis LeBel who retired from the Supreme Court of Canada on November 30, 2014:

"Many of LeBel’s former colleagues describe him as a distinguished and sharp-witted legal intellectual. Marie Deschamps, who sat with him for almost 20 years on the Court of Appeal of Quebec and later on the Supreme Court, said, 'He’s an intellectual resource for his colleagues. More importantly, he’s someone who can write on any matter that comes before generalist courts like these'."

"Their former colleague Michel Bastarache described LeBel as industrious and thorough, but agreeable and extremely cultivated. 'His intellectual curiosity is boundless,' said Bastarache. 'He has more than 2,000 books at home, which he has actually read — they’re not decorations like they are for a lot of people. He’s very interested in history and culture and has read a lot of biographies, so when we travelled together, he always knew all kinds of things'."

" 'In terms of the law, Louis is the smartest man I know,' said Québec lawyer Henri Grondin, who was LeBel’s law partner for 20 years. 'He’s a quick learner, but on top of that, he’s got the memory of an elephant. He can read something and retain it. For him, deliberating is easy because he remembers everything'."