Beverley McLachlin

Beverley McLachlin (born September 7, 1943, Pincher Creek, Alberta, Canada) is a Canadian jurist who was the 17th chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada (2000–17) and the first woman to hold the post. She had joined the court in 1989.

McLachlin, who was raised on a farm in Alberta, studied at the University of Alberta, from which she earned a B.A. in 1964 and both an M.A. in philosophy and a law degree in 1968. She practiced law with several firms in Alberta and British Columbia from 1969 to 1975. She was a professor of law at the University of British Columbia from 1974 to 1981, when she was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia; in 1985 she was named to the Court of Appeal of that province. McLachlin was appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in 1988. One year later she became a justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, and in 2000 she was named chief justice. McLachlin brought to the bench skills as an able administrator as well as a fluency in both English and French (Canada’s two official languages), and she was praised by her fellow justices for her ability to blend theoretical principles of the law with practical applications for Canadians. In December 2017 McLachlin retired, having become the country’s longest-serving chief justice.

In 2018 McLachlin began serving a three-year term as a non-permanent judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal.