Name Robert Richards Role Chief Justice | Date appointed June 30, 2013 | |
Robert G. Richards is the Chief Justice of Saskatchewan, Canada. He was appointed in June 2013. Richards earned a Bachelor of Commerce (1975) and a Bachelor of Laws (1979) from the University of Saskatchewan, and obtained a Masters of Laws from Harvard Law School in 1982. He was admitted to the Bar of Ontario in 1983 and the Bar of Saskatchewan in 1985.
Richards was a law clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada (1979–80) and a parliamentary intern at the House of Commons (1980–81). He practiced law at Gowling and Henderson (1982–84) and then served as Chief of Staff for the Rt. Hon. Ramon Hnatyshyn (1984–85). Richards was Director of Constitutional Law for the Saskatchewan Department of Justice (1985–90) and a partner with MacPherson Leslie & Tyerman in Regina from 1990-2004, when he was appointed to the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan. Prior to his appointment, Richards was counsel in more than 40 Supreme Court of Canada appeals.
Richards has been a director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Legal Studies since 2011. He is also a council member of the International Commission of Jurists (Canadian Section). He has been chair of the Supreme Court of Canada-Canadian Bar Association (CBA) Liaison Committee and a co-chair of the national CBA Constitutional and Human Rights Law section.