Justice L'Heureux-Dube: Dimensions of a Quintessential Judicial Leader

• Author: Justice Corrine Sparks
• Pages: 379-384

Twenty

Justice L'Heureux-Dube: Dimensions

of a

Quintessential Judicial Leader

JUSTICE

CORRINE

SPARKS

Honouring

the

contributions

of

Justice Claire L'Heureux-Dube

to a

feminist

analysis

of law is one of the

most

pleasant tasks

that

I

have been asked

to

undertake.

It is a

rare honour

and

privilege

to

celebrate

the

multifaceted

dimensions

of the

illustrious career

of

this judge.

Adjectives

to

describe

the

personality

of

this extraordinary person, this

legal

pioneer

and

mentor,

are

wide-ranging

and

include tenacious, compas-

sionate, extroverted,

effervescent,

and

yes, even

feisty.

I

will comment later

about

her

personal attributes

and her

profound humanitarianism.

Judging

at the

best

of

times

can be an

intensely

stressful

career.

Yet

some

judges,

like Justice L'Heureux-Dube, encapsulate

the

role

of an

exemplary

judge,

raising

the bar and

providing much-needed motivation

to the

rest

of

us

as

judges, academics,

and

lawyers.

To

be a

good

judge requires

a

high

standard

of

knowledge, sophisticat-

ed

interpersonal skills, deep compassion, sound articulation,

and

great

patience.

But

outstanding jurists have extraordinary qualities that imbue

them

with leadership capacity.

It is a

gift:

a

unique combination

of

intellectu-

al

brilliance

and

innovation, coupled with

an

innate ability

to

relate

to all

humans

in the

rainbow

of

humanity. Justice Bertha Wilson calls

it the

ability

to

step

into

the

skin

of the

litigant. Beyond this, however, these judicial lead-

ers

challenge

our

legal understanding

of the

cornerstones

of the

adjudicative

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