Honourable J.C. Marc Richard
Chief Justice of New Brunswick
2018 - present
The Honourable J.C. Marc Richard, Chief Justice of New Brunswick, was born in Moncton, New Brunswick, and studied at the Université de Moncton (B.B.A. - 1980, LL.B. - 1983), and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LL.M. - 1984). He received an Honorary Doctorate in Law from Université de Moncton in 2023.
Admitted to the practice of law in 1985, he initially worked first as Crown Prosecutor, followed by a litigation practice with a mid-sized firm. His practice brought him before various administrative tribunals, all levels of the New Brunswick courts, and the Supreme Court of Canada.
As a lawyer, Chief Justice Richard served on several national and provincial committees, task forces, or advisory groups of the Canadian Bar Association (NB) and the New Brunswick Law Society. He was elected president of both organizations. In 2002, he was appointed Queen’s Counsel and, a year later, a judge of the Court of Appeal of New Brunswick. Since then, Chief Justice Richard served on countless judicial committees, including the Canadian Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee and the Judges’ Association’s Conduct Review Committee, eventually becoming Chair of both. He became a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Superior Courts Judges Association in 2004. In 2015, he was elected the Association’s President, becoming the first judge from New Brunswick to hold that office.
Chief Justice Richard frequently lectures for the Canadian Bar Association (NB), the National Judicial Institute (NJI), of which he is a member of the Board of Directors and chairs the Finance Committee, the Advocates’ Society, the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice (CIAJ), of which he served six years as a member of the Board of Directors, and the Federation of Law Society’s National Criminal Law Program. He has also been involved in several international judicial projects, lectured in several countries, and chaired a Judicial Advisory Committee on International Engagement, of which he is still a member.
His appointment as Chief Justice of New Brunswick occurred on May 1, 2018. As Chief Justice, he serves on the Canadian Judicial Council and is a member of the Council’s Executive, Conduct, Salaries and Benefits, and Renewal committees.