‘Giant with a kind heart’

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This article was published 22/11/2024 (313 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The longest-serving chief justice in Manitoba history has died.

Richard Scott, who was chief justice of the Manitoba Court of Appeal for 22 years until his retirement in 2013, died Thursday at age 86.

“He was the longest-serving chief justice in Manitoba in history (and) he was an exemplary one at that,” said current Chief Justice Marianne Rivoalen on Friday.

“I had frequent contact with (him) since I’ve been appointed, in May 2023, because he was a huge support to me and a big inspiration… He was a role model for me to know how to act as a chief justice. I profoundly respected him as a jurist. He was very well-loved and admired by the entire legal profession.

“It’s a very, very sad day for the legal profession and for the bench because he was a giant with a kind heart.”

In 1990, Scott received a phone call from prime minister Brian Mulroney to advise him he was being appointed chief justice of Manitoba’s highest court.

In an interview at the time of his retirement, Scott said law wasn’t his first choice.

“I always wanted to be an aeronautical test pilot,” he said. “My eyes weren’t good enough to be a pilot and I took a series of aptitude tests… it pointed to law or business administration.”

Scott chose law, and in 1963 he graduated with a law degree from the University of Manitoba. He was called to the bar that same year and began practising as a mainly civil-litigation lawyer at what is now the law firm of Thompson Dorfman Sweatman.

Scott served on the board of Legal Aid Manitoba from 1976 to 1982, as a Law Society of Manitoba bencher from 1980 to 1984, and as the society’s president from 1983 to 1984.

In June 1985, federal justice minister John Crosbie called to appoint him to the then-Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench. Four months later, an official in Mulroney’s office called to say he had been appointed associate chief justice of that court. Then, five years later, Scott received the call from Mulroney.

Scott also served on the Canadian Judicial Council, where he helped bring in written conduct principles for judges.

During his career, Scott presided over the trial of Angelique Lavallee, who was acquitted of killing her common-law partner. The verdict was overturned by the Court of Appeal, but later upheld by the Supreme Court. It is considered the leading case for the legal recognition of “battered woman syndrome.”

“I stuck my neck out a little bit because I thought it was the right thing to do with the facts of this case,” said Scott. “I’m proud of it.”

When he retired, Scott said he was going to miss being a judge.

“I loved being a trial judge, but in the development of the law and the charter, this has been an interesting time to be an appellant justice, and I enjoyed it a lot.”

Scott went back into private practice, served as the chair of the Law Society of Manitoba’s discipline committee, was appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the advisory board to recommend a replacement for Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, and served as chair of the selection committee for the Law Society’s award that’s named in his honour.

Retired lawyer Hymie Weinstein said Scott “was a wonderful judge and a wonderful person.”

“If you knew Dick Scott was one of the judges, you better be well-prepared because he knew what to ask and what you are saying. I never, ever heard any negative comment about him — and I can’t say that about many judges.”

Veteran lawyer Saul Simmonds said when Scott was appointed to the Court of Appeal “he returned civility to the court.”

“He was always civil and legally sharp as a tack. He was a pleasure to appear before,” he said. “We have lost a giant.”

Scott was inducted into both the Order of Canada and Order of Manitoba

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca