Gérard La Forest

Who is Gérard La Forest?

Gérard Vincent La Forest, CC, QC, FRSC, LL.D was a Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada from January 16, 1985 to September 30, 1997. He is currently counsel at Stewart McKelvey in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Born in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, to J. Alfred La Forest and Philomène Lajoie, he first studied at St. Francis Xavier University and then went on to study law at the University of New Brunswick, obtaining a BCL in 1949. Following law school he was awarded a Rhodes scholarship and attended St John's College, Oxford receiving a BA in 1951 and an MA in 1956. He then went on the study at Yale University, completing an LL.M in 1965 and an LL.D in 1966. He was called to the Bar of New Brunswick in 1949 and was designated a Queen's Counsel in 1968.

From 1952 to 1955 he worked in the federal Department of Justice then later as a legal advisor. In 1956 La Forest began teaching at the University of New Brunswick, moving to the University of Alberta to become Dean of the Faculty of Law in 1968.

From 1970 to 1974, he went back to work for the federal government as Assistant Deputy Attorney General of Canada. Afterwards he was a member of the Law Reform Commission of Canada, until 1979 at which point he returned to teaching at the University of Ottawa.