Marquette Law School to host Canadian Supreme Court justice

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The Hon. Suzanne Côté, justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, will present “Roots of the Living Tree: The Growth of Constitutional Interpretation in Canada” for Marquette University Law School’s E. Harold Hallows Lecture on Monday, March 4, at 4:30 p.m. in the Lubar Center at Eckstein Hall, 1215 W. Michigan St.

Before her appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada, Justice Côté was a partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, where she was head of the Montréal office’s litigation group. Before joining Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, Justice Côté had practiced for 23 years at Stikeman Elliott, where she was also head of the Montréal office’s litigation group. She specialized in complex civil and commercial litigation, including cases involving manufacturer’s liability, class actions, shareholder disputes and public law, according to a Government Canada website.

Côté will detail the growth and development of the Supreme Court of Canada’s constitutional interpretation. The discussion will naturally explore the ever-evolving Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as the influence that U.S. and international laws have had on the court’s approach.

The program is open to the public, with registration required and available online. Media wishing to attend should contact Kevin Conway at [email protected].

Côté was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 2014. Prior to that, Côté practiced law in Montreal, specializing in complex litigation, and in her native Gaspé Peninsula, Quebec. She has been a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers since 2005 and has taught evidence and litigation at the École du Barreau du Québec and lectured at the Université du Québec à Rimouski and the Université de Montréal. She received an LL.B. from Université Laval before being called to the Quebec Bar in 1981.

This annual lecture remembers E. Harold Hallows, who was a practicing lawyer in Milwaukee and a faculty member at Marquette Law School from 1930 to 1958. He then served as a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court from 1958 to 1974 and was the court’s chief justice for the last six of those years.

Through public programming such as the Marquette Law School Poll, “On the Issues” conversations with newsmakers, public lectures by leading scholars, conferences on issues of public significance, and the work of its Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education, Marquette Law School seeks to advance civil discourse about law and public policy matters