Gryphon Gallery: Robin Baird

August 5, 2022

Alumni

Stuart Brambley, Archivist Stuart Brambley, Archivist photo

In his Grade 10 year he was awarded the coveted Morton Shield for Best All Round Boy. As well as being a smart student, he was an excellent athlete, particularly runner and recorded times in the 800m that were nationally recognised for his age group.

He received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of British Columbia in 1986 and a Bachelor of Laws from Queen’s University in 1989. Robin was then admitted to the Bar of British Columbia in 1990 and became a Crown prosecutor with the Criminal Justice Branch, Ministry of Justice, in Vancouver and Victoria from 1990 to 1995. He was an associate with Green & Claus from 1996 to 1997, where his main areas of practice were criminal law and civil litigation. Robin Baird then went on to gain a Master of Law with merit from the London School of Economics in London, England in 1999, becoming a private practitioner for one year. At this point he became a Director of the Victoria Bar Association and a volunteer lawyer for the Salvation Army Pro Bono Legal Clinic from 2000 to 2004, as a criminal defence, family, small claims and insurance law lawyer. At the same time he was a lecturer at the University of Victoria from 2000 to 2006 and returned as a Crown prosecutor with the Criminal Justice Branch, Ministry of Justice from 2004 to 2011.

In 2006, for a change of pace, Robin A. Baird was nominated and ran as a Conservative Party representative in the 2006 Federal Election for the Victoria riding. Between 2008 and 2011 he was a commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission and a member of the Provincial Council of the Canadian Bar Association, British Columbia Branch, from 2010 to 2011. Judge Baird was appointed to the Provincial Court of British Columbia in 2011. On October 5, 2012, it was announced by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada in Ottawa that the Honourable Robin A. Baird, a former judge with the Provincial Court of British Columbia in Surrey, was appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Nanaimo, a position he still holds.