Wayne Robertson, QC Access to Justice Bursary
Wayne Robertson, QC retired as executive director of the Law Foundation of British Columbia in September 2019, having joined the foundation in 2002. He was called to the Bar in 1983 and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2009. Prior to joining the Law Foundation, Wayne was a client services manager at the Legal Services Society's head office in Vancouver. Before that, he practiced law in Vancouver and was a partner with Lindsay Kenney where he was a litigator with a focus on family and child protection law. Wayne has degrees in English/psychology and community development. He has also served as a volunteer with many community and non-profit organizations. He has chaired the Provincial Child Care Council, Canadian Crossroads International, the Community Legal Assistance Society, the North Vancouver Recreation Commission, and the Association of Canadian Law Foundations. He is currently on the Board of CUSO International.
A consistent focus of Wayne's career has been the promotion of access to justice in BC. Whether volunteering as a supervising lawyer at a Law Student's Legal Advice Program clinic, coordinating duty counsel services on circuit courts around the province, establishing the Family Law Clinic of LSS or representing parents in child protection matters, the focus has been on assisting people in need. At the Law Foundation, key initiatives funded by the board during his tenure have included the expansion of a poverty law advocacy network at 50 locations around the province, the creation of a family law advocacy network, the development of the Child and Youth Legal Centre, a significant contribution to the Allard School of Law at UBC, as well as support for clinical programs at all three law schools and, most recently, for the Indigenous Legal Lodge at the University of Victoria.