Paths to the Bench: The Judicial Appointment Process in Manitoba, 1870-1950 (Law and Society Series)

Using the judiciary of Manitoba as a model, Paths to the Bench
examines the political nature of Canada's judicial appointment
process, and suggests that ability alone seldom determined who went to
the bench. In fact, many of Manitoba's early judges spent little
time actually practising law, since professional merit was not a
criterion for judicial appointments. Rather, it was relationships with
influential mentors and communities that ensured appointments and
ultimately propelled careers. Brawn offers an in-depth analysis of how
the path to the bench of competent and connected and less competent and
connected lawyers differed. This book is one of the few studies to
examine why many of the best and brightest members of the bar either
did not want to go to the bench, or if they did, why they may not have
gotten there.