2 October 2012
Ottawa, Ontario
Justice Wagner was called to the Bar of Quebec in 1980 after graduating from the University of Ottawa with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science (Bsc. Soc. 1978) and a Licence in Law (LL.L 1979). He has been a member of the Canadian Bar Association since 1980 and a Fellow with the Canadian College of Construction Lawyers since 1998.
A former partner with the firm of Lavery, de Billy, Richard Wagner was a recognized and respected civil and commercial litigator and acted in a number of important cases before the Supreme Court of Canada. He pleaded regularly before the Quebec Court of Appeal and the Superior Court. His commercial litigation practice focused on areas such as real estate, commercial litigation and professional liability insurance.
In 1994, Justice Wagner became a mediator certified by the Bar of Quebec and the Superior Court. He was also an executive member of the Construction Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association, Quebec Division which he presided during the year 2003-2004. Justice Wagner was a teacher of the Pleading and Representation program together with Civil Procedure at the École de formation professionnelle of the Bar of Quebec. He sat on the Council of the Bar of Montreal in 1998 and presided the Library Committee. Acting as first councillor for the Bar of Montreal in 2000-2001, he also sat on the Administrative Committee and the General Council of the Bar of Quebec.Justice Wagner was elected Bâtonnier (president) of the Bar of Montreal for the year 2001-2002. He was appointed as puisne judge of the Superior Court of Quebec on September 24, 2004.
On June 1st 2005, he received the Merit award from the Bar of Quebec for his contribution to the legal profession and more particularly for the creation in 2002 of the Centre d'accès à l'information juridique (CAIJ), which provides online legal information to lawyers and judges throughout the Province of Quebec. He was appointed as puisne judge of the Quebec Court of Appeal on February 3rd, 2011.
