About The Hon. Chief Judge Melissa Gillespie
Chief Judge Gillespie was born and grew up in Calgary, Alberta. She received her law degree from the University of Toronto and was called to the BC Bar (licensed to practise law in BC) in 1991. Soon after that, she began her legal career as Crown Counsel working in New Westminster, Surrey and Burnaby. From 2000 until 2003, she served as Administrative Crown Counsel in Surrey. She then became Deputy Regional Crown Counsel, and in 2005 Regional Crown Counsel for the Fraser Region. Appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 2009, Chief Judge Gillespie was sworn in as a Provincial Court judge in February 2012.
Following her appointment she presided in the Fraser Region. In addition to sitting assignments, Chief Judge Gillespie was active in delivering education programs to judges and judicial justices, as well as to the larger legal community. She also served as a member of the executive of the BC Provincial Court Judges Association for several years.
Chief Judge Gillespie was appointed an Associate Chief Judge for a two year term in April 2016 and re-appointed for a three year term in April 2018. A member of the Board of Directors of the Justice Education Society, she has participated in a Justice Education Society project to strengthen the criminal justice system in Guyana.
She was appointed Acting Chief Judge on May 7, 2018 and appointed Chief Judge on October 19, 2018 for a seven year term.
About The Hon. Justice David C. Harris
Mr. Justice Harris attended the University of Oxford, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1977 from Exeter College. He received a Master of Philosophy in 1979 and a doctorate in 1982 from Nufield College. He received a Bachelor of Laws from the University of British Columbia in 1985 and was admitted to the Bar of British Columbia in 1987. He was appointed King’s Counsel in 2004.
Mr. Justice Harris was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in 2010 and to the Court of Appeal in 2012. Prior to his appointment, he was a lawyer with Hunter Litigation Chambers in Vancouver. He had been a lawyer with Berardino & Harris from 2000 to 2006 and with Russell & Dumoulin from 1986 to 2000. He was a law clerk with the Court of Appeal in 1985. His main area of practice was civil litigation.
Mr. Justice Harris was a part-time professor at the University of British Columbia Law School as well as a frequent lecturer for numerous continuing legal education programs.
About The Hon.Justice Baljinder Kaur Girn
Justice Baljinder Kaur Girn was appointed to Supreme Court of BC February 7, 2022. Justice Girn was born in India and immigrated to Canada with her family at the age of six. She grew up in Burnaby and is a proud member of Canada’s Punjabi Sikh community. She is fluent in Punjabi and has conversational fluency in Hindi. She was the first member of her extended family to attend university, earning a B.A. from Simon Fraser University and LL.B. from Queen’s University. She was called to the Ontario bar in 1999 and the British Columbia bar in 2002.
Justice Girn began her legal career with the law firm, Heller, Rubel in Toronto. In 2002, she joined the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC) in British Columbia, and went on to become Senior Crown Counsel. For the past twenty years at the PPSC, she has litigated a broad range of criminal prosecutions of offences under various federal statutes in courts across British Columbia. At the PPSC, she also mentored law students and young lawyers and provided legal education to lawyers and law enforcement agencies. In 2020, she received the PPSC’s Leadership Excellence Award.
Justice Girn was a member of the PPSC’s Advancement Centre for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion team, National Advisor for Racialized Persons, and Co-Champion of the PPSC Bias-Free Workplace Initiative. She was actively involved with the Canadian Bar Association – BC Branch, including serving on its board and provincial council for the past three years.
About The Hon. Judge Delaram A. Jahani
Judge Jahani was appointed to the Provincial Court in January 2018. Prior to her appointment to the bench, she was a trial lawyer, with expertise in the area of Family, child protection and criminal litigation. As an experienced litigator, she dealt with cases at all levels of British Columbia Courts. Having conducted most of her studies in the French language, Judge also Jahani presides over French trials.
Prior to becoming a member of the British Columbia Law Society, she was practicing in Toronto, Ontario in the area of litigation, with specific focus on criminal law. She was called to the Bar of Ontario in year 2000 and became a member of the Bar of British Columbia in 2002. Judge Jahani has continuously contributed to the legal community by volunteering at various legal organizations such as the Canadian Bar Association, Access Pro-bono, and by mentoring law students and coaching them in their moot program. She was also a volunteer at other charitable organizations such as the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cancer Society. Since her appointment to the Provincial Court Bench, she has contributed to various judicial committees and educational programs, and continues to contribute to the Allard Law Peter Burns moot program.
About The Hon. Judge David St. Pierre
After completing his undergraduate degree in Psychology at the University of Alberta, Judge St. Pierre was away from school for several years. During this time, he worked in a music store and played in a band. Judge St. Pierre went back to Law School at the University of Calgary and gained a law degree in 1994. While at law school, he participated in the students’ legal advice program, helped to found the Black Law Students’ Association of Canada, and was part of a task force that was drafting human rights legislation in Alberta. After getting his law degree, Judge St. Pierre practiced criminal law in Vancouver and worked as a partner at Cobb St. Pierre Lewis, a small criminal defence firm, specializing in drug defence work. In 2009, he stepped into the role of judge, welcoming the great challenge of being an impartial adjudicator after being an advocate for 15 years.
