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FEATURE 8 www.canadianlawyermag.com CROSS EXAMINED "Statistically, it's completely improbable that someone would end up as one of nine," she says. "I felt so deeply honoured to have been chosen, and I felt it as a great weight and responsibility." Once on the bench, collegiality and exchange is central. "We strengthen each other," she says. "We talk about, 'Well, there's a gap in your thinking here,' or 'Why are you going this way?'" But the work was unrelenting. "Some people use the word 'crushing' ... [there are] very few easy cases that go to the Supreme Court of Canada." Writing, she comments, is both essential and demanding. "I love to write, and it's so hard," she says. "At the end of my judgment, I want people to say, that makes sense." That pursuit of clarity, she adds, extends to every decision. "Sometimes people would say, 'What does this case from the Supreme Court mean?' And you like to have an answer." Martin's expectations for advocacy are no less rigorous. "Advocacy can be learned," she says. "Think ahead, tell a story, understand what your decision-maker needs to know before they can decide." Before the top court, arguments have to do more. "You're really asking the court to say this is the better approach, normatively." Written advocacy, she stresses, is examined with precision. "It's really important that great care is put into a well-structured, absolutely as clear as possible and as accurate as possible, [factum]," she says. Oral advocacy, meanwhile, offers a rare chance to shift the court's focus. "The miracle of having heard a piece of info and seeing a really good advocate explain to me why it's actually the key thing – that's what a really good advocate does." Martin brings the same clarity to her reflections on legal education. The law degree, she says, offers more than courtroom readiness. "If you have legal training, you have a way of thinking about the world and of problems. You hear the other side; you measure pros and cons," she says. "You're compelled towards facts and evidence… These are unbelievably good, transferable skills." She is also candid about the profession's ongoing challenges with diversity. But she questions the idea that law is only for a certain kind of person. Too often, she says, people opt out because they don't see themselves reflected. "It's probably being too shy about yourself and not knowing the diversity in the profession. [There are] many, many people who have various different personalities who find law an enriching and sustaining kind of tradition." Martin stresses that her judicial approach avoids grand theory in favour of precision. "Somebody once said, I love having written," she says. "I try very hard to make it so that people understand exactly what I'm saying, and that hopefully at the end of my judgment, they'll say, 'that makes sense'." In 2024, Martin was named one of Canadian Lawyer's Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers. This article was based on an episode of the CL Talk podcast. Visit canadianlawyermag.com/cl-talk to hear this conversation and many other interviews with legal leaders across Canada. "[There are] many, many people who have various different personalities who find law an enriching and sustaining kind of tradition" JUSTICE MARTIN: KEY SUPREME COURT OF CANADA JUDGMENTS R v Boudreault, 2018 SCC 58: Struck down mandatory victim surcharges as cruel and unusual punishment, emphasizing individualized sentencing and access to justice. R v Le, 2019 SCC 34: Clarified that police carding in a private backyard is arbitrary detention, with robust analysis of police interactions with racialized communities. R v Hills, 2023 SCC 2: Reinforced Charter protections by requiring police to have a solid factual basis before conducting warrantless searches. Dunmore v. Mehralian, 2025 SCC 20: Established a child-centred, fact-driven approach to determining habitual residence in cross-border custody disputes.