Hon. Madam Justice Hope Hyslop (Ret.)

Judge in Residence

Honourable Hope Hyslop

In her role as judge in residence, retired BC Supreme Court Justice Hope Hyslop is a mentor, a guest lecturer in TRU Law courses and a key resource for law students at the TRU Community Legal Clinic. She is also a member of the TRU Legal Clinic Society that governs our community legal clinic. Her insight and perspective are based on more than 50 years in the profession.

The Hon. Hope Hyslop received her LLB from UBC in 1966. She was called to the bar in 1967. Initially, she practiced real estate law preparing documents for the purchase and sale of homes.

After a few years, she specialized in family law. She states this was not by choice but a result of ongoing recognition of women’s property rights upon marriage breakdown. She has watched legislation related to property division with divorce grow from two sections to over 250 sections as the Family Law Act is today.

She was appointed Master of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in 2003, and a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in 2009. She retired in fall of 2017 in Kamloops BC, the city where she has spent her legal career.

Over the years, she has observed a rising trend of people representing themselves in court due to high legal costs and for other reasons. The response by government in part is to provide online legal decision making which, she believes, is not the complete answer and has its limitations.

Her advice for law students and those considering law: Be willing to explore opportunities, assess your talents and wander into a courtroom from time to time to see what’s happening.