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“I always felt that one should, if able to, work towards bettering the community,” says MacKeigan. “I also thought it was important to encourage others to perform well in whatever position they had undertaken, whether it was on a board or in an organization.”

This year’s Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service honours MacKeigan’s legacy. Named for Richard Chapman Weldon, the law school’s founding dean, the award recognizes law school alumni who have made outstanding contributions to the community and the legal profession. The Schulich School of Law’s commitment to unselfish public service, referred to as the Weldon Tradition, is a guiding principle of the law school community.

“Robbie has provided truly superb, articulate, energetic, and thoughtful leadership on behalf of the legal profession and the communities it serves,” says James Musgrave, a friend and former colleague.

His curriculum vitae is a testament to a life of public service to his community, his province and country, his colleagues, and the general public good. — James Musgrave

Earlier this year, MacKeigan stopped practicing and stepped down from his volunteer commitments. Up until then, he worked long hours, evenings and weekends throughout his illustrious legal career that spanned more than five decades. Starting as an articled clerk at the Halifax law firm now known as Cox & Palmer in 1968, he went on to become a prominent lawyer, legal educator, and speaker. In 2011, MacKeigan left Cox & Palmer to serve as counsel with Stewart McKelvey.

Pursuing a law degree

Growing up in Halifax, he didn’t dream of becoming a lawyer. In junior high school he started what would become his life-long commitment to volunteerism. He got involved in his local church and in the Hi-Y group, sponsored by the YMCA. By Grade 12, he was president of the central council which was responsible for several dozen Hi-Y clubs. “I enjoyed having the opportunity to work with others,” he says.

After earning an entrance scholarship to Ģ��AV, MacKeigan studied economics and quickly became involved in the university community. He took on leadership roles such as president of the Ģ��AV Arts Society.

“For a time while at university, the last thing I wanted to do was practice law, partly because I did not want to follow my father,” says MacKeigan, whose father Ian was a lawyer before becoming Nova Scotia’s 19th Chief Justice. Robbie considered continuing his studies in economics, with the idea of entering the banking field.

But after giving it additional thought and receiving encouragement from practicing lawyers, he decided to pursue a law degree. At law school, he continued to give back to his community, including volunteering as a member of the organizing committee for the National Centennial Conference of Canadian Law Students in 1967 and chapter president of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity.

In 1969, he graduated with prizes for highest academic standing in the graduating class and moved to England to pursue his Master of Laws degree at the University of London. After spending a year abroad with his wife Charlotte, who had studied nursing at Ģ��AV, he returned to Halifax eager to begin his legal career.

My father was my mentor, but in a quiet way. He found others who could help guide me.

Sharing his expertise

Early on in his career, MacKeigan handled a wide range of legal matters, accepting any work given to him by the firm's senior lawyers. At that time, the city’s young practicing lawyers were also required to take legal aid clients, and this meant being at the law courts.

“I obtained experience appearing before the court and thinking on my feet,” he shares. “It would be a rare week that I wasn’t in court. I also did some prosecution and defence work in those early years.”

Later in his career, he assumed a mentorship role and urged younger lawyers to gain experience in different areas. “I encouraged them not to just think they could come out of law school and become a litigator. They needed to know something about the law they were going to litigate.”

In the late 1970s, MacKeigan was acting for several banks, financial institutions and companies in financial transactions. They started confronting bad loans and were uncertain how to deal with them. “When I had my early cases, it was hard to find other lawyers in the city who had done a bankruptcy file.”

MacKeigan discussed the relevant issues with groups of lawyers and bankruptcy trustees in various parts of the country and in the early 1980s he attended conferences on bankruptcy, receivership, and insolvency law. His knowledge grew, and soon he was willingly sharing his expertise with others. He lectured and presented papers at conferences held by the Canadian Bar Association and the Canadian Bankers Association, among others, and was recognized for enhancing the legal profession by also organizing conferences and seminars. 

Known for his leadership and commitment to establishing high standards, he served as president of the local branch of the Canadian Bar Association in 1980 and was also active with the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society, becoming its president in 1994.

At the Law Foundation of Nova Scotia, he was a key figure and helped to direct millions in grants to enhance legal access and justice administration in the province. As a member of the Canadian Law Information Council from 1978 to 1984, he worked to utilize computers to ensure legal information was more accessible to the public.

Giving back to his community

Beyond his legal achievements, he did extensive volunteer work with other charitable and non-profit organizations, including with Ģ��AV and as a founding director of the Atlantic Breast Cancer Foundation. His philanthropic contributions also included acting as a volunteer lawyer for the Girl Guides of Canada, Nova Scotia Council, when his three daughters, Jill, Lesley, and Heather, were young. 

“My parents, siblings, my wife and our children always volunteered,” says MacKeigan. “It was important for all of us to give back and to help improve the community. The Weldon Tradition was really a continuation of what I learned from my family and the various activities I participated in.”

Grateful for his distinguished legal career and volunteer work, MacKeigan, a soft-spoken, unassuming man, now looks forward to spending more time at the family cottage in Hubbards, on Nova Scotia’s South Shore. It is a peaceful place where he and his family have spent much of each summer. It is also a favourite place of their daughters, including Heather who passed away earlier this year.

In the words of his colleague and now retired justice of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, C. Richard Coughlan, “Robbie’s service was unselfish, in that he never looked for credit or self-promotion — he just did the job. He is a person of great integrity.”