Biography

Mr. Graesser recently retired as a justice of the Alberta Court of King’s Bench. He was appointed to the Court of Queen’s Bench in December 2006 and elected supernumerary status in August 2020.

Before his appointment to the Court, Mr. Graesser practiced law with Reynolds Mirth Richards & Farmer LLP and its predecessor firms for over 32 years. He was admitted to the Alberta bar in January 1975 after articling to the Hon. S. Bruce Smith, Chief Justice of Alberta, and then the Hon. William A. Stevenson, late of the Supreme Court of Canada.

Mr. Graesser’s law practice focused on civil litigation with an emphasis on construction law, media law, employment law, personal injury litigation, and alternative dispute resolution.  He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1996 and earned his Chartered Arbitrator designation in 2005.  As counsel, he appeared in all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada.  Throughout his legal career, he taught law at the University of Alberta in the faculties of Extension, Business and Law. In the Faculty of Law, he lectured on construction law and employment law.

Justice Graesser’s focus on construction law in his law practice led to many years as a director of the Edmonton Construction Association, service on the Alberta Construction Association’s Standard Practices Committee, an appointment to the Canadian Construction Association’s mould task force, and membership in the Canadian College of Construction Lawyers, in which he was a Governor and Officer.  He was also a director of the Alberta Association of Architects and was made an honourary member of the AAA in 2007. Justice Graesser spoke frequently at construction law seminars through many organizations. Topics included builder’s liens and health, safety and environment issues. He was an arbitrator in the Alberta New Home Warranty Program for 5 years before his appointment to the Court. 

Justice Graesser was involved in many legal professional and community activities during his legal career.  He served as Chair of the Legal Education Society of Alberta and was on its Board for 12 years.  He was a Governor of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and was its Vice-Chair for two years.  He served as Chair of the Alberta Private Vocational Schools Advisory Council for six years.  At various times over his career, he was a board member of the Northern Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation, the Edmonton Musical Theatre Society, Music Alberta, Music Camrose, the Northern Alberta Brain Injury Society, and the Dr. Dasha Goody Memorial Foundation.  He served as mayor and a councillor of the Summer Village of Silver Beach, and coached community league sports for many years.

After being appointed to the bench, Justice Graesser became involved in the National Judicial Institute’s education programs.  He has presented at the National Forum on Settlement Conferences, the New Federally Appointed Judges’ Seminar, the Federation of Law Societies’ National Family Law Program, as well as at many other NJI, Canadian Bar Association, Legal Education Society, and individual Canadian Court programs. 

Late in his career as a lawyer, Rob became interested in arbitration and mediation and took some training in both mediation and arbitration. Before his appointment to the Bench, he began to spend considerable time conducting arbitrations and mediations. Following his appointment, he was recruited by the National Judicial Institute to help develop training programs in alternate dispute resolution for judges. He helped design the NJI’s 6-Step program for judicial settlement conferencing, as well as a number of training programs for judges. Rob presented on settlement conferencing in many national programs, and he was also invited to speak to a number of individual superior Courts across Canada for specialized training. He has written and spoken extensively on judicial dispute resolution, arbitration, and mediation.

During his judicial career, Rob authored over four hundred written decisions, most of which can be found on the CanLII website. 

As a judge, Rob conducted a large number of judicial dispute resolutions (JDRs) and settlement conferences with represented and self-represented parties in all areas of civil litigation. 

Rob served as the Court of Queen’s Bench representative to the Rules of Court Committee from 2008 to 2021 and was co-chair of the Court of Queen’s Bench Education Committee from 2015 to 2021. He served on the Canadian Judicial Council’s Judicial Education Committee from 2019 to 2022.

Justice Graesser’s interests include sailing, cycling, traveling, reading and music.  A former bassoonist with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, he met his wife Brandy Goody through music.  They have two sons, Michael (a chiropractor in Calgary) and Paul (a social worker in Calgary) and five grandsons.