The Honourable Madam Justice Risa E. Levine holds a BA (Honours) and an MA in Sociology from the University of Toronto and an LLB from the University of British Columbia's law school. She received the Law Society Gold Medal and Prize for the LLB class of 1977, in recognition of achieving the highest cumulative grade point average over three years of study at the Allard School of Law. She would later join the Faculty as an adjunct professor and join the Dean's Advisory Committee for the Centre for Business Law.
She joined the bench of the Supreme Court of BC in 1995 and subsequently the BC Court of Appeal in 2001, where she served until her retirement in 2014. She is extensively active in her community, as a volunteer for many organizations such as the national Tax Advisory Committee, the Vancouver Stock Exchange, the Vancouver Foundation, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver.
In 2018, UBC President and Vice Chancellor Professor Santa J. Ono presented Justice Levine with one of five inaugural President's Medal of Excellence awards. This medal recognized her remarkable career and community involvement that has made a significant contribution to the purposes and ideals of the university. Her advice to all lawyers is to: "Find a niche. Find an area of law where you are really passionate."