Editing Robert Borden (section)

==Lawyer (1874–1896)==

Despite having no formal university education, Borden went to serve his [[Articled clerk|articles of clerkship]] for four years at a [[City of Halifax|Halifax]] law firm. Borden also attended the School of Military Instruction in the city during the winter of 1878. In August 1878, Borden was called to the Nova Scotia Bar, placing first in the bar examinations. He went to [[Kentville, Nova Scotia]], as the junior partner of the Conservative lawyer John P. Chipman. In 1880, Borden was inducted into the [[Freemason]]s St Andrew's lodge No.&nbsp;1.<ref name="Bordenbio" /><ref>[http://www.freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/prime_ministers/borden_r/borden_r.html Sir Robert Laird Borden<!-- bot-generated title -->] at www.freemasonry.bcy.ca</ref> In 1882, Borden, despite being a Liberal, accepted [[Wallace Graham (judge)|Wallace Graham]]'s request to move to Halifax and join the [[Conservative Party of Canada (historical)|Conservative]] law firm headed by Graham and [[Charles Hibbert Tupper]]. In 1886, Borden broke with the Liberal Party after he disagreed with Premier [[William Stevens Fielding]]'s campaign to withdraw Nova Scotia from [[Canadian Confederation|Confederation]]. In the autumn of 1889, when he was only 35, Borden became the senior partner following the departure of Graham and Tupper for the bench and politics, respectively.<ref name="Bordenbio" />

His financial future guaranteed, on September 25, 1889, Borden married [[Laura Bond]], the daughter of a Halifax hardware merchant. They had no children. Bond later became president of the [[Local Council of Women of Halifax]], until her resignation in 1901. She also later became president of the Aberdeen Association, vice-president of the Women's Work Exchange in Halifax, and corresponding secretary of the Associated Charities of the United States.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Morgan |editor-first=Henry James |editor-link=Henry James Morgan |title=Types of Canadian Women and of Women who are or have been Connected with Canada |location=Toronto |publisher=Williams Briggs |date=1903 |url=https://archive.org/details/typesofcanadianw01morguoft |page=[https://archive.org/details/typesofcanadianw01morguoft/page/33 33]}}</ref> The Bordens spent several weeks vacationing in England and Europe in the summers of 1891 and 1893. In 1894, Borden bought a large property and home on the south side of Quinpool Road, which the couple called Pinehurst.<ref name="Bordenbio" />

In 1893, Borden successfully argued the first of two cases which he took to the [[Judicial Committee of the Privy Council]]. He represented many of the important Halifax businesses and sat on the boards of Nova Scotian companies, including the [[Bank of Nova Scotia]] and the Crown Life Insurance Company. By the mid-1890s, Borden's firm was so prominent that it attracted notable clients, such as the Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada Atlantic Steamship, and the Nova Scotia Telephone Company. Borden had several court cases in [[Ottawa]], and while in that city he frequently met with Prime Minister [[John Sparrow David Thompson]], a fellow Nova Scotian. In 1896, Borden became president of the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society and took the initiative in organizing the founding meetings of the [[Canadian Bar Association]] in [[Montreal]].<ref name="Bordenbio" />

On April 27, 1896, Borden went to [[Charles Tupper]]'s home for a dinner party. Tupper, who was about to succeed [[Mackenzie Bowell]] as prime minister, asked Borden to run for the federal electoral district of [[Halifax (federal electoral district)|Halifax]] for the upcoming election. Borden accepted the request.<ref name="Bordenbio" />