His career as Chief Justice in both courts was distinguished by his reform of court procedure and for bringing the Canadian legal system closer to the public by being the first judge in Canada to host his own web site, which invited the public to e-mail their questions about the legal system.
In addition, he chaired the Legal Aid Society from 1975 to 1976 and served from 1996 to 2001 as vice-chair of the Canadian Judicial Council, the body responsible for dealing with issues relating to the performance of federally appointed judges in Canada.
B. Douglas Cox described McEachern's judgement in the 1991 Gitskan-West'suwet'en land claim case Delgamuukw et al. v. The Queen as "a stunning disappointment.
The plaintiffs' ancestors had no written language, no horses or wheeled vehicles, slavery and starvation was not uncommon, wars with neighbouring peoples were common, and there is no doubt, to quote Hobbes, that aboriginal life in the territory was, at best, 'nasty, brutish and short.'"
[citation needed] McEachern's decision was overturned by the Supreme Court of Canada in Delgamuukw v. British Columbia.