Law History Profiles

Alexander Buchanan Stewart graduated in 1962 from the joint commerce-law program at the University of British Columbia. He served articles at Meredith & Co, where he continued after articles until joining the legal department at B.C. Hydro. He later founded his own firm of LaCroix, Stewart, Siddall & Saunders, and sometime after that founded another firm. Stewart, Aulinger & Co was his firm until retirement.

Bill Adamson was born on the Westside of Vancouver, where he graduated from high school at Lord Byng Secondary in 1955. He attended UBC, an easy choice of university due to its proximity. His choice of major was easy one too, given his lack of interest or aptitude in Sciences, Engineering, or Teaching, the natural remaining choice was Commerce or Law. He chose Law and graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1962.

Graham B. Walker graduated from law school at the University of British Columbia in 1962. He articled at Messers, Bull, Housser and Tupper, under David Brander Smith, QC. After call, Walker joined various firms, including serving as a junior to H. A. D. Oliver at Oliver Miller, whom he recalls argued an objection in Latin relying on Caesar's Gallic Commentaries. He settled into sole practice in 1967, and operated his own firm until retirement at the end of 2010.

Justice Lance Finch obtained his law degree from UBC in 1962. Justice Finch, who passed away on August 30, 2020, worked in private practice at Guild Yule for twenty years before becoming a trial judge and ultimately serving as Chief Justice for the Court of Appeal of British Columbia and Yukon Territory between 2001 and 2013. He became a member of the Order of British Columbia in 2017.

David Anderson was born in Victoria, British Columbia and grew up attending Victoria High School. He attended Victoria College (predecessor of the University of British Columbia) for two years before enrolling at the University of British Columbia to finish a degree in Law. While at UBC he was a member of the Thunderbirds rowing crew. Rowing with the Canadian Men's Eights crew at the 1959 Pan American Games in Chicago he won a silver medal, an accomplishment he would repeat a year later at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.

Peter Leveque was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta but moved to Calgary at an early age. He attended the University of Alberta, where he obtained a bachelor of Science degree in chemistry before attending the University of British Columbia to study law. After graduating from UBC in 1962, he returned to Calgary to practice law. After 15 years in practice, Leveque was appointed to the provincial court of Alberta, and served as a judge for family and youth cases for more than 30 years

James Donald Baker was born at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia in December 1936. While he was still a child, his father died in an automobile accident, and his mother moved to East Vancouver. James Baker grew up on the east side of the city, and attended high school at Gladstone Secondary.

Kenneth S. Benson was born in Vancouver and attended school on the Westside of the city, graduating from Grade 13 at King Edward High in 1956. He entered the Commerce-Law option at the University of British Columbia, and graduated with his LL.B. in 1962. In order to pay for his university education expenses, he worked throughout university driving trucks for Dairyland Milk Foods.

Nick A. Blom was born and raised in Wassenaar, on the west coast of Holland. At Christmas of his Grade 9 year, he immigrated with his family to Canada, settling in Pitt Meadows in early 1953. He completed high school in Port Moody, and enrolled at the University of British Columbia. He graduated with a BA in Math and Economics in 1959. Being unsure of what to do next, and realizing that a law degree gave the broadest choice of careers after graduation, Blom enrolled in law school and graduated from UBC in 1962.

Kenneth J. Doolan graduated from high school Kitsilano Secondary in 1952. He attended the University of British Columbia, eventually taking the Commerce-Law option and graduation with his LL.B. in 1962.

He obtained articles under Allan McEachern (as he then was), and practiced law for 21. In November 1984, he was then sworn in as the District Registrar of the Supreme Court siting in Vancouver. Two months later he was sworn in as a Registrar in Bankruptcy. In 1989 he was sworn in as a Master of the Court, and sat as a Master until reaching retirement age in September 2003.

Fred Green was born in Victoria, BC and spent most of his time on Vancouver Island. He spent a brief time in Vancouver at the University of British Columbia to study law, obtaining his LL.B. in 1962.

Marvin Storrow is an accomplished lawyer whose career includes several groundbreaking cases that have steered the course of legal history in Canada. He has received many distinctions including the highest award from the Canadian Bar Association's British Columbia Branch and the Milvain Chair of Advocacy Award from the University of Calgary, which is awarded to a leading Canadian courtroom lawyer.

“I heard lots of bombers and V1’s. The V2’s you didn’t hear. We were the luckiest people of course; most of the rest of Europe was far worse off.” Martin R. Taylor grew up in England during the Second World War. His mother was in the Army and his father was in the Home Guard. At the age of twenty-one, he embarked for North America on the RMS Queen Elizabeth with a sense of adventure and a willingness to go wherever fate took him.

Kenneth G. Hanna was born in Vanguard, Saskatchewan and spent his formative years in town across Alberta and Saskatchewan, before graduating from Crescent Heights High School in Calgary. He began law school at the University of Edmonton, but a visit to Vancouver at the start of his second year and a chance meeting with Dean Curtis inspired him to transfer to the University of British Columbia.

Douglas Mitchell was a distinguished lawyer, committed volunteer and thoughtful philanthropist who has helped many community organizations, but outstanding among these efforts is his long-time support of amateur sport in Canada, and university athletes in particular.

Born and raised in Victoria, Cecil graduated from St. Michael's University School. He proved to be an able student, an excellent athlete, and was B.C. Junior Boys Tennis Champion. While at Victoria College (later UVic) he coached the girls' grass hockey team, started the Student Liberal Club and served on the student council…

For more, read Profile of Cecil Branson in The Advocate, 74 (2016).

Vaughan Hembroff shares the distinction of many of his classmates from the class of 1962 - appointment to a superior court. He attended the University of British Columbia to study Arts, where he met his wife Marilyn and was married in 1957. He proceeded to study law at UBC, and admits he enjoyed every minute of it. He returned to article in his hometown of Lethbridge, Alberta under Charles G. Virtue at Virtue and Company.

The Honourable Alfred (“Alfie”) J. Scow, OC, OBC, of the Kwicksutaineuk-ah-kwa-mish First Nation on Vancouver Island, was born at a time when Aboriginal individuals were prohibited from entering the legal profession, but went on to become the first Aboriginal person to graduate from a BC law school and the first Aboriginal lawyer in BC to be called to the Bar. In 1971, he became the first Aboriginal BC Provincial Court judge, a capacity in which he served until his retirement in 1992.

Bradley Crawford, Q.C. earned his LLB from the Allard School of Law in 1961.

Crawford told the History Project that one of his most salient memories from his time as a student was the release of the first-year grade list, which was posted in the law library at that time.

“I found I was in the top three. I nearly fainted with relief.” he said. “I didn’t know I could do that. That is a fond memory.”

He maintained that level of achievement for all three years, earning a Commonwealth Scholarship in the process.

Franklin Lew was born December 26th, 1936 to Chinese-Canadian parents. He grew up in East Vancouver. He graduated from law school at UBC in 1961, and established his own practice in Vancouver's Chinatown. He was known as a talented lawyer and a successful business person, and devoted much of his time through activities in his community. He was a good friend to many, a devoted husband to his wife Joan, and an inspiring father to his son Derek, who also became a lawyer.