Of the some 130 members of the class of 1949, four were women: Joan Hall, Virigina Galloway, Helen McCoy and Valerie Manning. Valerie Taggart (née Manning) was born in 1926 in Cranbrook, and into a family with strong legal ties – one of her family members had articled with Sir John A. MacDonald. In 1934 her older brother decided to attend UBC, and the family came to the Coast with him and settled in West Point Grey.
Taggart already served a year in the Second World War in the Naval Service before entering law school in 1946. At the time there, were only two full-time faculty members: Dean George Curtis and Professor Frederick “Pappy” Read. The majority of the teaching fell on adjuncts, usually well-respected members of the local bar. Among those whom Taggart remembers were Reginald Tupper, Ned MacFarlane, Stanley Remnant, Malcolm MacIntyre and Norman MacKenzie. MacKenzie taught International Law while continuing to serve as President of UBC. Taggart graduated in the top three percent of her class.
Taggart married during her articling year and decided to stay home to raise her family. She returned to law some twenty years later, where she articled for a second time.
Prior to returning to practice, Taggart lectured for UBC’s Centre for Continuing Education, performed legal research at a firm, worked for the Law Foundation and served as Acting Director of Continuing Legal Education. Later, she went on to be a provincial court judge.
Speaking to the Law History Project Taggart echoed a sentiment commonly heard from older lawyers and judges today.
“Law used to be smaller,” she opines, marvelling at how large the profession has evolved to be.
For more, listen to the Allard Law History Project interview with Valerie Taggart.