Profiles

Wilf Wakely, most commonly pronounced "Wirofu Waekuri" in his beloved and enchanting Japan, died peacefully in Tokyo on February 2, 2021 after a two year battle with brain cancer.

“Having come from a very hardworking family that was disrupted by my father and his siblings being forced into residential school, and subsequently, me and my siblings ending up in foster care, then later residential school, I didn’t understand what was happening. I didn’t understand the mechanisms that were at play that resulted in children, at times, being homeless, or not having parents, a community, or guidance,” says Judge Tina Dion.

“Too many people in BC face legal issues without the benefit of legal advice,” says Craig Ferris, QC, FCIArb. “As lawyers, we have a duty to help fix this problem.”

“To me, law school wasn't just about reading cases, books, and case law,” says Harjit Sangra. “Law school teaches you a way of thinking, analyzing, organizing, attacking, and hopefully solving problems, which gives you a tremendous footstool to pursue your dreams.”

“I’m passionate about corporate culture, diversity and inclusion, and how organizations can make a positive impact in communities,” says Emiko Ando, General Counsel at BlueShore Financial Credit Union. Emiko has made it her mission to help organizations do just that.

“The work we do as lawyers is based on humility — excellence through humility is important,” says Bruce McIvor, founder and partner at First Peoples Law LLP. At First Peoples Law, Bruce is dedicated to defending and advancing the rights of Indigenous people. Bruce, who is Métis, grew up in Manitoba. His family was displaced from their lands, leaving his grandparents to farm in between rocks and swamp. “When I was a young boy on the farm, I picked a lot of rocks, but I decided that there had to be something better to do than picking rocks for the rest of my life,” he recalls.

There is little that Professor Emeritus Joost Blom has not done at Allard Law. Professor Blom completed his law degree at the law school in 1970, joined the faculty in 1972, served as Dean from 1997 to 2003, and retired in 2017, but continues to maintain an active presence at Allard Law as well as in the university more broadly.

For only one example of his active current involvement in the UBC community, Professor Blom takes on a new role this upcoming academic year as Principal of the UBC Emeritus College.

Judge David St. Pierre put himself through school, in part, by playing guitar in a band. When he was about 18, he was arrested for allegedly being in possession of a “prohibited weapon”: St. Pierre had just come off the stage at a big show and was wearing a studded wristband.

“Social movements need more access to lawyers,” says lawyer and mediator Katrina Pacey. This realization, her passion for social justice and desire to fill this gap, motivated Katrina to pursue a law degree.

Gigi Chen-Kuo, LLB 1990, was named interim CEO of TransLink beginning in February 2021, after a long record of service to the organization in executive leadership and in-house counsel roles. In January, we had the chance to ask Ms. Chen-Kuo a few questions about her career path and law school experience.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

Photo credit: Chung Chow, courtesy of Business in Vancouver.

Dr. Carol Liao has played a pivotal role in Allard Law since she joined in 2017. In addition to her role as Faculty member and instructor, she is the UBC Sauder Distinguished Scholar of the Dhillon Centre for Business Ethics, Director of the Centre for Business Law, and Principal Co-investigator of the Canada Climate Law Initiative.

In 2019, the Honourable Justice Joe Williams (LLM Hons, 1988) made history as New Zealand’s first Māori Supreme Court judge. An accomplished expert in Indigenous law, he has served in various judicial roles: first, on New Zealand’s specialized Indigenous courts (the Māori Land Court and Waitangi Tribunal), then the High Court, and Court of Appeal. He is of Ngati Pūkenga, Waitaha and Tapuika nation.

After growing up in Kingston, Ontario and earning a bachelor’s degree in political science from McGill University, James Reid knew he wanted to go to law school and knew he wanted to do it on the West Coast.

“I was so excited to be in Vancouver. Just the vibe of Vancouver—it felt very new and fresh,” he said. “It just felt, at least at that time, like it was the place to be … young people like me just seemed to be moving there.”

James Struthers (JD 2017), at a crossroads in his career, pursued law school for the intellectual challenge and the ability to contribute to society. Now, as founder of macushlaw and 253 Columbia, he is helping rethink how lawyers work and provide their services to the public.

Founded in 2020, macushlaw specializes in corporate, commercial and real estate services to SMEs, non-profits, and Indigenous groups and individuals. The macushlaw team prides itself on providing affordable and approachable legal services without sacrificing quality.

When Jeremy Dong was quite young, a family friend shared with him a story of his dad, Barry, acting on their behalf on a pro bono basis to help save their life savings. Barry would never tell such stories himself, but for Jeremy, these stories—where the law was used to make the world a little better—were great motivators for him.

Lorna Strong’s story is a lesson in hard work, open-mindedness and adaptability.

Strong, who graduated from the Allard School of Law in 1998, entered law school after an Applied Sciences degree from UBC and a brief career as a nurse. At that time, her two daughters were just four and five years old. Despite the challenges she faced in balancing the rigour of law school with parenthood, Strong remembers her time as a student fondly.

When Andrew Halper graduated from the Allard School of Law in 1981, little did he know that his degree would lead him to live and work around the world.

After a stint in Vancouver as a Crown Counsel and then in private practice until 1989, Halper joined the Canadian diplomatic service, working in Ottawa and Hong Kong, and then at the Canadian embassy in Beijing between 1991 and 1994.

The Allard Law History Project sat down with Tamara Levy, QC in the summer of 2020: listen to the full interview. Since then, under her leadership, the UBC Innocence Project continues to work on the exoneration of the wrongfully convicted. On November 12, 2020, they had their first successful exoneration: Tomas Yebes was acquitted after a double-murder conviction in 1983 based on invalid expert evidence.

If you’re a current JD student or alumnus reading this, chances are that Elaine Lenki Borthwick reviewed your law school application. For the last 30 and some years (over 40 years total at UBC), Elaine has served as the law school’s Director, JD Admissions. From a former Prime Minister and numerous justices and judges, Elaine has admitted several generations of British Columbia's legal profession to law school. Her personalized approach to recruitment, and leadership in improving processes, has ensured we continually attract the highest caliber of students to the Allard School of Law.

Since being called to the British Columbia bar in 1966, Mitchell Gropper, QC has been a leader in the business law world.

After earning his BA and LLB from the University of Saskatchewan, Mr. Gropper spent 28 years at the Vancouver offices of McCarthy Tétrault LLP where he served as Managing Partner from 1988 to 1990. In 1998, he joined Farris LLP where he currently practices as a senior member of its business and corporate law group. He also holds an LLM from the London School of Economics and Political Science.