Profiles

Nicco Bautista and Maria Kim-Bautista both immigrated to Vancouver as children. They are both the first people in their families to attend law school and have both established themselves as successful lawyers in the city.

Now, they’re sharing a simple yet powerful message with law students of Asian heritage: “You belong.”

The couple first became acquaintances during their time as undergraduates at UBC. They later reconnected when Maria transferred to the Allard School of Law after completing her first year at the University of Alberta.

Professor Pitman Potter retired in June 2020 after 30 years at the Allard School of Law. He joined the faculty as an assistant professor in 1990, before being appointed to associate professor in 1992 and full professor in 1999. During his time with the law school, Professor Potter served in a number of leadership roles, including as Director of Chinese Legal Studies. He held the position of HSBC Chair in Asian Research at the Institute of Asian Research at UBC, where he was also the Director from 1999 to 2008.

Professor Tony Sheppard spent more than 50 years with the Allard School of Law before retiring in June of 2020.

After earning a Bachelor of Arts in English and Economics from UBC in 1964, Professor Sheppard went on to an LLB from the school in 1967. Once he completed his articles with Guild, Yule and Company, he was called to the British Columbia bar in 1969 and appointed as an Assistant Professor at UBC that same year. Professor Sheppard became an Associate Professor in 1972 and a full Professor in 1976. He also holds an LLM from the London School of Economics.

Andrew Gay, QC is a partner at Gudmundseth Mickelson LLP where he practices litigation with an emphasis on government liability, regulatory disputes, professional discipline, commercial litigation, and tort litigation. He is also an expert in the area of judicial review of administrative decisions.

For eight years, Mr. Gay was involved with the Allard School of Law as an Adjunct Professor, teaching an upper-year seminar on government liability—an idea that was first suggested by then-government lawyer and now-British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Karen Horsman.

Shawnee Monchalin graduated from the Allard School of Law in 2020 and is one of four students completing her articles at the Vancouver offices of Miller Thompson LLP in 2020-2021.

During her time in law school, Monchalin was the Vice-President of the Indigenous Law Students’ Association (ILSA) as well as its representative at the Allard Women’s Caucus. She also competed on the Allard rugby team.

Bob Dick, QC graduated with a Bachelor of Laws Degree from UBC in 1966. Soon after, he became a partner at the Prince George law firm Wilson King, where he practiced until he retired in 2014.

During his nearly 50 years in practice, Dick held a wide variety of roles, including being retained as City Solicitor for Prince George for more than 30 years as well as a number of positions with the Canadian Bar Association.

Dick was recognized with the Queen’s Counsel designation in 1986 and was elected president of the Law Society of British Columbia in 1991.

Chris Heslinga earned his JD from the Allard School of Law in 2012 but soon found himself back on campus.

After a brief time in private practice, the Campbellford, Ontario native returned to the Law Students’ Legal Advice Program (LSLAP) where he now helps students handle client matters, oversees legal decision-making and teaches students how to think and practice like lawyers.

For technology lawyer Ryan Black, being a member of the Dean’s Advisory Committee for the Centre for Business Law is an important opportunity to give back to the legal community.

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.

Nigel is a Gitxsan-Cree lawyer at White Raven Law. He’s also the lead dancer with the Vancouver-based Indigenous dance troupe Dancers of Damelahamid, a scholar and a teacher of law, as well as a father to two young children – and just three years out of law school.

From her first year of law school, Carly Stanhope has shown a commitment to addressing issues around access to justice through countless hours of volunteering and taking on numerous roles both within and outside the Allard School of Law.

Christopher Hiebert had heard of the Indigenous Community Legal Clinic, a program offered by the Allard School of Law at UBC, long before he became a law student. He lived in a single-room occupancy hotel in Gastown, a block from the clinic’s front door.

He was intrigued. “The clinic inspired the idea that I could do something as a lawyer that wasn’t typical,” Mr. Hiebert says. Once he decided to become a lawyer, the Allard School of Law was the only law school he applied to – with the specific intent of working with the clinic.

Associate Professor Hoi Kong (inaugural Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin, P.C., UBC Professor in Constitutional Law) joined the faculty in 2018.

Nico McKay is an Associate at the Vancouver office of Miller Thomson LLP (“Miller Thomson”). The core focus of his legal practice is litigation and he works closely with both the Commercial Litigation and Insurance Litigation groups at Miller Thomson. McKay’s litigation experience includes appearances before the Provincial Court of British Columbia, the Supreme Court of British Columbia, and the Civic Resolution Tribunal.

Recent graduate Jordan Leigh Lacroix is currently working as a Legal Aid in South Africa through the CBA Young Lawyers International Program. The program places young law graduates and lawyers in internships with overseas organizations working in law reform, human rights and access to justice. 

Tell us about the work that you’re currently doing in Cape Town, South Africa.

Rumana Monzur has completed law school with much more than a JD degree. After surviving a brutal attack in her native Bangladesh which left her blind for life, her decision to go to law school while learning to live without sight was itself a study in patience - with a steep learning curve. But her persistence and passion remain unabated four years later. With an expanded horizon of interests and a new outlook on life, Monzur has hardly slowed down...

Camden Hutchison is an associate professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law, specializing in corporate law. In particular, Hutchison examines corporate transactions and governance, as well as the historical development of corporate law. With a PhD in History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Hutchison continues to the explore the history of corporate law.

Erez Aloni joined the faculty at the Allard School of Law in 2017. His primary research interests lie in the legal regulation of adult relationships and complex family structures. Aloni’s work stages the family as an institution affected by a broad range of laws, norms, and economic structures. He is particularly interested in investigating laws which impact the composition and well-being of households and families, as well as the effects—socioeconomic and otherwise— those laws have on society at large.

Tremblay’s research to this point has explored how the family has been regulated in Quebec, where blood ties and formalities are of great cultural importance – creating, perhaps, a narrow understanding of the range of meaningful relationships constituting the family.