Profiles

Leon Getz grew up in a liberal household in South Africa where his parents strongly encouraged argumentation and debate. His father had an interest in the law and encouraged both Leon and his brother to study law. At the beginning of his career, Getz was a faculty member of UBC Law from 1962-1969 and again from 1978-1979. Looking back on his time at UBC Law, Getz, now partner at Getz Prince Wells LLP, remarks that the quality of the faculty is second to none.

Jon L. Jessiman graduated from the University of British Columbia with his LL.B. in 1962. After graduation he practiced law in Vancouver, eventually specializing in Admiralty Law and working primarily as counsel in the Federal Court System, although concurrent jurisdiction in maritime law meant his cases would sometimes need to be argued at all levels of courts.

Jack Lee was born into a large family and raised with his 6 siblings in Vancouver's Chinatown. He attended the University of British Columbia, obtaining a degree in Commerce before his LL.B. in 1962. He opened his own practice in Chinatown, focusing on real estate law, where he worked until his retirement in 2008.

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.

"I don’t have any illusions that my work will endure forever. It has to get examined and re-examined and modified as we know more about different kinds of issues. And that’s the way it should be.”

“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.

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.

Warren Mitchell graduated from law school at the University of British Columbia in 1962, and articled with Allen McKimmie. He practiced there briefly after being called, but soon joind the Department of National Revenue in Ottawa, with the responsibility to litigate tax cases for the Department in Western Canada.

Barrie Adams spent most of his career as a corporate and general counsel to various companies involved in the communications industry. When the establishment of the Canadian Radio-television Commission (CRTC) in 1968, Mr. Adams career changed quite drastically early on. However, over the years he developed a strong practice advocating in front of the commission, and eventually established his own law practice, focused on broadcasting regulation.

Willis Edward (Bill) O'Leary was born in Vulcan, Alberta and raised outside Edmonton and in Calgary, which he considers home. He grew up playing hockey in Calgary and his talent would determine the early years of his life. He was invited in 1949 to the New York Rangers prospect camp. While never playing for the NY Rangers, O'Leary did receive a scholarship to play hockey at the University of Denver, where he graduated with a degree in Business Administration in 1953.

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.

Dennis Overend was born in Vancouver and was raised there and in the North Okanagan, but spent the summers of his school years living life outdoors and enjoying his family's cabin on Mabel Lake. He attended high school at Vancouver College, and enrolled at the University of British Columbia. In the summers Overend worked in forestry but realized that his lack of aptitude for science impacted his aspirations to be a forester. Instead, he decided to try law and obtained his LL.B. from UBC in 1962.

William Charles (Bill) Bice was born 73 years ago in Winterthur, Switzerland. Bill’s father, the eldest son of a Duchy farmer, was born in St. Columb, Cornwall, in 1886. He came to Canada en route to Australia to join his three brothers, but when he saw Victoria and Vancouver Island he knew there could be no better place in all the world ...

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Henry Allen Hope has been elected by his fellow Benchers to serve as the next Treasurer of the Law Society. This is partly because he is the next senior Bencher, but those who know him will realize that it is also because of his not inconsiderable ability and in spite of his not inconsiderable eccentricities. For instance, he owns, and runs, a 600 acre dairy farm on the Blackwater Road, outside Prince George and is, as careful research is able to establish, the only member of the history of the Bar to have been run over by his own tractor, while driving it …