Law History Profiles

Jack J. Huberman has been the Executive Director of the Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia for the past six years. He was born and raised in Calgary, but came to Vancouver to attend King Edward High School before it burned down. He has been setting fires in education ever since …

When asked what advice he’d give to those entering the legal profession, Cunliffe Barnett recommends to law students and young lawyers to try to wind down their lawyering careers with a judicial appointment. He has never regretted listening to a close friend who convinced him to join the Provincial Court of British Columbia because “that is where the action is.”

Leonard T. Doust, QC is a member of the LLB class of 1966. He is a member of the BC bar and the American College of Trial Lawyers. Mr. Doust practices in the areas of criminal law, securities law, and commercial law as an Associate Counsel in the litigation group at McCarthy Tétrault LLP. Mr. Doust has demonstrated his commitment to access to justice through involvement with the Public Commission on Legal Aid. He sat on the Board of Directors and chaired the Board of the Legal Services Society between 1983 and 1989.

The Honourable Justice Randall Wong is a pioneer in Canadian law. He served as the first Chinese Canadian provincial Crown Counsel (1967) and became a BC Provincial Court judge in 1974. In 1981 he became the first Chinese Canadian federally appointed judge with his appointment to the British Columbia County Court. In 1990 he was promoted to a position on Canada's Supreme Court serving the Supreme Courts of British Columbia, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut's Court of Justice.

“I was turned on by Law School. I had not been much of a serious student. I was a regular, ordinary student. Then I got into Law School and…I enjoyed Law School generally and then I did well in Law School and that helped a lot.” – Michael O’Keefe, Special Assistant to the Minister of Finance, Adjunct Professor, Tax Lawyer, Class of 1965.

Bruce waited until 1940 to be born, knowing that in 1986 he would become the youngest Treasurer of the Law Society of British Columbia. He embraced Judaism at birth knowing it would make him the first Treasurer of Jewish persuasion, notwithstanding any claim by Harry Rankin, Q.C. Finally, having arranged for his hair to turn prematurely grey at age twenty-nine, Bruce gave himself plenty of time to perfect the “Treasurer’s Look” …

William S. Berardino, QC is a member of the LLB class of 1965. Mr. Berardino’s firm, Berardino & Harris LLP merged with Hunter Voitch in 2006 to create the Vancouver-based, leading litigation firm, Hunter Litigation Chambers. Throughout Mr. Berardino’s accomplished career, he was worked on many landmark cases and appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada on many occasions.

Dennis J. Mitchell was born in 1934 at Leipzig, Saskatchewan. He recognized at an early age that salmon fishing in Saskatchewan was poor as were his chances of becoming Master Treasurer of our Society if he remained resident in that province. Accordingly, he asked his parents to move to the family to British Columbia. His parents were not prepared to abandon the prairies and the family compromised by settling near Dawson Creek where they established a grain farm ...

Stanley Gifford Turner was born in March 1938 and raised on his family's farm in Kelowna, B.C. He completed an undergraduate degree in Geology, and married his high school sweetheart in 1961, the year he enrolled in law school at the University of British Columbia. He graduated in 1964 and began practice in Vancouver, but soon relocated from the stress of the big city to start his own small town practice. The Turner family settled in Princeton, B.C. in 1968 and Stanley Turner's practice became a town mainstay over the next 49 years.

Paul Beckmann grew up in New Westminster, attended the public schools there and went on to U.B.C. where he took the commerce and law option. He was granted this B.Comm. degree in 1963 and his LL.B. in 1964 …

Angela Swan is nothing short of a venerated celebrity in both Canadian contract law and the Canadian legal community at large. With over fifty years of experience in the legal profession, Swan has expertly filled a number of roles from professor to esteemed counsel. An award-winning author, renowned educator, and frequently cited scholar, Swan embodies what it means to be a jack of all trades in the field of law. As a result of her years of noted passion and drive, Swan is regarded as one of the most distinguished experts in Canadian contract law.

Raymond MacLeod was born in Vancouver and raised on the city's West Side, first attending high school at Kitsilano Secondary. He transferred to Vancouver College, where playing football earned him an athletic scholarship to the University of Oregon. After graduation he continued his football career in the Canadian Football League, playing two years with Edmonton and one with Winnipeg. During his second year with Edmonton in 1954, he won the Grey Cup.

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.

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 ...

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.

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.

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.