Law History Profiles

The recent unexpected retirement of Richard R. Sugden, Q.C., from the practice of law is a loss to the legal profession in British Columbia. Rick made truly exceptional contributions during his 34 years at the bar. He rose to the pinnacle of the profession and is universally acknowledged as one of the finest advocates and civil litigators to ever grace the courts of this province ... 

After receiving his LLB in 1973, Professor Robin Elliot, QC, returned to the Allard School of Law in 1976 as Assistant Professor, after he was called to the Bar of BC in 1975. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1983 and to Professor in 1991. He has written extensively in the area of Constitutional Law, including works on both the Charter and Canadian federalism, and adjudicated cases under provincial and federal human rights legislation. During his fruitful career, he has been involved in the litigation of several important Charter and other constitutional cases.

The Honourable David J. Brine (1948 – 2009) obtained an undergraduate degree in 1970 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1973, from UBC. He also obtained a Master of Laws from King’s College at the University of London. Known in the legal profession for his fairness and patience, Justice Brine led a distinguished legal career. In 2000, he was appointed Queen’s Counsel, and on April 20, 2001, he became Master of the Supreme Court of British Columbia. He was appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia on November 26, 2004.

Although Jack enjoyed the practice of law, his real love was the world of politics. At Jack's funeral, his brother told the story that when Jack was a youngster his mother commented that one day he would be the Prime Minister of Canada. Jack did not make it to Ottawa, but many regarded Jack as the "Prime Minister of Terrace". In 1979 Jack became a councillor for the City of Terrace and remained in that position until he was elected as mayor in 1985. He remained in the position of mayor until 2008 and in so doing became one of the longest serving mayors in British Columbia.

Climaxing several years of participation in Canadian Bar activities, James Dimitri Vilvang becomes President of the B.C. Branch of the Canadian Bar Association at the next annual meeting in August at Montreal. Jim, well known in athletic circles in British Columbia, was born in Vancouver in 1950 but grew up in New Westminster and attended New Westminster High School …

Trudi L. Brown, QC graduated from UBC’s law school in 1973. She is a family law litigator, mediator, and arbitrator based in Victoria, BC. After being called to the BC bar in 1974, Ms. Brown worked at the BC Crown Counsel office in Victoria for 4 years. In 1978, she started her own firm, Buckler Metzger Brown and Miliken. She formed another firm, Brown and Kay in 1984, which went on to become Brown Acheson Henderson - better known as “Broads on Broad Street.” From 1988 to 2001, Ms. Brown worked at Horne Coupar. She now practices family law at her firm Brown Henderson Melbye.

Asked why she decided to study law, Madam Justice Lynn Smith answers, “Who knows?” Uncertainty of motive, however, does not seem to have inhibited either her abilities or her commitment. Her decision to study law seems to have stemmed from her interest in social change and because, in her words: “it seemed like a good fit, especially with a philosophical undergraduate background.”

In federal law, he has a remarkable distinction: he helped to draft the first and only amendment to Canada’s Constitution. Locally, he helped start a 40-year tradition at the law school that still requires no studying or exams. Sure, up until a few years ago, you might have found cases involved, but they were the kind that held beer. His memorable contribution began with a ramp, water and a kiddies’ pool...

In 1973, Robert S. Angus graduated from the law school at UBC and was called to the BC Bar in 1974. He carried on a global mining practice until 2003 when he retired from the Law Society of BC. For more than 40 years, Mr. Angus has focused on the structuring and financing of significant international exploration, development and mining ventures. 

When asking the Honourable Justice Grant D. Burnyeat - past AMS President and UBC Alumni Association President, six-year member of UBC Senate, founding Director of the Allard Law Alumni Association, and former Chair of the Dean’s Reunion Advisory Committee for the Allard School of Law - what motivates him to remain so active in the law school and university community, he replies with a simple, “I guess I am a joiner.”

Jon Sigurdson arrived at law school in the fall of 1970 amidst great change. “I was one of the first Canadian students to write the LSAT,” he recalls. “Law school then was really focused on case study and the Socratic method,” Sigurdson said, but added that a number of younger professors - Chris Carr, Bill Black and Michael Jackson, among others - aimed to give their students a broader, more socially conscious, view of the law.

Joe was the youngest of four children born to Motoharu and Sayoko (Tanaka) Hattori. His parents married in 1938 in Vancouver. Interestingly, Joe's grandparents were among the earliest Japanese immigrants to arrive in Canada. Sayoko's father, Ichijiro Tanaka (1886- 1982), came to Canada in 1903. He married Miki (Tsuji) Tanaka (1891- 1981) in 1911 in Victoria, B.C. They had eight children, Sayoko being the eldest. The Tanaka family ran a very successful tofu business in the Powell Street area of the Japanese community in Vancouver until the uprooting of 1942.

He’s a natural storyteller. His recollections of law school, of colleagues and of trials take shape as fully formed narratives. He speaks with a hint of laughter in his voice and as though he has all the time in the world for these tales; you’d never guess he had 45 volumes of material on a construction case vying for his attention.

Many people skate, glide or walk through life, but Jim marched through life, mowing down any obstacle in his path - and we mean that in a good way. He loved life, he loved people, he adored his family and he loved to talk. Jim was born on September 2, 1947 and was a lifelong Vancouverite. He attended John Oliver High School and then Simon Fraser University, obtaining a degree in history...

Michael Crommelin is a member of the limited group of Allard School of Law alumni who have also become professors at the school. Unlike the rest of that esteemed group, he holds the unique designation of being the first person to undertake and complete a PhD in the Allard School of Law at UBC.

"More and more expertise in a single field is a wonderful way to practice, but the potential for law being relevant to so much - certainly to public policy, history, international affairs - [allows it to] accommodate the widest possible interest..."

A former Member of Parliament for Vancouver Quadra, Stephen Owen was appointed Vice President, External, Legal and Community Relations of The University of British Columbia on August 15, 2007. Owen completed his five year term in July 2012 to work more directly in public policy mediation and dispute resolution.

"Someone I think who is successful in business by and large isn’t stupid, by and large has interests, by and large have ideas, they do things, that’s a good friend to have. So my social network and my professional network overlap a lot and that has been a source of great joy and huge reward." - Lyall Knott, Q.C., Expo 86 Director, Honourary Captain - Canadian Fleet Pacific - Royal Canadian Navy, Honourary Counsel for The Republic of Tunisia, Class of 1972.

Glen Ridgway, the Law Society’s new president, was born in Langenburg, Saskatchewan, on September 14, 1947. According to Glen, it was an event of historic proportions. So much so, that his mother and his father, the latter of whom was an active member of the Liberal Party, named him after James Garfield Gardiner, the two-time premier of Saskatchewan and powerful minister of agriculture in the cabinet of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King ... 

Malcolm Giles Taylor was born in 1943 and grew up in Sapperton, making the most of life as child and teenager in New Westminster, British Columbia. He played basketball (finishing 3rd at the provincial championships in 1961), football (as a QB who may have handed off more than he threw), and soccer (organized by the eventual first female CBABC president - Marlene Scott).

There are occasions when both the match of the person to the office is so fitting that those who know both are moved to observe: “Of course; so obviously right; there is no one more eminently suited to the task.” The accession of Doug Robinson of Lawson Lundell Lawson & McIntosh to the office of President of the B.C. Branch of the Canadian Bar Association is just such an occasion. He brings a formidable combination of talent and experience to bear at critical juncture in the affairs of the profession ...