Law History Profiles

Born to immigrant parents in Vancouver, Wally Oppal grew up with a strong work ethic and a will to learn. After finishing broadcasting school he worked in lumber mills and as a disc jockey in order to put himself through his undergraduate and law degrees at UBC. As a visible minority, Wally Oppal pursued a legal career in part because he believed that he could achieve more success in the legal profession than in business.

As a teenager in the British Merchant Navy, Derek was a very popular radio officer. He could do almost anything he wanted on the ship, and although he attributed this to his outgoing personality, it appears it was only because of his ability to tune into any radio station, anywhere, and retrieve the music, the cricket matches, the horse racing results and the football matches the sailors wanted. He circumnavigated the globe three times on commercial vessels, stopping for various lengths of time in ports throughout the world. He delighted in exploring different places and cultures.

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.” 

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 … 

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.

Howard Berge became president of the Law Society on January 1, 2003. Although it took Howard three times to be elected as a bencher, once elected he served five and one-half terms before becoming president. His election as president by his fellow benchers is a fitting culmination to a stellar legal career that began in 1967 with his call to the bar. The lawyers of British Columbia are indeed fortunate to have Howard as president in what already appears to be a challenging year for the profession ...

Sargent (Sarge) Berner died of cancer in September 2014. He was born in Halifax on February 1, 1941. His mother Zelda was then living in army housing in that city while his father, Isaac Berner, was serving overseas in the Canadian Army in the Second World War. Isaac Berner served in both World Wars, achieving high rank as an officer. Sarge did not see his father until he was four years old… 

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.

“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. 

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 …

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. 

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 ...

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.