Law History Profiles

Gerald Lecovin, Class of 1957, believes he’s fortunate that he’s still practicing on the eve of his classes’ 60 year reunion, saying “I tell people these days, I’m well past my best before date.” 60 years in practice is a remarkable achievement, especially considering he could have died during law school.

A member of the Canadian Broadcasters Hall of Fame, Rafe Mair is probably best remembered for his 19 year career in radio. He has been hired, fired, lauded, and reprimanded for speaking his mind over the last 57 years. Though Mair served as a cabinet minister in Bill Bennett’s government - a man whom Mair would later describe as “the best premier the province has ever had”, it would be impossible to limit Mair’s politics by any particular ideology.

No one will ever challenge the right of Tom Braidwood to be ranked among the great advocates of our time. Called to the bar in 1957, he spent his first years in practice with Angelo Branca, Q.C. By the time Banca was appointed to the bench in 1963, Braidwood had gained notice in the profession which he dominated through the late 1970s and ‘80s. Now, after 15 years on the bench, he is back in practice and shows no signs of slowing down ...

Peter Butler, a legend in his own time, graces the cover of this edition of the Advocate. He was once described by Michael Goldie, Q.C., as appearing like a barefoot country boy who maintains an apartment in London. A cautionary note was added, however, to alert the unsuspecting, that underneath the tousled bonhomie stood a brilliant barrister able to face any opposition …

James Adam Craig was born in Sangudo, Alberta to his Hungarian immigrant parents on their homestead in 1924. He was raised speaking Hungarian and did not begin to speak English until he enrolled in school. When his mother grew tired of prairie winters on the family farm, she moved with her sons to Vancouver. His father eventually arrived in Vancouver and became a paramedic, but died tragically when Craig was 15. James Craig did not complete highschool, first leaving to work in the shipyards and then serving as a navigator for the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1943.

Our new Master Treasurer, Robert H. Guile, Q.C. assumes the highest office in our Society after almost thirty years of practice with Russell & DuMoulin. He brings to the office a wealth of experience as counsel in our courts, as a Bencher since 1979 during which he has served conscientiously as a member and chairman of a number of committees, among them Rules and Discipline, and as an author of numerous learned articles published in legal journals …

Thomas R. Berger, OC, OBC, QC, passed away on April 28, 2021, at the age of 88. 

David Purvis described the AA organization as "a work of sheer genius". When he died, he had not had a drink for 30 years. He continued to attend the West Vancouver branch of AA, giving much support to those who sought its ministrations. Many members say they would not have been alive today without David's help…

For more, read Profile of David Purvis from The Advocate, 72 (2014).

The Honourable Mr. Justice Bouck is the second Senior Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia having been appointed on the same occasion as Toy, J.A. and the Honourable E. Davie Fulton on January 17, 1974. Merely surviving long enough to become the second senior serving judge would not be enough to qualify for enshrinement on the front cover of The Advocate. It is the contribution of Bouck, J. to the legal profession and the Bench which marks him as an outstanding member of the legal community ...

The Honourable Judge Glenson Baker was born in Victoria, British Columbia in 1930. He soon moved along with his family to North Vancouver, where he grew up and attended high school. He matriculated to the University of British Columbia, where he obtained a B.A. in 1952 and subsequently his LL. B. in 1955. He entered practice in White Rock with the firm of Thompson, Wilson, and Baker in 1956. He focused on civil law and never went to court, eventually leaving the firm with his colleague Ed Scarlett to begin their own partnership.

John Frederick Rowan was born in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1932. He came to Vancouver with his family at the end of the school year in 1948, and did everything he could to never touch prairie soil again. He served in the army in the early 1950s, and participated in the 1954 British Empire Games, not as an athlete but instead to ride his Harley Davidson in the opening parade. He was also in law school at the time, and graduated from the University of British Columbia with his LL.B. in 1955.

Jack Austin was born in Calgary, Alberta to hardworking parents engaged in agriculture and cattle raising. After an accident his father acquired a grocery store, where Austin had his first job and learned about business first hand. He graduated from Crescent Heights High School in 1950, and came to study at the University of British Columbia, indulging his interests in History, Political Science and Economics. At the time, it was possible to start law part way through an undergraduate degree, receiving credit towards a B.A. from studies at the law school. He completed his B.A.

Roy was born on April 22, 1931 in Victoria, B.C. His father was an engineer on CPR ships. This afforded Roy the opportunity to travel the Pacific Northwest. In doing so, Roy learned the value of respecting people from all walks of life, from the lowest mate to the exalted captain. Roy never forgot this lesson and throughout his life it was a hallmark of the way he dealt with people.

“You look at the CV and say, ‘Good heavens, how could you have done so many different things?’” It’s true—Ted Lee’s résumé reads like a summary of Canadian foreign policy in the latter half of the 20th century. Legal Division, Department of External Affairs, Ottawa, 1956. Second Secretary to Jakarta, Indonesia, 1959. Deputy Chief of Protocol, 1961. Head of the United Nations Economic and Social Affairs Section, 1961. Counsellor to London, 1965. Director of Legal Operations, 1969-71, and of Personnel Operations, 1971-73.

Bruce's family hailed from the Canadian prairies. His paternal grandfather was a pioneer in the settlement of the western provinces at the turn of the last century and served as a Justice of the Peace in Saskatchewan from 1906 to 1927. Bruce's father, Thomas (Tom), had aspired to a career in the law, but the onset of the Great Depression made higher education an unaffordable luxury. Opportunities were few in his hometown of Weyburn, Saskatchewan, which prompted Tom and his wife, Lucille, to move to Vancouver. It was there on March 3, 1931, that Ronald Bruce Harvey was born...

“Let me add a prequel, as it were. Joan and I were two of five women in the class of 1954 who graduated in 1954. In 2004, she and I put together the fiftieth reunion of the class of ‘54, which in and of itself was an extremely interesting activity because we discovered a lot about the class, our classmates. We discovered that about half had died in that time period, because many were veterans of the Second World War,” begins Jane Banfield …

George Scott was born to immigrant parents in 1921, his father Scottish and his mother from an Irish family which were among the first to settle Ladner in the late 1800s. He grew up in Vancouver, attending Britannia High School but further schooling was delayed by the advent of the Second World War. Mr Scott enlisted and served with the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm, as a pilot and flight instructor in Canada and England.

Mr. J. Donald Mawhinney, who graduated from law school in 1954, was a highly respected and well-known member of the legal community. After graduating with his LL.B., Mr. Mawhinney articled with Ladner Downs (now Borden Ladner Gervais LL.P.). He became an associate in 1955, a partner in 1959, and acted as Managing Partner of the firm from 1976 to 1978. In 1980, he joined Howard J. Kellough, Q.C., to establish Mawhinney & Kellough. Over a ten year period, Mawhinney & Kellough grew to become a firm of 28 lawyers whose primary focus was business law.

“Let me add a prequel, as it were. Joan and I were two of five women in the class of 1954 who graduated in 1954. In 2004, she and I put together the fiftieth reunion of the class of ‘54, which in and of itself was an extremely interesting activity because we discovered a lot about the class, our classmates. We discovered that about half had died in that time period, because many were veterans of the Second World War,” begins Jane …

By the late 1940s, during his teen years, John A. Fraser was working in lumber mills and camps, loading boxcars and booming logs. It was dangerous and brutal work. There was no automation, there were no computers—just sweat, muscle, and back-breaking labour. It was then, on the tidewaters and in the forests of British Columbia’s rugged wilderness, that the future politician and conservationist nurtured his deep appreciation for nature.