Law History Profiles

Affectionately referred to as “aunty” amongst Indigenous students at the Allard School of Law, Dana-Lyn Mackenzie is the Associate Director of the Indigenous Legal Studies Program. Whether it’s advising Indigenous students on course selection, connecting students with alumni or advocating for the Indigenous community within the law school and the University, Dana-Lyn plays an important role amongst the Indigenous study body. Her efforts were recognized in the summer of 2016 with the prestigious President’s Staff Award for Advancing Diversity and Inclusion.

Emigrating from Poland at the age of 9, Alice Davidson worked hard in her youth leading to a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from the Schulich School of Business at York University before graduating from the law school at UBC in the Class of 2011 from the JD Program. Prior to pursuing her legal education, Davidson worked as a Contracts Associate at Schneider Electric in Burnaby, British Columbia.

Jon Conlin is an alumnus of the Class of 2011 and graduate of the Business Law Concentration program. Originally from Vancouver, Conlin attended Washington State University where he received a BA in Political Science and played NCAA football for the Washington State Cougars. After graduation he began working for Fasken in Vancouver as a member of the Technology group. He currently works as a member of the Mergers and Acquisitions (M & A) team at Fasken with a focus on companies in the technology and health sciences sectors.

UBC alumnus Carlos Mendes has always loved beer. He has found a niche career, bringing together his love of the law and his love of beer. He talks about his work ... and his favourite beer. He is known as the "beer guy", being the only lawyer in B.C. who specializes in representing clients in our province’s craft beer industry. He also writes about the industry and beer in general on his blog, www.bcbeerlaw.com, and in various publications.

"Plus, I’ve been known to enjoy a beer or two, now and then," says Carlos.

For many third year law students, post-graduation plans are focused on obtaining an articling position in the Lower Mainland or securing a judicial internship. But for some students, the most interesting opportunities are in smaller, close-knit communities. When Ryan Scorgie graduated, he decided to leave Vancouver and return home to Kamloops.

A day in the life of an Executive Producer involves story meetings, conversations to decide what will be on that day’s news broadcasts, debates about how those stories will be reported, and the constant knowledge that a breaking story could change your day in an instant. As exciting as a last minute dash to a courthouse registry might be, it seems hard to imagine that a career in law could ever be as interesting as one in journalism.

Kelsey Sherriff is a Partner at the Vancouver office of Miller Thomson LLP (“Miller Thomson”) where she works directly with the firm’s Civil Litigation Group. While Sherriff deals with a complex array of civil litigation matters, her legal practice primarily focuses on health law, wills and estates, and class actions.

When Doug McLeod (LLB ’09) was in his second year at the Allard School of Law, he accepted a summer student position in Toronto, Ontario. The born-and-raised British Columbian didn’t know a soul in the city. In fact, he had never set foot in Toronto until he had flown there for interviews earlier that week. Fast forward ten years and he now has a multitude of contacts, both professional and personal, an incredibly successful commercial litigation practice within Blakes, Cassels, & Graydon LLP, and legal experiences he wouldn’t have been able to access anywhere else.

When Victor Tsao broke the news to his parents Ben and Ruth that he was returning to university to pursue a professional degree, their reaction was one of happy relief. “So you have finally come to your senses,” said the couple, who are both physicians. “I want to go to law school,” Tsao clarified.

“Oh,” Ben and Ruth responded, “so you really haven’t come to your senses.”

Bethany Hastie is an Assistant Professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law. Hastie first joined the Allard community as a law student, graduating alongside the class of 2009. Following her JD studies, Hastie received her LLM from McGill University at the Institute of Comparative Law. Hastie also completed her DCL at McGill University where she held both a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship and an O’Brien Fellowship in Human Rights and Legal Pluralism. She joined the Law Faculty as a Lecturer in 2015.

Allyson Marta is a graduate from the JD class of 2009 from the law school at UBC. She currently works as an Associate in the Pensions & Benefits Group at the Toronto office of Stikeman Elliott LLP (“Stikeman Elliott”).

Like many of the members of the board, Nicholas Tsoi dedicates much of his time to community involvement, something that began early on during his years at law school.

Through LSLAP and the school’s rugby team, Nic found great opportunity to build connections, “There might be one or two highlight classes, you might do a moot, but it’s the relationships that you build that shape your law school experience.”

After working as a tax lawyer for a year after law school, Allison Suter needed a change. "I found myself wanting to do something different. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I knew that 'something different' would probably include running a business and creating something." That change came in the form of running a photography business, a passion she's always had and started cultivating between graduating from law school and starting her articles.

Tariq Ahmed graduated from law school at UBC’s LLB program in 2008. In recognition of his dedication and involvement during law school, the Faculty of Law at UBC granted Ahmed with the Raymond G Herbert Award which annually honours the best all-round graduating student in reference to academic excellence, athletic involvement, leadership, and moral force of character. In addition to his stellar academic performance and involvement in student governance, Ahmed also acted as a Real Estate Law Tutor with the Sauder School of Business from 2006-2008.

Mark Colavecchia is a Partner at Harris & Company LLP (“Harris”), a Vancouver-based firm that is also Western Canada’s largest workplace law and advocacy firm. Colavecchia’s practice focuses on a wide range of legal issues relating to labour, employment, and human rights law. He primarily represents management from a variety sectors, lending advice and representation on a plethora of matters ranging from dismissals to seniority issues. His experience in the courtroom is extensive, having appeared before the Federal Court and all levels of court in British Columbia.

Allard School of Law Associate Professor Emma Cunliffe is a recent recipient of a Killam Research Fellowship, one of ten awards given to leading UBC scholars, for her research on how judges come to a decision about the facts in a criminal case. The study, which will make up a large part of a soon-to-be-published book called Judging Facts, focuses on areas where a criminal trial has been known to fail or raised concerns.  The book will emphasize judicial factual reasoning as opposed to the reasoning of juries.

Samantha Cunliffe is a partner in the Business Law Group at McCarthy Tétrault LLP (“McCarthy Tétrault”). She graduated from the law school at UBC in 2008 in the LLB program. Prior to attending law school, Cunliffe obtained a Bachelor of Science in Physics in 2005. She was called to the British Columbia Bar in 2009 and the Ontario Bar in 2018.

Laura E. Duke graduated with the LLB class of 2008 from the law school at UBC. During law school she was the recipient of the Blake, Cassels and Graydon LLP Prize in Constitutional Law. Upon being called to the British Columbia Bar in 2009, she began working at the Vancouver office of Lawson Lundell LLP (“Lawson Lundell”) where she is now a Partner. Prior to attending law school she received a Bachelor of Arts from UBC in 1999 and a Masters of Arts from the University of Toronto in 2000.

Catherine Chow is a self-proclaimed planner, and becoming a lawyer was always on the agenda.

“I knew I wanted to be a lawyer ever since I was a young child,” she said. “I wanted to help the underdog at the playground, and maybe perhaps being an immigrant woman of colour, I wanted to help the disadvantaged, which I felt was myself at the time, but also could see the plight of others.”

It wasn’t a search for the perfect wave in wild West Coast surf that prompted Myron Plett to set up his law practice in Ucluelet, southwest of Tofino on Vancouver Island. “Lord, no,” he says, by phone. “I’m from the Prairies.” Yet he always had a dream of living in a beautiful small town. Above his desk, Plett keeps a photo of his favourite local spot: ocean waters churn under a dash of blue sky as the Broken Group Islands beckon beyond the Lighthouse Loop trail ...