Law History Profiles

“It was a foregone conclusion that I would follow in my father’s footsteps,” says Jody Wilson-Raybould. “Dad encouraged us to be critical thinkers and to look at the world from all different perspectives. Law school seemed like the most appropriate place to be."

The University of New Brunswick (UNB) recently announced that Peter A. Allard School of Law alumnus John Kleefeld (LLB ’99) would be joining their faculty as the incoming Dean of Law and Professor. The love of learning and connecting has been a driving force throughout Kleefeld's career. “People tell me I was born to teach,” says Kleefeld, who reflects that he gets “energy from both the intellectual engagement with my subject matter and the interpersonal engagement with students.”

Kinji Bourchier is a leading commercial and business litigator in his role as Parter at Lawson Lundell LLP in Vancouver. Bourchier’s practice focuses on environmental remediation cost recovery claims and contaminated site litigation. He has also appeared before a wide variety of courts and administrative bodies and has worked on seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. A well-recognized name in the field of environmental and commercial law, Bourchier continually contributes to Lawson Lundell’s blog focused on commercial litigation and dispute resolution.

John-Paul Boyd (LLB ’99) was half way through completing a master’s degree in philosophy when he first realized his interest in speculative epistemology was so far removed from his roots as a social activist that he could no longer justify his pursuit of it. Believe it or not, prior to attending law school, he had marched in anti-nuke parades and lobbied for affordable post-secondary education.

Matt Westphal has enjoyed a legal career any student would envy: A Law Society Gold Medal, a clerkship with the Supreme Court of Canada, and an offer from a prestigious New York firm. Now a high-school teacher in Surrey, where he teaches Law, French, and Social Studies, Westphal is using his law training in a way he never imagined when he was in practice...

For more, read the full profile of Matthew Westphal in the Allard Law Alumni Magazine, Spring 2014.

Duncan McCue is a national reporter for CBC-TV News in Vancouver, and his current affairs documentaries are featured on the CBC’s The National. His work has been nominated for Gemini and Webster awards, and he received an RTNDA Award for investigative reporting and multiple honours from the Native American Journalists Association for investigative, news and feature reporting. McCue is Anishinaabe and a member of the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nations in southern Ontario. Throughout his career, he has worked diligently to bring Native stories into the mainstream media.

Isabel Jackson is a member of the Gitxsan First Nation. She grew up in coastal British Columbia, mainly in Prince Rupert. As a young student, Jackson developed an affinity for the sciences, and pursued this interest by enrolling in undergraduate studies in the Faculty of Science at the University of British Columbia (UBC).

Michael (Mike) McDonald, QC (LLB 1988), is a partner at Clark Wilson and Co-Chair of the Aboriginal Business Group. He originates from a small Aboriginal community in northern Manitoba. His parents instilled in him the values of dedication and humility such that his success is measured by the people he serves. He is proud to be a part of the solution to helping Aboriginal communities and businesses engage meaningfully and successfully. Mike is a member of the Peguis First Nation in Manitoba.

Keith Chatwine graduated from law school at UBC with the LLB class of 1997. He also received both a Bachelor of Science in 1993 and an MBA in 1997 from UBC. He currently works as a Partner in the Capital Markets and Mergers & Acquisitions Groups at the Calgary office of Stikeman Elliott LLP (“Stikeman Elliott”). Chatwine’s legal practice is diverse and deals with a variety of aspects of corporate law.

Matthew Nathanson earned his LLB from UBC in 1997 and is now a practicing criminal defence lawyer in Vancouver, as well as an active volunteer and mentor for students at Allard Law.

Matthew knew he wanted to become a lawyer at a very early age. His father is a lawyer, so Matthew’s interest in the law was sparked by early family conversations around the dinner table about the law.

“I think probably what I am most proud of is charting my own path and putting together each of my experiences to create what for me is a job that is completely in alignment with my core values. I am somebody that truly loves what I do and I am excited to come to work every day …” – Jennifer McNaught, Legal Personnel & Professional Development Director, Class of 1997.

Evelyn Ackah is the founder and managing lawyer at Ackah Business Immigration Law, which currently has offices in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto. People and relationships are at the heart of Evelyn’s work, which is why she’s so passionate about immigration law. Learn more about Evelyn, her work and what inspires her.

You graduated from law school in 1997. Looking back now, what would you say was the highlight of your time here?

Euan was born in Bromborough, U.K., which is why he always sounded so smart. Not one for style over substance, he backed up his English accent with an undergraduate degree earned from Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge, and a Ph.D. in molecular and developmental biology from the University of London. Trading London for Winnipeg, he held postdoctoral fellowships in cell biology and agricultural biology at the University of Manitoba.

How does one join the Scottish Football Association as its first full-time Compliance Officer? As Vincent Lunny puts it, "Pure luck! Apart from getting paid to watch football, [the best part of my job is] working with the crowd here at Hampden, Scotland's national stadium . . . [My colleagues] have quickly become friends as well as colleagues and we play football every week. I've lost twenty pounds since Christmas."

“I’ve been wanting to be a lawyer since I was a kid. Nobody in my family or relatives were shocked whatsoever when I became a lawyer…People want to be cops, firemen, others asked me ‘What do you wanna be?’ ‘I wanna be a lawyer.’ I always did. – TJ Dhillon, Coca-Cola delivery trucker, real estate lawyer, car enthusiast, immigrant, father, Class of 1997.

On December 29, 2017 Francesca Marzari was sworn in as a justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia before a small gathering of family members, old and new colleagues and courthouse staff she had met during her term as a law clerk.

Whether or not you have an interest in tax law, one thing is for certain, after talking to Kim Brooks you’ll want to sign up for a tax law class. Brooks is passionate about the subject, so much so that she decided to leave the tax law practice and teach and inspire others to pursue the profession ...

E. Louise Logan, Class of 1996, saw the potential of public policy to ignite positive social change before even attending her first class at UBC’s law school. “The power of the law and the power of public policy to both cause harm and to ameliorate” not only inspired Louise to law attend school, it has also motivated her two-decade career in public policy.

Victoria Shroff is credited as being one of the first and longest serving animal law lawyers in Canada. In addition to running her Vancouver-based law firm Shroff & Associates, Victoria has served as an adjunct professor at the Allard School of Law, teaching the animal law seminar. Victoria is often approached by the media to comment on animal law issues and is the founder of a social literacy and animal law program called 'Paws of Empathy’.

Darwin Hanna is one of the named partners of Aboriginal law firm Callison & Hanna, a firm specializing in Aboriginal law that was founded in 1996 by Hanna and his wife, Cynthia Callison. For Hanna, the journey to starting his own law firm began with his undergraduate studies in criminology. Hanna was attracted to criminology in part because he saw the potential for a fulfilling career, and enrolled in a joint-degree criminology program with Douglas College and Simon Fraser University (SFU) upon graduating from high school in Maple Ridge.