Bradley Crawford, Q.C. earned his LLB from the Allard School of Law in 1961.
Crawford told the History Project that one of his most salient memories from his time as a student was the release of the first-year grade list, which was posted in the law library at that time.
“I found I was in the top three. I nearly fainted with relief.” he said. “I didn’t know I could do that. That is a fond memory.”
He maintained that level of achievement for all three years, earning a Commonwealth Scholarship in the process.
At London School of Economics in the University of London, he studied Company Law under L.C.B. Gower and Restitution under Robert Goff –co-author of Goff & Jones on the Law of Restitution and later, Lord Goff of Chieveley.
After his graduation with an LLM from London School of Economics, Crawford spent 10 years teaching the law of Restitution and some commercial law subjects at the Law School of the University of Toronto. His was the first full course on the law of Restitution at any university law school in Canada and was used by nearly all the law schools over the following 10 years.
He left the University to practice banking law as a foundation for a projected treatise on the law of Banking. He joined McCarthy & McCarthy in 1972 (now McCarthy Tetrault LLP.) which was then General Counsel for the Canadian Bankers Association.
Crawford produced his treatise, The Law of Banking and Payment in Canada between 1975 and 1986. During that time he also represented Canada at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, and continued in that role for more than 30 years, receiving a federal patent as One of Her Majesty’s Counsel (“Queen’s Counsel”) in 1992.
Still not retired, Crawford continues to practice banking law as a sole practitioner with a small client base of banks and other law firms. He also keeps his treatise up to date through the issue of loose-leaf releases of amending and new text, about 3 or 4 times each year.
Crawford’s advice to students and young lawyers, in addition to pursuing opportunities and becoming known to the profession and in the fields of enterprise in which they are interested, is to try to strike a work-life balance.
“A lot of people crater early because they burn themselves out with too much work without the relief and the relaxation and the rejuvenation from the support of their wives and playing with their children,” he said. “If necessary, I would rather work until two in the morning than midnight, if I can take the two hours to go home and have dinner with my family – read a bedtime story to my daughters. … Looking back at my career, I think that practice preserved my sanity; it certainly preserved my balance and my perspective on life, and I would recommend it highly: maintain a work/life balance; do not get too deeply involved in only work.”