Rugby has a long history at the Peter A. Allard School of law, but it owes Mr. Brooke Campbell for its origins. UBC intermurals introduced a rugby tournament and "I ended up coaching the UBC [law] rugby 7-aside team, and in fact, we had two professors playing on our team..." he recalls, "and we ended up winning all the marbles."
Campbell's time at the University of British Columbia was a mix of rugby, business, and thoroughly enjoying his legal education. While enrolled in the combined Commerce & Law program, he played rugby for the UBC Thunderbirds, and continued to serve in the Canadian Navy. "Her Majesty The Queen used to pay me to drive to Montreal each summer to teach accounting," jokes Campbell, recalling how he would earn tuition by instructing his fellow navy-men. The combined Commerce & Law program gave him the support to succeed in his legal studies, especially as he and his classmates worked together to understand the complex concepts learned in class; "law became sort of a new family, but there was 5 of us from that commerce program that every Sunday evening...we would get together after dinner and spend 2 to 3 hours just reviewing the work from the previous week."
Campbell also recalls the professors from his time at law school fondly. Speaking about Professor Tony Hooper (since knighted as Lord Sir Anthony Hooper), Campbell remembers his penchant for style, "He had a blonde Beatle haircut, which back in 1965-66 was very much in style."
After graduation Mr. Campbell found himself applying his mind for business, first with the Bank of Montreal, and later with Pemberton Securities (where he joined his former law school classmate Fred Wright) and subsequently Odlum Brown Investments. These regional firms gave him the opportunities for professional development that weren't available in large banks. "I once counted, from Chairman of the Board to lowest Teller there was 34 levels of management," he recalls, "I think my personality was much more of being a gunslinger."
With a successful career in business Brooke Campbell has a lot to boost about, but the accomplishments that bring him the most pride are the work he's done for others. As an advocate, Brooke Campbell changed retirement investment laws to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in additional retirement income for Canadians. It was an intensive project he undertook in retirement, assembling a committee of experts to develop and promote legislative changes that passed in the 2015 Federal Budget. He's augmented the learning experiences in the Commerce program at UBC as well, by starting an inter-university portfolio management competition for students. Through this, they have the chance to practice investing with fictional money and learn about the market. In service to the Sauder School of Business, he's worked to ensure accreditation for the school, so that credentials obtained at UBC can be used internationally.
Mr. Campbell advocates hard work to all who aspire to a career in law in a sport proverb with which he must be all too familiar, saying "once you make your commitment to come to law school, go at it 130 percent."
Mr. Brooke S. Campbell was interviewed for the Peter A. Allard School of Law History Project at Allard Hall in May 2017.