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.
“I was paraded through the area and then also part of Vancouver with a noose around my neck,” Gerald recalls as he spins one more tale about his comedic shenanigans that defined his character through law school and practice. “[I was]… always worried the thing would break down and I would be hanging from the noose…I was student apathy,” he says.
Gerald has always enjoyed the spotlight. During law school, he would perform with the University of British Columbia Music Society, and organized Law Ball (which has since become the Law Revue) during his time in school. He remembers how he would fill an evening at the Commodore Ballroom, on Granville Street in Vancouver, with entertainment, “w e would have a men’s chorus line, a woman’s chorus line, and skits.” Mr. Lecovin would frequently put his own musical mind to work, rewriting lyrics from popular Broadway shows. In his interview he couldn’t help bursting into a tune, modified from My Fair Lady, “The dean though keen is very rarely seen…[whispers]I think I saw him, I think I saw him.”
He couldn’t escape this passion once he began practice, and still acts in the Lawyer show, a legal community tradition he helped start. He remembers that in the early days, the shows were mostly about the law. In the first show, “Witness for the Prosecution,” he had the role of the prosecution. Since then, “it’s getting harder and harder to get parts for older men,” Gerald admits. In 2017, he played the coach in Grease, and put his creative mind to work, “originally I had half a dozen lines, I didn’t like the part so I rewrote it, had a good time with it, and it was successful.”
The success of the rewrite reveals Mr. Lecovin’s talent for comedy. During law school he connected with other notorious UBC comedic law students, including Robert Guile. Together, they founded S.M.A.L.L., an organization of lawyers of limited stature. Lecovin invented a history for the society, "...[I] had it going back to they days of the crusades when we sent a contingent of short lawyers on Shetland ponies to fight." Apparently the society received quite a bit of interest, as Lecovin recalls an application from one notable BC legal mind, "as proof of her size, she sent a long piece of craft paper on which she had lain and had her outline marked, and she had that certified."
Gerald Lecovin remembers starting to practice back when Vancouver still felt very much like a small city. "If you didn't practice with them, you at least knew them" he says, thinking of other lawyers in the city. There was also a significant community around the Courthouse in Vancouver. "We'd all gather there and have coffee and you'd be sitting there with guys who were much your senior, the leaders of the bar..." he remembers "and you got to know who all the higher-ups were who had just come over from chambers and were sitting down for coffee with you." He feels that law in the city has just become a big business.
Lecovin started his career as an assistance city prosecutor in Burnaby, having met the municipal solicitor through the Westminster regiment. While it was a good way to learn the skills he'd put to use for his entire career, he found there was too much cooperation between the RCMP, the prosecutors office, and the judicial system. "I would probably win cases that I shouldn't have won, lose cases that I shouldn't have lost," he recalls, "and I got the feeling that I would never be a good lawyer if I practiced in that sort of milieu, so I went to start my own practice." He went into partnership with another law colleague, but sadly the partnership disbanded after a few years. Lecovin was so saddened by the breakup that he was determined to never again enter into a partnership.
Over the rest of his career, Lecovin built a successful practice in Family Law. He believes that area of law has changed more than any other area of law in BC over the end of the 20th century and the start of the 21st. The incredible social changes have created the pressure for family law to change, and many positive adjustments are thanks to Lecovin. He can be credited with helping bring in family mediation, as well as parent programs that help prioritize the interests of a child in divorce proceedings. Family law wasn't a popular field when Lecovin started "it was looked down upon tremendously...but once property became a factor in family law, the big firms stepped in because there's money to be made."
Lecovin was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2000. He continued working, and was one of the last practicing members of his graduating class. He credits the fact that he gets to practice with his son, saying "if he weren't there I wouldn't be there, I wouldn't want to be there." Reflecting on his career he says "when i went in it was, if you were a lawyer you were the cat's pijamas, you know, everyone looked up to you, everyone respected you." Gerald Lecovin, QC, took that respect seriously his whole career, and made sure to uphold the responsibilities it earned him, whether serving his clients or on community boards.
Gerald Lecovin, QC was interviewed for the Peter A Allard School of Law History Project in May 2017, just prior to the 60 year reunion of the class of 1957.
For more, read Profile of Gerald J. Lecovin from The Advocate, 58 (2000).