Patricia Colleen Connor was born January 20, 1950 in Weyburn, Saskatchewan. She moved when very young to Vancouver with her mother, her sister Jeannie, and her aunt. Graduating first from Sir Winston Churchill High School, then UBC Law in 1974, she was called to the bar the next year, in 1975.
There were very few female lawyers at that time. Most of those practicing were relegated to non-adversarial roles and the others were viewed as curiosities. The old boys' network had real difficulty adjusting to the new reality. Patty, as part of the first substantial influx of females into the profession, experienced the resistance of those already practising, and of the clients they were servicing. In short, it was a very difficult time for new female lawyers, and there was considerable attrition...
For more, read Profile of Patricia Colleen Connor from The Advocate 73, (2015).