Born on Aug. 27th, 1923, in Salmon Arm, BC, Vince Reid’s path to UBC Law was a humble one. He was educated in a one-room country school for eight years. Before completing school, Reid enrolled in the armed forces as a mechanic and as a tank driver, and served on the front lines in Normandy, as part of the First Canadian Armoured Battalion. Wounded during the assault on the Rhine, Reid spent most of the next year recovering in hospital. While in the hospital, he was visited by a Major, who suggested that he go to university. Reid spent six months completing his high school diploma and decided to pursue higher education after the end of the war. He started out in mathematics, soon switched into law. Most of his classmates were veterans like himself.
“Law school changed my life,” Vince says. He credits his professors – in particular, Dr. MacIntyre and Fred Cruise, as tremendous assets to the faculty. During law school, Vince even taught several of his classmates how to make beer, including fellow class of 1951 alumnus Ed McNally, now owner of Big Rock Brewery in Calgary.
With so many law students graduating from the new Law School, articles where hard to secure but Reid found a place with Ellis, Dryer and McTaggart in Vancouver. Reid continued to pursue a Bachelor of Arts during his articles, attending classes at UBC whenever possible. To help make ends meet he also worked as a process server and at the liquor store on weekends.
After being called to the Bar, Reid spent his first year of practice in Langley. Business was lean out in the Fraser Valley, with most of the work going to firms in Vancouver.
In his first trial, he represented a farmer. Vince remembers that every time the judge stated “order in the court,” his client, for reasons unknown, would get up and jump into the witness box. This happened on three separate occasions.
After a year in Langley, Reid moved to Regina, Saskatchewan where he worked with M.A. MacPherson. Reid remembers that during his time as Attorney General of Saskatchewan, MacPherson hired a young George Curtis, former Dean of UBC Law, as his Deputy. When his aspirations led him to seek more complex, corporate work, he took up a position as legal counsel with Chevron. He thoroughly enjoyed his time there, noting that the people he worked with were wonderful.
His work led him to Alberta, where he then worked as legal counsel with NOVA, a chemical company. He worked on a number of contracts involving extraction projects.
“Practicing law is very demanding,” Reid says. He notes two changes since his time in law school. First, he notes the rapid technological changes that have occurred – during his time in law school and in early practice, typewriters were the norm. Second, the business of law has grown more complex and big firms have come to dominate the practice. “Business is becoming tremendously complicated”, he says, and a lot of practice takes place on a global scale.