Profiles

Cynthia Callison is a member of the Crow Clan in the Tahltan Nation whose traditional territory is the Stikine River Watershed in northwestern British Columbia. Callison travels often with her family to Tahltan territory, an approximately 22-hour drive from Vancouver. “In my community, we are able to continue the practice of food fishing, hunting, and gathering. My father has ensured that we can survive on the land."

"Issues of poverty and social class, both domestically and globally, have always been especially close to my mind, perhaps because of my upbringing," explained Professor Okafor, whose father was also a lawyer and a labour activist. "He always rallied to such causes and spoke to us about them. And my mother, through her work as a secondary school teacher and community worker, also propagated similar ideas and imbued them in us."

Google “Tim Howard SLDF” and watch your screen light up. No stranger to controversy, Howard is lead counsel for the Sierra Legal Defence Fund in BC, and his name makes the news. A lot. In 2004, Howard intervened in the federal hearing for BC Hydro’s proposed Georgia Straight Crossing (GSX) pipeline, pushing for a mandatory greenhouse gas mitigation plan, and won his case.

Diana Valiela didn’t expect to become a lawyer. Since she was a child, following her father around the world on business trips—living in places like Brazil, Mexico, the United States, Spain, England, and her native Argentina—she maintained a curiosity about the natural world. After completing her undergraduate work in biological sciences at Rutgers University in New Jersey, and her Master and Ph.D. degrees in Zoology at Duke University, she assumed her course was set ...

Michelle Pockey was born in Toronto and raised in Oshawa, Ontario. She obtained a B.A. from the University of Western Ontario in 1990, and then her LL.B. from the University of British Columbia in 1994. She joined Fasken Martineau and went on to become a partner in their Global Energy, Global Mining, Aboriginal, and Corporate Social Responsibility practice groups.

Judge Catherine Anne Ryan was born in 1947 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Shortly afterwards her family returned to Vancouver where she has resided ever since. She received her education at Little Flower Academy and the University of British Columbia; she articled with Boughton and Company.

"Your moral values are important, because it gives you a frame for how you look at the world...we are legislators and that is a different responsibility. I don't feel it is my responsibility to impose my moral values on everybody else." - Arnold Chan: father, political staffer, member of parliament, cancer survivor, Class of 1993.

Given Chris Harland's many international experiences in his youth, including living in the South Pacific as a child, participating in a number of exchange opportunities, and teaching English abroad, it might have seemed that he was destined for a career in international law. "I wouldn't say that beyond international law I 'knew' what area I wanted to pursue, but human rights law often came up as an area in which I could help out others, learn a lot, and have interesting work." Harland now works in the field of international humanitarian law.

Janine Benedet joined UBC as an Associate Professor in 2005. This appointment represented a return not only to her alma mater but also to the city that she has always considered home. Her first stop after her L.L.B. graduation was a clerkship with fellow UBC alumnus Justice Frank Iacobucci at the Supreme Court of Canada. That was followed by graduate studies – leading to both an LL.M. and an S.J.D. – at the University of Michigan, where she also did some teaching as a Visiting Faculty Fellow.

When Professor W. Wesley Pue joined the law school at UBC in 1993, he was the university's first Nathan T. Nemetz Professor of Legal History. He also served at UBC as Director for the Graduate Programme in Law, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research, acting Director of the Individual Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate Program, Vice-Provost (Vancouver Campus), and Provost (Okanagan Campus).

Rachel Hutton is a partner at Stikeman Elliott LLP, working directly with both the firm’s Commercial Real Estate Group and Project Development Group. Her practice includes a wide range of subsets with significant experience in corporate transactions and development. Hutton frequently advises clients on commercial, impact benefit, and benefit sharing agreements with First Nations on capital projects. Development projects are also a core aspect of Hutton’s practice.

“As human beings, we are social animals and thrive in communities or ‘tribes’ as I like to call them. I found my ‘tribe’ in law school.” – Dawna Mueller, photographer, entrepreneur, activist, and member of the Allard School of Law class of 1993.

Dawna Lynn Mueller (McLean in law school) was born in Manitoba in 1960, but moved to Burnaby, British Columbia with her mother in 1963 after her father passed away. She attended the University of British Columbia where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science in 1989, followed by a Bachelor of Laws in 1993.

Margaret Mereigh was born in Trinidad, but soon after was transported at a young age to Vancouver with her family. She enrolled at the University of British Columbia and pursued an undergraduate degree in History and Politics. After graduating she continued at UBC in the LL.B. program, the inspiration to study law having occurred at a young age.

“I’ve never done first-year law school!” laughs Victoria Donaldson, a Counsellor with the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Appellate Body Secretariat in Geneva. Her Stanford BA in International Relations, which included a year at the Sorbonne, let her skip the first year of her Bachelor of Laws at Oxford, which in turn put her directly into second-year law at UBC. From there, it was straight into a clerkship at the Supreme Court of Canada and then a Master of Laws at Harvard ...

For most of us, a tough day at work might be trying to meet an impossible deadline, or having to sit through countless meetings in one day.  How about trying to seek justice for a Zimbabwean torture victim who had been submerged in a tub of cold water, electrocuted, and beaten repeatedly on his soles? All because he criticized his government. Or how about trying to help a Congolese war victim who’d been shot numerous times (but miraculously survived) and whose wife and eight children were massacred in their village by government rebels?

Sharon had a somewhat unruly birth 40-something years ago, and some would say that she has been unruly ever since. There is considerable debate in her family about whether she was “an accident” (she was born several years after the last of her four siblings), but there is absolutely no double she is “special” ... 

Mother-daughter Jean Yuen and Nicole Del Negro are at different stages in their legal journeys. 

Law grads who spent time at UBC in the early 1990s may remember a friendly black shepherd dog named Mike frequently camped outside the George F. Curtis Building. Mike often brought his owner, Deborah Wolfe, to campus with him, waiting faithfully for her as she attended her classes ...

Valli Chettiar has had a very successful legal career since graduating from UBC in 1992: she was a partner with Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, acted as general counsel to Phillips, Hager & North Investment Management Ltd., and is currently Vice-Chair of the Property Assessment Appeal Board and a Member (Mediator/Arbitrator) of the Surface Rights Board in BC. But what stands out the most about Ms. Chettiar is her enduring passion for promoting equity and diversity in the legal profession.

Dawn Boblin's appointment to the Provincial Court bench was met with elation and warm congratulations from her provincial Crown counsel colleagues, who at the same moment felt acutely her loss from the office. Few have a wit as quick and a laugh as infectious as Dawn has. She has been a practical, wise and even-handed colleague and mentor to many Crown counsel over the years. She will be deeply missed in the halls of 222 Main Street and 865 Hornby Street, where she practised most recently as a Crown prosecutor...