Profiles

“Some people only see the forest and others see only the trees. Miriam sees not only the forest and the trees, but each and every single pinecone from every possible angle!” This is an apt description by a colleague of Miriam Maisonville, the incoming president of the B.C. Branch of the Canadian Bar Association ... 

The doctors said he’d never ride again. “I was jumping a horse in the back field of the farm I was working on,” recalls Bruce Mandeville, “and the horse stumbled on landing and fell underneath me. My knee hit a boulder. It shattered my femur in five places. Getting from the ground onto the stretcher was the most painful experience of my life. I had lots of surgical hard- ware implanted. But it wasn’t that bad an injury. I didn’t have any trouble getting back in the saddle" ... 

Tristan Richard Easton was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1948 and spent his early years in the London borough of Chelsea, as it was rebuild following the war. When he was eight his parents separated, and Easton's mother emigrated to British Columbia with him and his sister. He attended high school at Lord Byng Secondary in Vancouver's Point Grey neighbourhood, then enrolled at the University of British Columbia. He graduated from UBC with both a bachelor's and master's degree in English literature.

Professor Copithorne’s impressive career spanned six decades, during which he specialized in international law. After being called to the BC Bar in 1956, Copithorne joined the Canadian Foreign Service, where he spent the next 30 years in a wide variety of positions both in Ottawa and abroad.

Karen Pruden Shirley is a Métis woman, an Aboriginal Law lawyer, and a 2012 recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Born and raised in a blue-collar neighborhood in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and with deep roots in the Métis settlement at Red River, Pruden Shirley is the eldest of three siblings. While previously there had been no other professionals in her family, and even though neither of her parents had finished high school, she and both of her younger brothers would eventually go on to study law and become lawyers.

Ed Fast grew up in Vancouver, attending high school at Magee and John Oliver before enrolling at the University of British Columbia. Near the end of his undergraduate, he was faced with the decision of what to do next. He wanted to be an airline pilot, but couldn't due to a heart murmur. Instead, he enrolled in the law school at UBC, a move that was eventually followed by his sister Marie-Louise Fast.

Four-time Olympian: 1976, 1980, 1984 and 1988. Olympic silver medalist, Commonwealth Games Gold Medalist and seven-time World Championship medalist. Six-time recipient of both the Sport Excellence Award of the Government of Canada and the BC Premier’s Athletic Award, and nominee for the BC Athlete of  the Quarter Century. Member of the UBC, BC and Canadian Olympic Sports Halls of Fame.

Michael was born and raised in St. Catherine's, Ontario, where he competed in rowing throughout high school and university, winning gold medals at Canadian Henley five times. Something of an academic rolling stone, he enrolled initially in engineering at Waterloo, but switched to mathematics the next year, graduating in 1978 with a minor in philosophy. One can imagine his diverse opinions over coffee...

Before Henry Vlug graduated from law school in 1985, no Deaf person had graduated from a law school in Canada. When he attained his degree from the University of British Columbia, not only did Henry Vlug become the first Deaf graduate of a law school in Canada, but would go on to become the first Deaf practicing lawyer in Canada. It was an achievement he almost didn't attain, but once he did, there was no stopping Henry Vlug.

Annette Dueck is an Associate in the Vancouver office of Stikeman Elliott LLP (“Stikeman Elliott”). Her legal practice primarily focuses on the intersections between commercial and regulatory law. Dueck also has extensive experience in addressing technological issues that challenge clients in the commercial and regulatory sphere. Her clientele has ranged from foreign banks to federal and provincial trust companies.

The University of British Columbia Board of Governors has appointed former Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia the Honourable Steven Lewis Point to become the university’s 19th Chancellor. He will be the first Indigenous person to hold the position.

“I was not a very good student,” says John Rich.

Since graduating in 1984, Anne Giardini has had a successful career as a lawyer, executive and writer. Throughout, she said the lessons she learned in law school have always stayed with her.

Catherine Anne Murray has been lighting up every room she has walked into since she was a toddler. The courtrooms and judges' chambers wherever she sits will now be the lucky beneficiaries of her ready smile, positive energy and open and friendly attitude.

But make no mistake: Justice Murray is not just a sparkling personality and friendly face. Rather, she brings a vigorous work ethic, a determination and a matter-of-fact pragmatism to every job she takes on...

Jane Shackell graduated from the law school at UBC with the LLB class of 1984. She currently works as a Partner at the Vancouver office of Miller Thomson LLP (“Miller Thomson”). With over 30 years of experience in business law, Shackell’s legal practice ranges from issues surrounding mergers and acquisitions to the complexities of franchising. Appointed as a Queen’s counsel in 1999, Shackell is a leading name in business law.

Professor Margot Young is passionate about human rights and social justice. She opens up about her recent research into housing justice, and her thoughts on the situation unfolding at Oppenheimer Park. Professor Young began her teaching career at the Faculty of Law, University of Victoria in 1992 after doing graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley in the fields of feminist legal theory and reproductive technologies. Her focus quickly shifted to the areas of constitutional law, in particular, equality law and theory, and social welfare law.

Tim Louis grew up in Vancouver, studying political science at UBC, from where he holds an LLB. Tim has always had a political mind, and ran for elected office in Vancouver multiple times. In 1990 he was elected to the Vancouver Park Board and reelected in 1993. In 1999 he became a City Councillor for Vancouver, and served two terms. He currently runs his own practice, which he started immediately after finishing his articles with former Vancouver City Councillor Harry Rankin in 1984.

"When I became Justice Minister I described myself as a feminist and there was an audible intake of breath across the country, but you know, they got over it. I didn’t know how else to describe someone who was an advocate for equality of women..."

Nancy Wilhelm-Morden is living proof that dropping everything on a whim to go live on a ski hill is a perfectly good decision. In August of 1973, Nancy came from Ontario to visit her boyfriend (now husband) who was working in Alta Lake, or what is now known as Whistler. She was supposed to stay for two weeks, but her boyfriend's plan to stay for ski season seemed like a much better idea. Forty years later, Nancy is serving the city as their first elected female mayor while continuing to practice law.

In 1991, Judith joined the faculty of law at UBC as a clinical instructor and was coordinator for the faculty's Clinical Legal Program. Once in the academic stream, she taught a variety of courses over the years, including administrative law, criminal law, regulatory state, perspectives on law, disability law, children and the law, and, most recently, legal ethics and professionalism. Judith's passion for teaching lay in the clinical context, as she believed that students learned best by doing, and by engagement with ethical problems as they arise in practice.