Profiles

Leon Getz grew up in a liberal household in South Africa where his parents strongly encouraged argumentation and debate. His father had an interest in the law and encouraged both Leon and his brother to study law. At the beginning of his career, Getz was a faculty member of UBC Law from 1962-1969 and again from 1978-1979. Looking back on his time at UBC Law, Getz, now partner at Getz Prince Wells LLP, remarks that the quality of the faculty is second to none.

Barrie Adams spent most of his career as a corporate and general counsel to various companies involved in the communications industry. When the establishment of the Canadian Radio-television Commission (CRTC) in 1968, Mr. Adams career changed quite drastically early on. However, over the years he developed a strong practice advocating in front of the commission, and eventually established his own law practice, focused on broadcasting regulation.

Willis Edward (Bill) O'Leary was born in Vulcan, Alberta and raised outside Edmonton and in Calgary, which he considers home. He grew up playing hockey in Calgary and his talent would determine the early years of his life. He was invited in 1949 to the New York Rangers prospect camp. While never playing for the NY Rangers, O'Leary did receive a scholarship to play hockey at the University of Denver, where he graduated with a degree in Business Administration in 1953.

“I heard lots of bombers and V1’s. The V2’s you didn’t hear. We were the luckiest people of course; most of the rest of Europe was far worse off.” Martin R. Taylor grew up in England during the Second World War. His mother was in the Army and his father was in the Home Guard. At the age of twenty-one, he embarked for North America on the RMS Queen Elizabeth with a sense of adventure and a willingness to go wherever fate took him. 

Bill Adamson was born on the Westside of Vancouver, where he graduated from high school at Lord Byng Secondary in 1955. He attended UBC, an easy choice of university due to its proximity. His choice of major was easy one too, given his lack of interest or aptitude in Sciences, Engineering, or Teaching, the natural remaining choice was Commerce or Law. He chose Law and graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1962. 

Dennis Overend was born in Vancouver and was raised there and in the North Okanagan, but spent the summers of his school years living life outdoors and enjoying his family's cabin on Mabel Lake. He attended high school at Vancouver College, and enrolled at the University of British Columbia. In the summers Overend worked in forestry but realized that his lack of aptitude for science impacted his aspirations to be a forester. Instead, he decided to try law and obtained his LL.B. from UBC in 1962. 

"I don’t have any illusions that my work will endure forever. It has to get examined and re-examined and modified as we know more about different kinds of issues. And that’s the way it should be.” The Honourable Frank Iacobucci was born to Italian immigrants and grew up in the East End of Vancouver. Though his parents were uneducated, they gave him the values that supported him throughout his career. At seventeen he was hired to work alongside his father in a steel foundry, and was told by the superintendent that if he was a fraction of the worker his father was he would be a success.

David Anderson was born in Victoria, British Columbia and grew up attending Victoria High School. He attended Victoria College (predecessor of the University of British Columbia) for two years before enrolling at the University of British Columbia to finish a degree in Law. While at UBC he was a member of the Thunderbirds rowing crew. Rowing with the Canadian Men's Eights crew at the 1959 Pan American Games in Chicago he won a silver medal, an accomplishment he would repeat a year later at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. 

Graham B. Walker graduated from law school at the University of British Columbia in 1962. He articled at Messers, Bull, Housser and Tupper, under David Brander Smith, QC. After call, Walker joined various firms, including serving as a junior to H. A. D. Oliver at Oliver Miller, whom he recalls argued an objection in Latin relying on Caesar's Gallic Commentaries. He settled into sole practice in 1967, and operated his own firm until retirement at the end of 2010. 

James Donald Baker was born at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia in December 1936. While he was still a child, his father died in an automobile accident, and his mother moved to East Vancouver. James Baker grew up on the east side of the city, and attended high school at Gladstone Secondary. 

Peter Leveque was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta but moved to Calgary at an early age. He attended the University of Alberta, where he obtained a bachelor of Science degree in chemistry before attending the University of British Columbia to study law. After graduating from UBC in 1962, he returned to Calgary to practice law. After 15 years in practice, Leveque was appointed to the provincial court of Alberta, and served as a judge for family and youth cases for more than 30 years. 

Bradley Crawford, Q.C. earned his LLB from the Allard School of Law in 1961. 

Crawford told the History Project that one of his most salient memories from his time as a student was the release of the first-year grade list, which was posted in the law library at that time.

“I found I was in the top three. I nearly fainted with relief.” he said. “I didn’t know I could do that. That is a fond memory.” 

He maintained that level of achievement for all three years, earning a Commonwealth Scholarship in the process.

Henry Allen Hope has been elected by his fellow Benchers to serve as the next Treasurer of the Law Society. This is partly because he is the next senior Bencher, but those who know him will realize that it is also because of his not inconsiderable ability and in spite of his not inconsiderable eccentricities. For instance, he owns, and runs, a 600 acre dairy farm on the Blackwater Road, outside Prince George and is, as careful research is able to establish, the only member of the history of the Bar to have been run over by his own tractor, while driving it …

Franklin Lew was born December 26th, 1936 to Chinese-Canadian parents. He grew up in East Vancouver. He graduated from law school at UBC in 1961, and established his own practice in Vancouver's Chinatown. He was known as a talented lawyer and a successful business person, and devoted much of his time through activities in his community. He was a good friend to many, a devoted husband to his wife Joan, and an inspiring father to his son Derek, who also became a lawyer. 

The Honourable Alfred (“Alfie”) J. Scow, OC, OBC, of the Kwicksutaineuk-ah-kwa-mish First Nation on Vancouver Island, was born at a time when Aboriginal individuals were prohibited from entering the legal profession, but went on to become the first Aboriginal person to graduate from a BC law school and the first Aboriginal lawyer in BC to be called to the Bar. In 1971, he became the first Aboriginal BC Provincial Court judge, a capacity in which he served until his retirement in 1992.

Professor J.C. Smith is an Professor Emeritus at the Allard School of Law. He holds a BA (1953) from Brigham Young University, an LLB from UBC (1960) and an LLM from Yale University (1961). Professor Smith joined the Faculty in 1961, where he has held the titles of Instructor (1961-1963), Assistant Professor (1963-1966), Associate Professor (1966-1969), Professor (1969-1995), and finally Professor Emeritus (1995 – present). He was called to the Bar of BC in 1965.

Inger Hansen's father, a Danish civil servant, was adamant that he would not send his only child to university, no matter how smart she was, because she was a girl. So Ms. Hansen found her own, rather circuitous, way to a stellar career. After first coming to Canada in 1950-where she took a job as a cook on a farm in the West-she eventually managed to work her way through to a law degree at the University of British Columbia. That credential led to ground-floor roles in three key areas of public life that have now become an integral part of the national dialogue.

Justice Ross Collver moved from Thunder Bay, Ontario in 1954 to study English and History at UBC. He went on to complete his law degree and graduated in 1960. 

After working in general practice for several years, Justice Collver began a judicial career that spanned BC’s Provincial, County and Supreme Courts. His many accomplishments include being a dispute mediator for separated parents and a board member for BC’s Lawyers Assistance Program. He humbly describes his career as “rewarding and fulfilling”. 

James (Jim) Horsman, CM has led an extraordinary life, most of which he has dedicated to serving his community. After graduating from law school, Mr. Horsman moved back to his home province of Alberta and embarked on a momentous career in law, politics, higher education, and public service. Mr. Horsman’s can-do attitude and selflessness has led him to take on various roles and his law degree from the Allard School of Law placed him in a position to have a lasting impact on the Medicine Hat community and beyond.

"His favorite client was Harkley Haywood, which sold all manner of hunting and fishing gear," remembers Bryan Baynham, Q.C. "No one received better service nor paid less for their legal advice than the owners of Harkley Haywood." 

Terence Crosby O'Brien, or Terry to friends, spent his whole career at Harper Grey LLP (which at the time he was hired for articles was known as Harper, Gilmore, Grey, de Vooght, Levis, van der Hoop, MacKinnon, and Pyper). He practiced general corporate-commercial solicitor work there until his retirement in 1999.