Law History Profiles

"Throughout my youth, everyone either knew I was going to be a lawyer or they were telling me that I should become one," explained the Honourable Gary Cohen, a Surrey Provincial Court judge whose interest in law was noticed by everyone, including his mother and teacher who gave him permission to skip class in high school to watch court proceedings.

July is a cold, wintry month in Melbourne, Australia. That is when, and where, approximately 46 years ago, Richard S. Margetts, president of the Law Society of British Columbia, was introduced to the world. A contrarian by both inclination and genetics, it is fitting that Richard should now thrive in a land on the opposite side of the globe, where July is part of a warmer and more hospitable season ... 

Adriana Wills is a Partner at Harris & Company LLP (“Harris”) in Vancouver. Her legal practice primarily focuses on workplace law as well as employment law, labour law, and human rights law. With over 30 years of experience, Wills has appeared before the British Columbia Supreme Court and the British Columbia Court of Appeal, as well as the Labour Relations Board and the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal. Since 2010 she has been annually recognized by Best Lawyers in Canada in the Labour and Employment Law sectors.

Jan Lindsay, Q.C., the new president of the Law Society of British Columbia, is smart, warm and genuine. Jan has risen to her position as president as a result of hard work, determination and a bucketload of talent. The profession will be well served by her leadership. Jan has lived her entire life in the Lower Mainland. She was born at the Vancouver Grace Hospital on January 20, 1955, the first-born child of Abie and Carol Klassen. As the eldest offspring and only daughter, Jan was expected to set a good example for her younger brothers, Stan, Lory and Glen.

“I was actually a counsel on the first Charter case filed and argued on the first day in which the Charter came into force…”

“One of these things is not like the others; one of these things just doesn’t belong...” Judith Bellis sings behind the closed door of her DOJ office in Ottawa. It’s an old Sesame Street ditty, and Bellis’s response to being told she’s been selected as a subject for this feature. “I cannot strictly speaking be characterized as a lawmaker,” she says, “although I know a great deal about how laws are actually made.” Outspoken, a formidable intellect, and one of the top lawyers for the top lawyer in the country, Bellis knows more about how laws get made than most people in Canada ...

Mitch Taylor is a family man. His son Patrick is studying sciences at UBC and his daughter Samantha is a member of Canada’s Equestrian Team and a 2008 Olympic hopeful. His wife Nora, Senior Investment Executive with Scotia McLeod, comes up twice in conversation; they have been married for 31 years. So when Taylor says he “kind of fell into law,” it sounds less like an accident than like falling in love: a wholehearted, lifelong commitment to the work he was meant for.

Michael F. Welsh, QC is a member of the LLB class of 1980. He is a professionally certified mediator and arbitrator and a partner at the litigation and mediation firm Mott Welsh & Associates, based in Penticton, BC.

Prior to attending law school, Mr. Welsh graduated with a BA philosophy, cum laude, from Cornell University (1975). Following graduation from UBC’s law school, Mr. Welsh clerked at the BC Supreme Court. He went on to complete his articles at Russel & DuMoulin (now known as Fasken).

Cheryl Tobias is Senior General Counsel in the Vancouver Regional Office for the Department of Justice (DOJ). Her practice consists largely of appeals up to and including the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) dealing with constitutional, criminal and Aboriginal rights issues.

Professor L. Michelle LeBaron joined the Allard School of Law in 2003. She directed the UBC Program on Dispute Resolution from 2003 to 2012. She is also a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at UBC.

At just past halfway through her five-year term as a chief judge of the Provincial Court of British Columbia, Carol Baird Ellen cannot be said to have had an uneventful tenure so far. In a rare moment of quiet contemplation recently, we shared some reflections on those first 30 months and thoughts about the second half ... 

It is an honour and pleasure to have the opportunity to write about our Canadian Bar Association B.C. Branch president this year, Margaret Ostrowski, Q.C. Margaret is a rare find. She is a lawyer who is at once a consummate and ethical professional and yet maintains a hectic agenda as a devoted mother of two active, accomplished sons in school and a stepmother to three grown children. She is a well-rounded person.

In the fall of 2007, after 23 years with the Community Legal Assistance Society (“CLAS”), Jim Pozer, the society’s executive director, retired for health reasons. Few people have done as much as Jim to advance the rights of the underprivileged in British Columbia. Throughout his career, with trademark humour and grace, he worked tirelessly to advance the law relating to poverty, mental health, the physically and mentally disadvantaged and human rights ...

On May 7, 2009 British Columbia’s Provincial Court Chief Judge, Hugh Stansfield (‘79), died from multiple myeloma, a cancer of the white blood cells. An intelligent, dynamic and open-minded judge, he was involved in or directly responsible for many of the significant reforms in BC’s provincial court over the past 15 years. He was 56 years old ... 

Brian Higgins, Class of 1979, has the unique quality of having greatly impacted the lives of countless law students at the University of British Columbia without ever having been their professor. Higgins was the longest serving Supervisor Lawyer of the Law Students' Legal Advice Program, working with the Program from 1988 until his retirement in 2011.

His father was a member of Dean Curtis’s second graduating class in 1949. He attended University Hill School and played field hockey where Gage Towers now sit, urged into the sport at age six by Dr. Harry Warren, an Olympic sprinter, Rhodes Scholar geology professor and friend of George Curtis. Two of Curtis’s boys were teammates.

Ross Beaty is a graduate of geology and law, and holds a Master’s from Imperial College London. He has founded and divested several resource companies and is currently the chairman of Pan American Silver Corp and Alterra Power Corp. Mr. Beaty is also a passionate environmental philanthropist. Through his work with the Sitka Foundation he aims to promote biodiversity and protect the environment through the support of environmental research, education and public policy.

While in Terrace, Darrell was one of the leading criminal barristers in that city, being involved in numerous high-profile cases, including many jury trials. Darrell soon became very well known throughout the north, representing clients in criminal cases of all varieties, from minor shoplifting cases in the Provincial Court to lengthy and complicated murders and conspiracies before juries in the Supreme Court.

Grand Chief Edward John was born at Nak'al Bun (Stuart Lake), in northern British Columbia in 1949. He was taken to the Lejac Residential School on Fraser Lake, but completed high school at Prince George College, where he was elected class president. He attended the University of Victoria, graduating in 1974 with a BA in Sociology. After a year as the executive director of the Prince George Indian Friendship Centre and a year as education director for the Tl'azt'en First Nation, he enrolled in the law school at the University of British Columbia.

Suzanne Anton, QC was elected as the MLA for Vancouver-Fraserview in May of 2013, and held the position of Attorney General and Minister of Justice from June 2013 to June 2017. As the second in a three generation law school family, her association with the Allard School of Law runs deep. Ms. Anton’s father, David R. Williams, was a graduate of the Class of 1949, which was the second in the law school’s history. Her son, Robert Anton, graduated in 2011. Ms.