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HEARSAYT H E S C H U L I C H S C H O O L O F L A W A L U M N I M A G A Z I N EVOLUME 36 2014
The Lure of the
WestRandon Slaney ('14) lookswestward for opportunities
2 HEARSAY 2014
CONTENTS
FEATURES
18 COVER STORY
The Lure of the WestGraduates leaving the East Coast for Calgary is nothing new.
12Greener PasturesSome graduates are choosing to look further than the traditional practice of law. Hearsay speaks to four women from across Canada; they tell us what they're finding on the other side of the fence.
22Meet the PresidentPresident Florizone explains how the Weldon tradition of Public Service makes an impact.
24The Talented Mark SakamotoLawyer, business executive, entrepreneur and author, Mark wears many hats.
4LET TER S
7F ROM TH E DEAN
10SCHOOL N EWS
262014 WELDON AWAR D
28CONVOC AT ION
30FACU LT Y P ROF I LES
33GR AP EV I N E
36GR ADUATE ROU N DU P
37I N M EMOR IAM
HEARSAYT H E S C H U L I C H S C H O O L O F L AW A LU M N I M AG A Z I N E
VOLUME 36 • 2014
DEAN
Kim Brooks
EDITOR & DESIGN
Karen Kavanaugh
COPY EDITOR
Judy Kavanagh
GRAPEVINE EDITOR
Tammi Hayne
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Jane Doucet
donalee Moulton
Julie Ann Sobowale ('12)
The editors of Hearsay and the managers of
the Law School’s website welcome editorial
contributions and ideas from alumni.
Please direct your submissions to:
Hearsay Editor
SCHULICH SCHOOL OF LAW
Dalhousie University
Weldon Law Building
6061 University Avenue
PO Box 15000
Halifax, NS Canada
B3H 4R2
email: [email protected]
tel: 902-494-3744
fax: 902-494-4222
Mailed under Canada Post publications agreement
#41890527
DEPARTMENTS
4 HEARSAY 2014
LettersDALHOUSIE RULES
I AM A MCGILL LAW STUDENT currently work-ing for Ecojustice, and came across a recent exchange before the Standing Committee on Natural Resources that I felt I needed to share, especially after having heard Dean Brooks's inspiring and hilarious speech at the Macdonald Symposium. As a longtime resident of Halifax, and one-time Dal stu-dent, this made me chuckle:
Ms. Elizabeth May: I will digress at this moment, Mr. Chair, to note that three gradu-ates of Dalhousie law school are here at this table: Mr. Regan, Ms. Kellerman, and me.Ms. Linda Duncan: And me.Ms. Elizabeth May: I'm sorry, Linda. There are four. Dalhousie law school rules; I'm just saying.Olivier Jarda, Montreal, Que.
FROM DOWN UNDER
IT’S A REAL PLEASURE to read of breaking developments at my alma mater.
Chuffed to see that leading law-and-litterateur, Prof. Melanie Williams, is this year’s Horace Read lecturer—the commit-tee has chosen wisely and well. A superb scholar and a fabulous person!
I hope to attend this year’s reunion at Weldon—my 30th—whilst on leave and in the northern hemisphere, my tenure as Griffith Law School’s dean ending in July 2014.
I look forward, hopefully, to our paths crossing and please give my best regards to Melanie [Williams]—as well as my class of ‘84 classmates, Prof. Phil Saunders and Prof. Moira McConnell.Bill McNeill, (’84)Brisbane, Australia
OUR FAVOURITE PROFESSORS
I AM AMAZED that Memorial [University of Newfoundland] is considering a law school—total codswallop and unlikely to see the light of day anytime soon—we shall see.
Hearsay was really good this time. Thanks for the insert of my story on R. G. Murray. He was a real piece of work—don`t think he ever failed anyone—an all-time great!Douglas Moores, Q.C. (’71)St. John’s, Nfld.
THE ARTICLE ON “My Favourite Professor” was terrific! We who have benefitted from a first class legal education were guided, chal-lenged and stimulated by our professors who, in turn, derived great pleasure from their students’ successes in living and in life.
My dad was Professor R. Graham Mur-ray. It was poignant to read comments from some of his students. Dad was terribly inter-ested in his students as people, as contribu-tors to society. Many of his students became leaders in the industry, politics and aca-demia. Many others were “second career” students, with interesting backgrounds and life experiences which he treasured. The “Newfoundland Magistrate” who came to augment their considerable practical expe-rience with formal academic study always had marvelous stories to tell.
Dad was particularly proud of his bright students, who generally found their studies quite easy, who helped students who were perhaps left baffled by a particular lecture or subject: to my Dad, it was very important that the gifted students help those who found the studies hard. To him, this was part of the “Weldon Tradition.” Ensuring everyone succeeded, by helping others suc-ceed, was much to be preferred to the (rare) classes in which the gifted students kept to
themselves and failed to lend assistance to those who struggled. Dad always under-stood that the value of “learning how to learn,” which is what one accomplished in university, would only be apparent after a few years in practice—and so, it was!Nancy I. Murray, Q.C. (’82)Halifax, N.S.
I CAME TO HALIFAX with Mr. Meng Qin-gnan as the first overseas law students from mainland China after the Cultural Revolution. I got my LLM in 1982, and my thesis was on theoretical approaches to international law. Professor Ronald St. John Macdonald selected this topic when I had to give up the first one on human rights because it was taboo at that time.
In 1988 I returned to Dalhousie Law School as a visiting scholar; I came again in 2001 and 2006. Less than two weeks after my latter visit, Professor Macdonald passed away. My most recent visit in 2013 was to see Professor Macdonald’s sister, Mairi. I have devoted two-thirds of my career to human rights research and education. One of the most important projects was initiated by Professor Macdonald in 1993.Guimei Bai, (LL.M. '82)Professor of International LawPeking University Law School
ALTHOUGH I AGREE with the worthiness of many of the names suggested in the Win-ter issue of Hearsay such as Horace Read, Graham Murray, Bob Donald and others, in my view the most inspiring professor to teach at the school was not on the list because he didn't teach full-time.
Professor Frank R. Scott, at one time Dean of the McGill Law School, taught a class in human rights and civil liberties at Dalhousie in the late 1960s and perhaps into 1970. His accomplishments, inside and outside law, were enormous.
2014 HEARSAY 5
He was one of the founders of the CCF Party (later the NDP) and although he was primarily an academic rather than a practising lawyer, he was responsible for persuading Mr. Roncarelli to take legal action against Premier Maurice Deplessis and acted as co-counsel in a trial which was one of the seminal constitutional deci-sions which affirmed that individual human rights, such as the right of association and Freedom of Religion, although not spelled out specifically in the British North America Act, were protected by the precepts of the British Parliamentary system and that even a premier of a province has no authority to overrule those rights.
In addition, Professor Scott was a re-nowned Canadian poet and champion of the arts. On his bi-weekly visits to teach at the Law School he would invariably in-clude other events such as poetry readings, dissertations to law students and visits to "Domus Legis."
He would frequently ask two or three students in his class to have a libation or two at the old Victory Lounge at the Lord Nelson and it was seldom that his conversa-tion did not attract a crowd of those who had not initially been included.
He developed, to my amazement, a great fondness for Chipman's "Golden Glow" cider which he could only get from Nova Scotia and would always pick up a couple of quarts when he was here.
He encouraged me and many others not to think that their legal education was over when they got their LL.B., and whenever possible, they should go on to higher stud-ies and would even financially assist some students to do so.
He was physically a big man, but was larger than life in many ways. One of his tricks to get people's attention when he was trying to make an important point would be to stare at you and tap his right eyeball
with the tip of a pencil without blinking. Those who did not know that he had a glass eye would be dumbstruck, and those who did know also found it impossible to ignore the fascination that the act caused. He was always open to receive visitors, and Dalhousie was richer by his part-time teaching. Bruce Gillis, LL.B. ('70)Paradise, N.S.
WHEN I FIRST THOUGHT about the challenge of naming my favourite professor, I could only conclude that we at Dal had a first-rate faculty, but that it was difficult to single out any one of them as tops. I found that I could remember the odd humorous mo-ment more readily than an outstanding teaching contribution. The problem is that in the day-by-day give-and-take between students and a professor, the value of the professor’s contribution grows over time and cannot be attributed to a few isolated memorable events.
Further, over time we become aware of talents and contributions of our professors that may not have been so prominent in our thoughts at the time.
Should I give special mention to Arthur
... it was very important that the gifted students
help those who found the studies hard. To him,
this was part of the “Weldon Tradition.” Ensuring
everyone succeeded, by helping others succeed,
was much to be preferred to the (rare) classes in
which the gifted students kept to themselves and
failed to lend assistance to those who struggled.
— Nancy Murray ('82)
Meagher? He was the only one teaching us who promised that when we gradu-ated, we could earn as much as $15 per hour. Imagine!
Many of our professors had somewhat amusing idiosyncrasies that were more memorable than some of their stellar quali-ties as teachers of the law. “Humble Horace” [Read] is remembered as being somewhat lacking in humility. Prof. Arthur Suther-land of Harvard Law School came to Dal Law School to deliver three guest lectures to us students. On day one, Dean Read introduced Prof. Sutherland. Sort of. Dean Read emphasized the close historic and mutually beneficial association between the Dalhousie and Harvard law schools, and as his introduction grew in length, we heard a lot more about Dal than we did about Harvard generally and Prof. Sutherland in particular. Eventually Dean Read yielded the lectern to Prof. Suther-land, about whom we in our law class re-mained in not quite total ignorance. Prof. Sutherland’s opening words were these: “Thank you, Dean Read, for your kind introduction. You know, we at Harvard think of ourselves as the Dalhousie of the United States.”
WORTH REPEATING...
R. Graham Murray
BRANCH PRESIDENTS
INTERNATIONAL
ASIA
Stephanie Monteith '93
NATIONAL
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Dinyar Marzban '81
ALBERTA
Brian Beck '93
SASKATCHEWAN
Jade Buchanan '11
MANITOBA
Gail MacAulay '79
SOUTHERN ONTARIO
Chris Hale '87
SOUTHEASTERN ONTARIO
Chantal Richard '97
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Ramona Sladic '07
QUEBEC
Nicole Ginsberg '01
NEW BRUNSWICK
Peter T. Zed, QC '80
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
Valerie Moore '83
NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR
Robert Hickey '91
CAPE BRETON
Harvey McPhee '84
DALH O U S I E L AW ALU M N I ASSO C IAT I O N
The Dalhousie Law Alumni Association serves more than 7,000 alumni worldwide by supporting and sponsoring programming and events that provide a vital link between the Law School and our increas-ingly diverse alumni body. For more information about the School or ways you can get involved, please contact your local Branch President.
However, Dean Read was a learned and enthusiastic member of the faculty, having had a distinguished career, and was fully supportive of us students.
Sometimes a faculty member would teach us effectively without our having been alert to the means by which this hap-pened. I emerged from law school with, I believe, an excellent world view of the law of evidence. When, as I was about to complete my legal studies, Dean Lederman of Queen’s University’s law school inter-viewed me as a prospective candidate for a faculty appointment, he kindly offered me the opportunity to teach Evidence, which was my first choice. Now clearly that pref-erence had arisen out of the efforts of Prof. Graham Murray, who had taught me all I knew about Evidence, but I find it difficult to remember the specifics of his efforts.
Another problem is that we remember our professors not only for their teaching contributions but also for their other quali-ties, such as their camaraderie with stu-dents—high praise to Prof. Andy MacKay on this item.
I particularly remember an occasion in or about 1964, not long after I had graduated, on which Prof. Ed Harris and some other jurist, whose name I can’t remember, both had written articles or commentaries in the Canadian Bar Review. The other gent had taken a traditional stare decisis approach and had written an article that followed the rules of logic but did nothing constructive to advance our understanding of the law nor to point a path ahead. Prof. Harris, by contrast, fully understood the need for our courts to do justice according to law, and not merely slavishly to follow precedent, and his article was a model in this respect. It was sufficiently impressive that I wrote to him at the time to compliment him. Although I call him “Ed” now, I’m pretty sure that at that time, he was still quintessentially “Professor Harris.”
To teach a highly technical subject such as tax law is a real challenge. The fact situ-ations in the cases are of interest to tax law-yers but not as much to very many other people. Ed brought legal skill, life and inter-est to what he taught.
I misread a question on my Corporate Law examination and as a consequence received a much lower mark from Prof. Harris than I expected—my fault, no fault of his. Having given the matter some careful recent thought, and with apologies to his first-rate colleagues on the faculty when I was a student, I give the favourite profes-sor ranking to Ed. He was a thorough case analyst, and I think that this aspect of his teaching rubbed off. I am grateful that he insisted that all of us who had not previ-ously studied accounting were required to take his course in Legal Accounting. I was pleased to read the tribute to him in the current winter issue of Hearsay.
As an aside, I turned down Dean Leder-man’s kind offer to teach law at Queen’s. As I wished to practise eventually in Ontario, only Queen’s and U of T were on my in-terview list. At U of T Law School, Cecil (“Caesar”) Wright was dean. He said, “Well, Mr. Barrigar, we’re pleased to offer you a position, but you must understand that at first you will have to teach Bills and Notes and other subjects that no one else wants to teach.” Dickering, I mentioned that Dean Lederman had offered me the opportunity to teach Evidence and one or two other subjects that were of more interest to me than Bills and Notes. Dean Wright bridled: “But Mr. Barrigar, that was Queen’s. I am offering you a position with the University of Toronto Law School!” I don’t think that he believed that his offer could possibly receive second ranking.
In the event, I elected to begin practice right away and not to teach. Eventually I received a part-time appointment to the U of T Law faculty; taught a full course at U of Vic Law School and some guest lectures as well; and also served as a guest lecturer at U of Ottawa. Those choices suited me, as did my decision to put practice first, but I have always admired talented jurists who have elected teaching as a career.
This letter is lengthy prompted by a suggestion that we name a favourite pro-fessor—a subject worthy of careful con-sideration. Bob Barrigar, Q.C. (’63)Victoria, B.C.
2014 HEARSAY 7
I am in my final year of service as Dean at the Schulich School of Law. The last four years might be described as a period of unfamiliar, rapid change for law faculties and the practice of law more generally. The New York Times has printed (if that verb
still applies) breaking news on law schools: something that seemed unimaginable 20 years ago.
Professional legal publications have bombarded us with all manner of stories about the (often grimly painted) future of legal education and the practice of law. Those stories highlight changes to everything from the increasing number of Canadian students who pursue legal education at law faculties outside Canada, to the steady increases in student debt, to the changes to the design of the articling process in Ontario, to the increasing number of self-represented litigants before courts and tribunals, to the disag-gregation of legal work products and the potential for outsourcing of work to entirely different parts of the world.
While stories of that sort dominate the legal news, they should
not dominate our preoccupations as people who care about legal education.
Consider our 2015 graduating class. These roughly 160 stu-dents will face many of the same challenges faced by those who graduated before them, although with a modern face. Consider: segments of the labour market have become more mobile, there is rising income and wealth inequality, there is mixed evidence of the effectiveness of corporate mergers, in many places food security is uneven and food prices have skyrocketed, the per-sonal debt of Canadians has more than doubled over the last 30 years, incarceration rates are on the rise, species are facing extinction, and so on.
The way legal education and the practice of law are chang-ing is unclear. The reason why we need to provide robust, outstanding legal education is not. As a society we face chal-lenges: challenges that require people who are analytically sophisticated, careful, thoughtful, hardworking, outstanding
Idiomatic expressions resonate more with me as I get older...
Time flies.KIM BROOKS, DEAN OF LAW
8 HEARSAY 2014
communicators, and brilliant problem solvers. We have al-ways tailored our program with the objective of graduating ex-actly those kinds of people. And look where you, our graduates, have found yourselves: making contributions that support the real human and public policy problems we confront.
Over the last four years we have together —students, fac-ulty, staff, clinicians, librarians, alumni, and friends — taken one more small step along the Weldon path. To illustrate, and appreciating that important contributions are missed in any list, let me offer a few reminders of our activities. We have: • attracted several new, talented
faculty members, including the new MacBain Chair in Health Law and Policy;
• significantly enhanced our legal research, writing, and oral advocacy program (by adding several new moots like the Bowman Tax Moot, which is supported by the Al Meghji Fund for Tax);
• transitioned to provide our course materials electroni-cally;
• successfully engaged in the new law school accreditation process;
• reviewed our joint degree programs;
• successfully navigated a re-view of the faculty by external reviewers;
• planned renovations to most of our classrooms and to the
exterior of our building:• renovated our Sir James Dunn
Law Library to add the new Purdy Crawford Learning Commons;
• expanded our first year sum-mer internship opportunities, including with the addition of the Pamela and Andrew Brands International Intern-ship in Law, the Penelope Tham Summer Business In-ternship, and the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society Summer Internship;
• increased the profile of the scholarship authored by our faculty members (often with the assistance of funding for research, for example, through the Hugh Kindred International Law Fund);
• enhanced the supports in our career development office, thanks in part to the Roger Proctor Fund for Student Sup-port in Law;
• renovated the platform for publishing the Dalhousie Law Journal and commenced work on an open access platform;
• added a mini law school series for the general public and a Sessions@Schulich series of continuing education offer-ings for lawyers;
• created a Council of Sustain-ability to assist the School in supporting sustainable envi-ronmental practices;
• improved significantly our results on Dalhousie’s regu-lar faculty and staff survey and on the evaluation of the
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School by students participat-ing in the Law School Survey of Student Engagement;
• enhanced our student schol-arship and bursary funding, including by adding the Ken-neth R. Ives and M.A. Joan Ives Bursary, the George Caines Graduate Scholarship in Law, the John A Wilmot Bursary in Law, the Law Class of 1987 - Raylene Rankin Me-morial Bursary, the Cherry Ferguson Bursary in Health Law, the John A. McLeish Bur-sary in Law, the William and Frances Wickwire Bursary in Law, the W.R. Lederman Me-morial Bursary, the John C. McNair Bursary in Law, the Arthur F. Miller Scholarship in Law, and the Clifford Rae
Achievement Awards• renewed our relationships
with alumni branches, es-tablished the Bertha Wilson Honour Society, and expand-ed our annual alumni reunion weekend to include two new events (a “back to school” lec-ture by a favourite professor and an evening with Domus);
• expanded the prizes available for courses, for example, by adding the Howard Wetston Evidence Prize in Law, the Ro-man Elster Innovation Award in Intellectual Property, the Jenkins Marzban Logan LLP Award in Law, the STEP Can-ada Trusts & Estates Prize, the Wanda Szubielski Prize in Law, and the Nathalie Goy-ette Prize in Tax Law;
• grown our visiting expert and speaker series, including by adding the Law Class of 1961 & 1962 Dean’s Speaker Series, the James Lisson Expert-in-Residence in Law, the Chris-tie Visiting Professorship/Symposium in Labour and Employment Law, the Sir Gra-ham Day Ethics, Morality and the Law Lecture, alongside a Schulich Fellowship and Schulich Visiting Professor positions;
• enhanced our support for the Dalhousie Legal Aid Service, including through the Irving and Ruth Pink Fund for Youth and the Law;
• held dinners and lunches that bring together students and alumni;deepened our support
for business law, including through the Bold Ambitions Fund for Business Law and the Purdy Crawford Fund for Global Financial Markets;
• and undoubtedly most im-portantly, graduated approxi-mately 800 outstanding, ener-getic, hardworking graduate and undergraduate students.
So, time flies. I am enormously grateful for your ongoing sup-port. As always, do not be a stranger. Our front doors (soon to be less drafty) are open.
Dean Kim BrooksWeldon Professor of [email protected]
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10 HEARSAY 2014
DETURBIDE WINS BOOK PRIZEProfessor Michael Deturbide and former Schulich professor Teresa Scassa were chosen as the 2013 win-ners of the Walter Owen Book Prize for their book, Electronic Commerce and Internet Law in Canada (second edition).
The Walter Owen Book Prize is awarded by the Foundation for Legal Research. It recognizes excel-lence in legal writing and rewards outstanding new contributions to Canadian legal literature. The prize carries a cash award of $10,000.
The second edition, with a foreword written by Justice Thomas Cromwell of the Supreme Court of Canada, features extensive coverage of topics ranging from online trademark issues to consumer protec-tion to online anonymity and defamation. In a rapidly evolving field, this book is a definitive resource on Internet and e-commerce law from Canada's leading IT law experts, Teresa Scassa and Michael Deturbide.
Professors Michael Deturbide and Teresa Scassa join Professors Aldo Chircop, Edgar Gold and Hugh Kindred in receiving this honour. •
S C H O O L N E W S
LISSON EXPERT IN RESIDENCEPeter Dey ('66) will serve as the Law School's James Lisson Expert-in-Residence in the 2014-2015 academ-ic year. Peter is the chair of Paradigm Capital and has a long and illustrative career in corporate governance. He has chaired the Toronto Stock Exchange Commis-sion and the Ontario Securities Commission. Twenty years ago he authored an influential report: Where Were the Directors?
Through the generosity of James Lisson ('75), the James Lisson Expert-in-Residence series features ac-complished leaders in law and business who share their expertise, ideas, and intellectual curiosity with the Law School community. •
PROFESSOR MACINTOSH JOINS PANELAssociate Professor Constance MacIntosh was appointed as the legal expert to the advisory panel to conduct an independent review on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in Nova Scotia. With the help of the panel and public consultation, the review assessed social, economic, environmental and health impacts of hydraulic fracturing and put forth their recommendations to the province.
The Marine & Environmental Law Program (MELP) will celebrate its 40th anniversary (1974-2014) this academic year. There will be special events to mark this occasion, including lectures, a virtual conference and an event during the Alumni Reunion weekend this fall. Don’t miss out on upcoming exciting MELP events. If you are a former MELP affiliate or would just like to be included on this list to receive information along with invitations to various activities, contact Lauri MacDougall at [email protected] •
MELP TURNS 40
HEATHER MCNEILL WINS SERVICE AWARDLast month, the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society (NSBS) named Heather McNeill ('94) its Distinguished Service Award winner for 2014, celebrating her more than two decades of giving back to the community through law. The award, presented annually, recognizes someone who has made "long-term, exceptional volunteer con-tributions to the legal profession and the Society."
“I have a passion to help others make a differ-ence,” says McNeill, who embraces what's known in the Schulich School of Law as the "Weldon tradition" of unselfish public service.
MacNeill has been a lawyer with Dalhousie Legal Aid Service for the past 17 years. She helps provide legal aid for those who would otherwise not be able to obtain assistance and she works with the clinical students as an advisor and provides legal leadership.
A former commissioner with the Nova Scotia Hu-man Rights Commission, McNeill has served on many boards including: the Mi'kmaq Justice Institute, the Legal Information Society of Nova Scotia, and as former board president with the Mi'kmaq Native Friendship Centre. She has also been a key member of the Aboriginal Justice Committee and volunteers with the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society. •
Constance MacIntosh is the director of the Health Law Institute here at the Law School. She was asked to take on this role following feedback from stakehold-ers. Her background in health law and policy, with an emphasis on regulatory regimes, water quality and Aboriginal law, made her the ideal candidate. •
2014 HEARSAY 11
FALL 2014 LECTURESJAMES LISSON EXPERT-IN-RESIDENCE LECTUREPeter Dey ('66)"50 Years of Hits and Misses"October 2 • 12:00-1:00 pm
HORACE E. READ MEMORIAL LECTUREProfessor Harold Koh, Yale Law School"The Obama Administration's Unfinished Human Rights Agenda"October 7 • 12:00-1:00 pm
INNIS CHRISTIE LECTUREProfessor Cynthia Estlund, New York University School of Law"Employer Self-Regulation: Making a Virtue of Necessity?"October 16 • 4:30 pm
DOUGLAS M. JOHNSTON LECTUREElizabeth May ('83), Leader of Green Party, Canada"How did Canada go from sustainability leader to laggard? And how do we get back on track."October 16 • 7:00-8:30 pm
MINI-LAW LECTURESProfessor Vaughan Black"Legal Regulation of Research Animals"October 22 • 7:00 pmProfessor Michael Deturbide"The Perils of Online Buying"November 26 • 7:00 pm
BOOKS WE'RE READING
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
It is a story of a single day told from various per-spectives, though every character also talks about events of the past few weeks or months. It’s not the same event from different perspectives—different people had different experiences and between them are piecing together the whole story. However, it seems likely that some narrators are unreliable.
Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch
It is a scholarly but very accessible account of an institution which, like it or not, is absolutely central to the history of the entire “Western” world. Lots of fascinating people, intrigues and scandals—very exciting!
The Physiology of Tasteby Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
It’s a collection of funny essays by an 18th-century French lawyer and politician who survived the Revolution to spend his retirement writing about his best love: food. He’s possibly the first celebrity gourmand.
PROFESSOR ROB CURRIE JUDY KAVANAGH, ASSISTANT DEAN'S OFFICEPROFESSOR STEVE COUGHLAN
AND THE 2014 TEACHING AWARDS GO TO...
PROFESSOR DIANA GINN is no stranger to teach-ing recognition. Since 1996 she has received four teaching awards at the Law School. This year she was chosen by students to receive the Harold and Hannah Barnett Award for Excellence in Teaching of First Year Law ….for the third time!
Ginn believes that giving students the confidence to learn is key to their success. “The first year of law school can be a major adjustment for many students and I see it as part of my role to try to ease that tran-sition. I have found that using humour in the class-room, and breaking intimidating concepts down into manageable pieces can give students the confidence to learn…..”
Also, she gets brownie points for her home-baked treats. As one student quipped, “Her last baked goods were the bomb!”
Ginn has been at the Law School since 1992. Her teaching load over recent years has included administrative law and law and religion. She was rec-ognized this year for teaching property law. •
PROFESSOR MICHAEL HADSKIS was awarded the 2014 Law Students’ Society and Alumni Association Award for Teaching Excellence.
“Teaching is difficult, exhausting and sometimes frustrating,” says Hadskis. “It’s also, hands down, the most gratifying and exhilarating professional activity I have ever undertaken.”
Hadskis was recognized for his talent for engag-ing students: “…a fantastic teacher who is enthusi-astic and knowledgeable and cares greatly about stu-dents…his easy-going, supportive and open style of teaching encourages participation. By the end of the first term everyone is eager to speak up and learn…”
He is also noted for his support of students: “Avail-able for professional and academic consultation, he does not limit his engagement to class issues, but also to career development and other academic pursuits.”
Hadskis was nominated twice before for this award. He teaches a variety of courses in both law and health professions. •
Student Aggrey Semi and Professor Ginn Professor Hadskis and student Rebecca Critchley
12 HEARSAY 2014
Women are leaving private practice. The numbers show a dire picture. Women
make up 51 per cent of law school students. According to the National Associa-
tion of Women Lawyers, only 15 per cent of equity partners are women even
though 46 per cent of associates are women. Law societies like the Law Society of Upper
Canada (LSUC) are trying to stop the tide of women leaving. In 2008, the LSUC established
the Retention of Women in Private Practice Working Group and created the Women’s On-
line Resource Centre. Within the last five years, 31 per cent of women in the LSUC have
left legal practice compared to 21 per cent of men. Most of those women will not return.
There is another way to keep women engaged in the law: encourage women to take
the alternative track. For women who aren’t drawn to the traditional practice of law, there’s
a wide array of careers available that are satisfying, challenging and rewarding. The follow-
ing profiles feature four Schulich School of Law alumni who have taken different roads in
their career. While they approached their careers differently, they have a lot in common.
Each woman is a leader in her field, decided early in her career to forgo private practice
and is actively engaged in legal issues. Their stories offer a quick glimpse at the opportuni-
ties for women in the law.
IN SEARCH OF
PASTURESGREENER
BY JULIE SOBOWALE ('12)
2014 HEARSAY 13
Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith. Sally Daub took her leap in 2001 when she left her posi-tion as Chief Legal Counsel at
ATI Technologies in Markham, Ont., to join Hugh Chow and Indra Laksono in creating ViXS in Toronto, a company that produces media processing semiconduc-tors. Twelve years later, as CEO, Daub led the company to its initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
“Starting a business was something I had contemplated a number of times,” says Daub. “Like most people starting their first company, there were so many things I didn’t know, but I was fortunate to have great partners and we decided to go for it.”
Daub is enjoying the best of both worlds. As a former patent lawyer and engineer, Daub is running a company where intellectual property rights and complex technology are significant. Her
strong work ethic and resilience led her to become one of the most recognized women in business.
Daub received her engineering degree at the University of Ottawa in 1987 and graduated from the Schulich School of Law in 1991. As she articled at Smart & Biggar, Daub gave birth to her first child. She later went on to build an IP practice focused on patents. After working in private practice for four years, she decided to take the in-house counsel position at ATI Technologies, where she worked for two years.
“I’m an ambitious person, and doing patent law is not as lucrative as others, like litigation,” says Daub. “In one job interview, I was questioned about my husband’s income. I didn’t have the same opportunities as others and I wasn’t going to settle. I didn’t care what people think. I was secure about my capabilities.”
To solve the crisis of women leaving
practice, Daub recommends starting early in educating young people about traditional legal work.
“You have to understand what a legal career is,” says Daub. “It can be grinding, transactional work. Women can certainly do quite well in this field, but I think it’s important to identify your specialty early on and then focus on developing your career around that. That is how to optimize job satisfaction.”
Daub has embraced her new career. ViXS will be releasing a new product line this year. The company has more than 400 patents issued and pending.
“I really enjoy managing a business and getting to meet exceptional people inside and outside of the company,” says Daub. “There are always bigger career opportunities for women, but you have to take control of your situation, be willing to take risks, and work hard to turn those opportunities into reality.” •
I didn’t have the same opportunities as others and I wasn’t going to settle... I was secure about my capabilities.
"SALLY DAUB ('91)CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
14 HEARSAY 2014
Life takes unexpected turns. The death of Loretta Saunders set off a nationwide discussion about miss-ing Aboriginal women of Canada.
Cheryl Maloney, President of the Nova Sco-tia Native Women’s Association (NSNWA) quickly pulled together a team to search for Saunders and organized a national memo-rial rally at Parliament Hill. Maloney’s ad-vocacy led to an invitation from Parliament to speak to caucus members.
“We had good conversations and they invited me back,” says Maloney. “I couldn’t believe it. Things like this keep happening to me.”
Following your instincts can lead you to a great career. Cheryl Maloney has stayed true to her convictions as a strong advocate for Aboriginal rights.
Maloney comes from a history of advo-cates. Her father, the late Chief Reginald Maloney, was a stanch Mi’kmaq activist and longtime chief of the Shubenacadie band based in Indian Brook, N.S. As Chief, he led the fight for Mi'kmaq treaty rights in
the 1985 R. v. Simon SCC case in which the 1752 Mi'kmaq Treaty was upheld. It was in this backdrop that Maloney recognized the need for legal advocates in all areas of First Nations governance.
“I was 10 years old when someone told me I should be a lawyer,” says Maloney. “In our community, completing Grade 12 education was a big deal. Becoming a lawyer was unheard of.”
She graduated from the Schulich School of Law in 1999 and decided not to article.
“I never wanted to article,” says Malo-ney. “Being in the community, I had been to court to support community members and to fight for treaty rights and I saw how adversarial the criminal justice system is. I didn’t want to be a part of that.”
In 2005, Maloney became the Director of Environment at the Native Women’s Association of Canada. Four years later, she moved back home to Nova Scotia and won the presidency for the Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association. Maloney
participated at various international bod-ies including the Convention on Climate Change, Convention on Biological Diver-sity and UN Permanent Forum on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
“For Aboriginal women, it’s either our rights are not recognized or, when they’re recognized, we can’t exercise them,” says Maloney. “I have been fighting for four years seeking access to the crab fishery under the SCC Marshall decision.”
Her efforts continue today after pursu-ing a successful judicial review case on fishing rights and duties of First Nation bands. This past May, Maloney was one of 26 women selected for the UN Internation-al Indigenous Women’s Forum and Global Indigenous Women’s Leadership School.
“My success in life is not about my career,” says Maloney. “It’s about pushing institutions and government and raising awareness. If you listen to your inner voice, you’ll know which path to choose. This work I do doesn’t feel like work. It’s what I’m meant to do.” •
CHERYL MALONEY ('99) LEGAL ADVOCATE
If you listen to your inner voice, you’ll know which path to choose. This work I do doesn’t feel like work. It’s what I’m meant to do.
"
2014 HEARSAY 15
Kelly Brown lived out the dreams of most Canadians—visit a Molson brewery to learn how to make beer. In
an episode of Undercover Boss Canada, Brown worked in different Molson breweries to learn more about front-line employees. “It was awesome,” says Brown, Chief Administrative Officer for Molson Coors Canada. “I’m very humbled by the people who work those eight-hour-long night shifts. I appreciate that Molson has great employees and I learned so much about myself.”
Brown likes to try out new experi-ences. Her openness to new ideas has led her from a career on Bay Street to a senior leadership role in an iconic Cana-dian company.
Originally from Montreal, Brown completed her honours degree in Eng-lish Literature from McGill University in 1993 and graduated from the Dalhousie Schulich School of Law in 1996. After completing a clerkship at the Federal
Court of Appeal, Brown worked as a cor-porate associate for four years at Torys. In 2000, she received a phone call that would change the course of her career.
“Out of the blue, Molson called me,” says Brown. “I didn’t even know that lawyers could work at companies and I thought working for Molson would be fun. I walked in and felt right at home.”
Brown left private practice out of a desire for career change. “When I looked around the law firm to find a mentor that I could pattern my life around, I didn’t see many options,” says Brown. “There’s a part of me that craved working in a team environment and leading people within a business and I knew I couldn’t get that in the firm.”
In-house counsel positions are quick-ly becoming an attractive career option. Generally, lawyers are able to have flex-ible work hours and shape policy and strategy within an organization. Brown runs Molson’s Legal, Corporate Affairs and Human Resources departments.
“In a law firm, clients want the fancy Cadillac, but in a business, people want the practical Chevrolet,” says Brown. “You need to be flexible, detail-oriented and able to make decisions quickly. I’m no longer a lawyer who only gives ad-vice but I’m a business leader who also uses my functional expertise of the law to set business strategy.”
Brown believes that law firms need to be innovative in their structure and busi-ness practices in order to keep top talent. She also recommends lawyers find their passion in their work.
“Find out what gives you energy and what sucks your energy out,” says Brown. “Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want. Leading a team and seeing team members reach their potential is what gives me energy.” •
When I looked around the law firm to find a mentor that I could pattern my life around, I didn’t see many options...
KELLY BROWN ('96)BUSINESS EXECUTIVE"
16 HEARSAY 2014
SANDRA GIFFIN ('92)IP MOGUL
It was not an easy year for Sandra Giffin during her articling year. The recession in the early 1990s had just begun and hiring prospects were
quite grim. “I remember when the one guy in
our class came into the Bar Admission Course and said he got a job,” says Gif-fin. “We gave him a standing ovation. He was the only one who got a job.”
Perhaps the next standing ovation will be for Giffin. Nearly 25 years after being called to the bar, Giffin is a serial entrepreneur. She currently manages and co-owns Worthington Software Company, i-fax.com and Mondo-Tag.com with her husband Cristian Worthington.
Originally from Middleton, NS, Gif-fin decided to become a lawyer at an early age.
Determined to pursue her dreams, Giffin entered law school when she was 20 years old and after completing only two years of postsecondary education.
“It was challenging,” says Giffin. “You don’t have that much context when you’re learning about different legal principles.”
Giffin was called to the bar in Nova Scotia in 1991. It was during this time, when her husband needed help with licensing agreements for his business, that Giffin discovered the technology industry. “At the time, no one in Halifax was doing IP law,” says Giffin. “I had to teach myself about IP law. I went to work with a senior lawyer in Toronto for a couple of months to get some ex-perience.”
Soon Giffin and her husband began launching different start-up companies. The couple currently own i-fax.com, a document imaging company catering to the U.S. healthcare industry. Their latest project is MondoPlayer, a new Android App that streams and curates video content from popular web sites.
“Being in tech is like the mining busi-ness,” says Giffin. “You could have a dry
well or a gusher. There’s risk involved, but I enjoy it. We’re entering new ter-ritory with this App and it’s exciting.”
Giffin is one of many law graduates pursuing a career in business. She sees women leaving private practice as an opportunity.
“Leaving legal practice doesn’t have to be a negative thing,” says Gif-fin. “Lawyers are great problem solvers and they have many opportunities. I know people with law degrees who are investment bankers or working in fields totally unrelated to the law. It’s okay to explore other options.”
Opportunities have led Giffin to take a leap into the next big phase of Internet technology. MondoPlayer, launched in July On Google Play.
“Don’t be afraid of failure,” says Gif-fin. “In the tech world, you have to go all in, and your idea could go down in flames or be a success. If you work really hard, you never know what will hap-pen. I would rather fail than not try.” •
I know people with law degrees who are investment bankers or working in fields totally unrelated to the law. It’s okay to explore other options.
SANDRA GIFFIN ('90)ENTREPRENEUR"
2014 HEARSAY 17
SANDRA GIFFIN ('92)IP MOGUL
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Your support is vital to
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Please support the Dalhousie Fund by making a gift online at giving.dal.ca or by calling 1-800-565-9969.
Alumni suPPort mAkes it Possible
18 HEARSAY 2014
With opportunity in the air, alumni have been
flocking westward and, in particular, setting up in
Calgary. In the 1950s, when Jim Palmer ('52) packed
his bags and headed west, Calgary was the fastest-
growing city in Canada. Its population has
multiplied tenfold since. Two generations
later, Randon Slaney ('14), like Palmer before
him, is making the big westward move.
RANDON SLANEY ('14)
2014 HEARSAY 19
Randon Slaney knows in what direction he’s headed. This summer his personal compass pointed south. The law school grad, class
of 2014, spent two months exploring South and Central America. Indeed, when Hearsay caught up with him he was just leaving Colombia en route to Panama.
“South America seemed like the right place because it was the combination I wanted of adventure, great weather, a largely common language in Spanish, and enough territory that I can comfortably cover in the two months I
have before I start work,” Slaney said as he prepared to embark on the last leg of his venture south.
Now the St. John’s native has turned his compass west, to Calgary and an articling job with Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP, which traces its roots back to 1905 and today is home to 150 lawyers and known for its transactional and litigation work. For Slaney, it was a tough decision to leave friends and family on the East Coast. But it was also an easy decision.
Slaney worked his last summer of law school with BD&P and they offered him an articling position. Slaney had applied for work in Newfoundland and
Halifax as well, but it was the Calgary firm that responded with the initial job offer. It helped to seal the direction the new law grad would take.
The lure of a firm job offer was only one reason Slaney decided to head west. He believes it’s the hot spot for up and coming lawyers. “It’s a little less button down than Toronto is. It’s the place to be in Canada right now. St. John’s is heading in that direction, but it’s not there yet,” says Slaney, who started work with the firm in mid-August.
“As for Calgary,” he adds, “from my research and talking to people it seemed like it was where the most action was in terms of economic growth in Canada.
BY DONALEE MOULTON
lure westof theThe
20 HEARSAY 2014
I wanted to be involved in that at the start of my career. In addition to that, given how tough it was in Eastern Canada to secure a job, it made the most sense.”
The 26-year-old lawyer is not alone in his assessment. Classmates, friends, and colleagues, not all lawyers, have been lured west by the offer of a good job with long-term prospects. The buzz about great job opportunities that has defined Alberta for more than a decade seems founded in fact. “Everyone knows about the huge demand for people in places like Fort Mac, but Alberta generally seems like the place to be right now for professionals, too,” notes Slaney. “From my friends, I know engineers and geologists who got great jobs, even guys with business degrees and some experience.”
It’s hard to argue with success, even if it means working in an area not originally anticipated. Slaney, who completed his undergraduate degree at Memorial University in St. John's in psychology and economics, once thought litigation would define his future as a lawyer. That thinking has changed. “I thought I’d do less corporate work than I will be doing, but once the reality of where the jobs are and how much you [can earn] set in, I followed a different path.”
That logic is premised on more than common sense; it also includes a dollars-and-cents analysis. Articling jobs in Alberta pay well compared to many other centres. The Alberta Department of Justice, for example, pays its articling clerks $49,900 a year. For law students with large debt loads, the starting salaries are appealing. Slaney owes roughly $70,000 in student loans, and he wants to be debt-free as soon as possible.
It’s not likely Slaney’s career will point him back East, at least not for a while. He likes his firm, he’s making new friends and reconnecting with older ones, and he is setting down roots, both professional and personal, in the West. “For now,” says Slaney, “my plans are to stay for the foreseeable future up until I pay off my debt…. But who knows what the future holds.”•
When Jim Palmer graduated from Dalhousie Law School in 1952, he helped a friend
move to Calgary and never drove back. While still rooted to his native Prince Edward Island and an East Coast ancestry that included a Father of Confederation, two Island premiers and a judge, Palmer had, it would appear from all that has been written, an entrepreneurial spirit and a passion for building things from the ground up. “You could feel the excitement in Calgary in 1952,” Palmer is reported to have said. “Nobody gave a damn about who you were—it was what you were.”
Three years after moving West, simply because he fell in love with Calgary, Palmer joined what was then Burnet Duckworth. A year later he was made partner, and over his career Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP, as it is known today, became one of the province’s pre-eminent law firms doing oil deals around the world.
A chance meeting with Angus Mackenzie convinced Palmer the upstart oilman was a good guy. Another chance meeting led to Palmer becoming Mackenzie’s lawyer, and together they traversed the globe getting oil concessions and building Sunningdale Oils, an exploration company with assets in the U.K., the North Sea, and
Dubai. In an obituary for The Globe and Mail, senior writer Gordon Pitts said, “It was the beginning of one of the most successful partnerships in the oil patch.”
Palmer, who received his BA from McGill University, did much more than build a prestigious career and a thriving business enterprise. He infused his work with a commitment to public service. A lifelong Liberal (and once federal candidate), Palmer did not distinguish between the privilege of being a leading lawyer and the obligation such privilege conferred. He was a former Governor and Chair of the Canadian Tax Foundation and was its first Chair from Western Canada. He was a leader in philanthropy, particularly in the areas of education, the arts and social service groups.
For his efforts, Palmer became a Member of the Order of Canada, was inducted into the Calgary Business Hall of Fame, and was honoured with the Weldon Award from Dalhousie Law School for unselfish public service. He died on August 27, 2013.
Palmer spent his adult life helping to shape a place he loved. The lure of the West in 1952 was very different than it is today, but at heart is a sense of optimism and enthusiasm for new places and new opportunities.
Some things, it appears, never change. •
wonHow the West
was
2014 HEARSAY 21
JIM PALMER ('52) (1928-2013)
22 HEARSAY 2014
You‘ve accomplished so much and likely had many career options. Why did you choose Dalhousie?The most straightforward answer is that Dalhousie is a great uni-versity in a great location. It has nearly two centuries of academic excellence. It has this tremendous regional and national role, and that’s reflected in the student body: we educate more Nova Scotian students than any other university, but also more than half of our students are from out-of-province, more than any other major research university in the country. And that population comes together in this great city by the ocean, with its Maritime com-munity spirit. I spent a lot of time on the Atlantic coast working in Boston and Washington, and I was thrilled to get to come back east to begin this great new chapter here at Dal.
Q&A
WITH PRESIDENT RICHARD FLORIZONE
Dr. Richard Florizone hails from Prince Albert, Saskatch-
ewan and, at the age of 45, has a CV that would impress
the most accomplished. He was Vice-President, Finance
and Resources at the University of Saskatchewan, where he
was also a Policy Fellow in the Johnson-Shoyama Gradu-
ate School of Public Policy. He earned his Ph. D. in physics
from MIT and has been a senior adviser to the World Bank
Group’s International Finance Corporation in Washington,
D.C., as well as serving in roles with Bombardier Aerospace,
Cambridge University and the Boston Consulting Group.
Dr. Florizone began his term as president in July 2013.
He spent his first 100 days in office meeting with the people
of Dalhousie University— faculty, staff students, alumni,
donors, the government, community, industry and others
who support the university — to understand the opportuni-
ties and challenges facing Dalhousie and to identify priorities
for future strategic planning.
We asked President Florizone to share his views on public
service, mentorship and how law students and young lawyers
can make a difference.
2014 HEARSAY 23
The report “100 Days of Listening” identified service—and public service—as one of the three pillars of the university’s mission. Why is public service so important? Broadly speaking, the university’s mission is comprised of teaching, research and service. The service component is important for two reasons. First, it’s how we both in-fluence and ensure impact for teaching and research. Learning and scholarly work come to life when we engage with the external community, bring ideas into the academy, and then the greatest impact we can have is by bringing ideas out of the academy to the world. The second reason it’s important is, frankly, that we are public institutions and we can’t afford to be a so-called “ivory tower.” We have a responsibility to demon-strate our impact, to ensure our continued vitality as the important public institution that we are.
The Law School has celebrated public service through the Weldon Tradition for many years. How would you inspire Dalhousie’s students generally to care about public service?For me, it comes down to the question of, “How do you want to measure your life?” I think most people are looking for an op-portunity to have an impact, to make a difference in the world to the best of their abilities. And the good news is that Dal already attracts those sorts of people, both in our faculty and our students. We know that the largest segment of Dal’s student population is what’s called “conscientious achievers”: they’re academically serious, and they want to make a difference in the world. So I feel like Dal’s students, from what I’ve seen, already bring with them a passion for service when they walk through the door.
The question, then, is what to do with that passion. What’s guided me in my career has been a desire to find a role that best fit with my values and skills, and where I could also have the greatest impact in the world. For me, it was the university and, eventually, the president’s office. So what I’d advise students is to make the most of
their time at Dal, to take advantage of this community of scholars and peers to explore your skills and values and start to identify where you can best apply them to make that difference in the world.
Leaders who inspire us to give back have some special characteristics that separate them from the crowd. Who do you believe was, or is, a great leader and why?At its roots, leadership is about helping inspiring communities to achieve great things. So when I think of models of great leadership, there’s no single individual that jumps to mind because I think leadership can be seen in all sectors and all levels of societies, and good leaders take lessons from all of them. I think many of us leap to thinking about political leaders like Churchill, or ethical leaders like Gandhi. But there’s so many sectors from which you can draw leadership lessons, including my own world where I think about successful Canadian university presidents like Tom Traves here at Dal and Peter MacKinnon, the former president of the University of Saskatchewan and a mentor of mine.
But leadership shouldn’t just come from the top: it has to exist at all levels of an or-ganization, wherever people come together and decide they want to make a difference. That’s especially true in universities. There’s no question the presidency is a big job, but there’s very little you can accomplish on your own. So you have to draw from these different examples and lean on others’ good ideas for support.
Law students are keen to reach out to our alumni for guidance and mentorship. Who was your most valuable mentor?The older I get, the more I appreciate the value of relationships, and those with mentors and role models in particular. For me, it starts with family — my parents, my siblings — and goes beyond them to the schoolteachers and professors who took a particular interest in what I was doing and helped guide me along the way. One in particular for me was Professor Dennis
Skopik. He was one of my undergraduate professors. I did undergrad research with him and he also then counseled me, giving me advice on graduate school leading me to ultimately getting accepted, and then graduating from, MIT.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of mentors and role models. It’s really only through seeing what others achieve, and then through their advice and guidance, that we can visualize what we ourselves can become.
The Dalhousie community is thrilled to have you at the helm. What project from your 100 Days of Listening exercise has most captured your imagination? I’m going to cheat and give three, three ‘Rs’: retention, research and returns to society. That’s really the mantra in my mind from that whole project. “Retention” reflects that Dalhousie does a tremendous job in attract-ing students, but it looks like we can do a better job in retaining them through to completion of their degrees. “Research” is about looking at a number of areas where we’re starting to achieve global recognition — how do we build on that in our research environment? And then “returns to society” comes back to that whole topic of service. We reside in a province that has some great opportunities but also some economic chal-lenges; how can we better contribute to be a great partner in the region? •
President Florizone’s 100 Days of Listening report can be found on the university’s website at dal.ca/100days
You can find the president on Twitter at @dalpres.
24 HEARSAY 2014
When Mark Sakamoto began his studies at law school, he had already decided that he
wouldn’t spend his entire career in the legal field. However, the Medicine Hat, Alta., native and Class of 2003 graduate knew exactly what he wanted from his education, which he was certain would serve him well in whatever path he chose, and that was to think like a lawyer. “I learned skills in law school that will last me a lifetime,” he says.
Today Sakamoto, 37, is executive vice-president and one of four business partners of software company Think
Research Corporation, as well as author of his first book, Forgiveness: A Gift from My Grandparents (see “An Accidental Author," opposite). He lives in Toronto with his wife, Jade, a modern dancer, and their daughters, Miya, 4, and Tomi, 1. (In an interesting aside, Sakamoto asked Jade to marry him the day he graduated from law school.)
After earning his degree, Sakamoto went to work on Bay Street in Heenan Blaikie’s entertainment group in 2004, then spent from 2005 to 2009 as a business and legal executive at CBC inking TV deals. When he worked in the entertainment space,
The talented Mark SakamotoBY JANE DOUCET
ALUMNI PROFILE
2014 HEARSAY 25
The talented Mark Sakamoto
he enjoyed helping clients solve unique financing and labour issues to facilitate getting, for example, a movie on the screen. “It was really interesting to work with different media personalities and guilds,” he says.
After the CBC stint Sakamoto moved to Ottawa, where he was a senior Liberal adviser for 18 months. “I left law because as an entrepreneur, I think it’s a lousy business model where value is measured in six-minute increments of time,” he says. “I loved law school even more than practising law. In my opinion, Dal is the national law school, and many of my good pals from those days are now leading lawyers across Canada. In all of my jobs, and in my current position, I use my legal education on an hourly basis, particularly when I’m preparing and reviewing proposals and contracts.”
At law school Sakamoto’s favourite professor was David Blaikie, who taught first-year torts. When Sakamoto got a C on his torts winter exam, he was devastated. “But Professor Blaikie told me not to worry, and he was right because I ended up getting an A overall,” he says. “He’s a students’ prof because he really loves teaching young people about the law.” Sakamoto recalls that when he was a kid, as young as six years old, his mother would let him stay up late to watch Knowlton Nash anchor The National CBC newscast. “When I was growing up, most prime ministers had a law degree, and that stuck with me,” he says.
That’s not the only thing that stuck with Sakamoto while he was growing up. One of the greatest gifts his father, Stanley, gave him as a child was teaching him how to meditate. When Sakamoto was eight, his
dad would take him and his five-year-old brother, Daniel, to their land in Alberta’s Cypress Hills and sit them atop the sweeping prairie cliffs. They would have to sit quietly and breathe for hours on end. “It felt like torture,” says Sakamoto, “because my brother and I just wanted to play.”
During the two years that Sakamoto spent writing Forgiveness early in the morning and late at night, he got up before the rest of his family to meditate. He explains that meditating makes him a better father, husband, friend, employer and writer. “I try my best to maintain the calmness that I find during my morning meditation practice throughout my day,” he says. “When I was writing, meditating helped me focus.” Earlier this year, Sakamoto began attending Toronto’s Zen Centre and says that he’s “on the Buddhist path.”
When asked about future plans, Sakamoto doesn’t rule out some form of public service, but he’d also like to take his wife and daughters on a year-long trip around the world, and he has other eclectic goals, including releasing an album with his sister, Kumiko, an accomplished violinist (he’s a drummer), and learning the art of sabre champagne opening (opening champagne bottles with a sword).
The best advice Sakamoto has ever received didn’t come from a professor or colleague, but from his father. “I draw inspiration from those closest to me, my dad in particular,” he says. “Family honour has been a driving force in my life. From when I was very young, my father taught me that you can only control yourself, so set out to master yourself and do it in a way that touches people.” •
In the Dec. 25, 2011, edition of The Globe and Mail, Mark Sakamoto wrote a Facts & Arguments essay about the intertwined lives of his paternal Japanese grandparents and his maternal Canadian grandparents. The essay piqued the interest of book publisher HarperCollins, which led to a book deal. In June, HarpersCollins released Forgiveness: A Gift from My Grandparents, Sakamoto’s debut family-history memoir.
Sakamoto spent from 2012 to 2014 writing from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. before leaving for a full day of work, then editing what he had written late at night for an hour or two. On the weekends, he wrote from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., breaking only to spend time with his family. “My wife, Jade, bore the brunt of family life for those two years, and I was lucky to have supportive family, friends and business partners,” he says. “It was a very focused time full of research, writing and editing, but I didn’t feel pressured. I love having lots of balls in the air.”
In addition to telling his grandparents’ story, Forgiveness describes the challenging relationship Sakamoto had with his mother, Phyllis, who left his father and then struggled with alcoholism and an abusive relationship; she died while Sakamoto was in university. He chose to forgive his mother after his first daughter was born, when he realized that he was angry she wasn’t there—that forgiveness is his grandparents’ gift to him. •
An accidental author
In my opinion, Dal is the national law school, and many of my good pals from those days are now leading lawyers across Canada.”
"
26 HEARSAY 2014
Since 1983, we’ve presented the Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service annually to an alumnus or alumna who has made outstanding contributions to the community and
the legal profession on either a worldwide, Canada-wide, province-wide or local setting.
This year the award will be presented to veteran Halifax lawyer John S. Fitzpatrick, QC of BoyneClarke.
Fitzpatrick has been a committed volunteer for a myriad of community and professional organizations. He has been an enthusiastic fundraiser for Alzheimer’s Society of Nova Scotia, Apple Tree Landing Children’s Centre (Canning), Autism Nova Scotia and the Canadian Museum of Human Rights. He has also served for many years on the Board of Directors of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Kings County. He is currently a board member of the World Wildlife Fund, Canada, Atlantic Council.
His alma mater, Saint Mary’s University, has always been close to his heart. He is the longest serving board member, having volunteered for over 18 years. He is the chair of the Board of Governors, the Executive
John Fitzpatrick, Q.C. ('84): Celebrating a long tradition of public service
Committee, the Advisory Committee to the President on Labour Relations and the Presidential Search Committee, and has served as the chair of the university’s finance, human resource and government corporate affairs committees.
Fitzpatrick has been active in politics for more than 20 years. He was the area chair for federal and provincial leadership campaigns and has served as past president and executive member of provincial and federal riding associations.
Fitzpatrick has also been an advocate for literacy causes: “I have a strong belief in the need to address the devastating impact of inadequate literacy skills on individuals, communities and our economy,” he says. He has made a significant contribution to the Peter Gzowski Invitational Tournaments for Literacy. While he was chair, these tournaments were hugely successful, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to help literacy programs. For 10 years, he served on the Board of Directors and the Executive of ABC Literacy Foundation (now ABC Life Literacy) in Toronto—a national charity that supports the development of a fully literate Canadian population.
“Volunteering over the past number of years has given me a great sense of accomplishment,” says Fitzpatrick. “I believe lawyers and the skills they offer are welcomed by many different organizations and charities. There are countless lawyers in Nova Scotia who are dedicated volunteers and who contribute greatly to the community.” •
I believe lawyers and the skills they offer are welcomed by many
different organizations and charities.
"
AWARDS
2014 HEARSAY 27
John Fitzpatrick, Q.C. ('84): Celebrating a long tradition of public service
This annual award, sponsored by the Dalhousie Law Alumni Association, is to honour a graduate of the Law School for unselfish public service in the community. Established in 1983, this award is a tribute to the ideals of the school’s first dean, Richard Chapman Weldon, and a reminder of the Weldon tradition, which had its origins in his 31-year tenure as dean from 1883 to 1914.
2015 CALL FOR NOMINATIONS THE WELDON AWARD FOR UNSELFISH PUBLIC SERVICE
Eligibility: A Dalhousie law graduate
Nominations: With this form please include a letter of nomination with a minimum of two letters of support along with
the nominee’s curriculum vitae.
Selection: A selection committee appointed by the board of directors of the Dalhousie Law Alumni Association.
Deadline: Nominations must be received by March 31, 2015.
My nomination for The Weldon Award of Unselfish Public Service:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Nominated by:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Telephone: e-mail:
________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________
Please return this form to: Karen Kavanaugh Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University 6061 University Avenue P.O. Box 15000, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2 tel: 902-494-3744 fax: 902-494-1316 [email protected]
28 HEARSAY 2014
Bertha and Arnold
Graduation Day
KRISTEN PIKE
ANDREW BRANDS
ASHLEY SCHUITEMA
LAUREN AKIN
LEAH BURT & KRYSTEN FISHER
KATELYN DEMPSEY
MICHAEL BROWN
2014 HEARSAY 29
May 23, 2014
KATRINA YAWORSKY
MALLORY ARNOTT
AARON DEWITT
JAD DEBS
TARA GAULT
SAMANTHA JENKINS
LINDA YANG
30 HEARSAY 2014
Professor BRUCE ARCHIBALD was back in the saddle for 2013-2014 teaching criminal law, labour law and the labour law problems seminar after a productive sabbatical in the previ-ous academic year. In June 2013, he attended the inaugural conference of the global Labour Law Research Network in Barcelona, where he also discussed prospects for a Schulich Law student exchange with the Law Faculty of the University of Barcelona. In October, Archibald presented a paper entitled
“Rights at/through Work: Fairness in the Legal Construction of Personal Work Relations via Integrated Labour Market Regulation” at a conference in London, Ontario. This paper is being revised for publication with a snappier title… Archibald continues as a neutral in labour relations dispute resolution, as a member of the Management Committee of the Nova Scotia Restorative Justice Program, and as chair of the Board of the Halifax Community Chaplaincy Society which sponsors the Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) for faith-based reintegration of high risk offenders into society.
Professor JAMIE BAXTER came to the faculty as the 2013-14 Schulich Fellow this year, teaching property law and enjoying every minute of the Weldon experience. On the research front he published articles on sustainable food systems and on First Nations land law, and collaborated in an ongoing research project about the geography of access to justice in Canada. He is thrilled to be joining the faculty permanently as an Assistant Professor starting this summer.
Professor VAUGHAN BLACK published articles on private international law and taught torts and judicial remedies. He is compiling a book of essays on animals and the law in Canada and gave a conference presentation on the legal regulation of research on animals.
Professor SARAH BRADLEY enjoyed her first sabbatical in 2013-2014 and continued to pursue her research interests in the business law area, with a particular focus on corporate and securities law. Her sabbatical work included writing articles relating to shareholder liability in Nova Scotia Unlimited Liabili-ties Companies (ULCs); the duties of corporate directors; and shareholder, creditor and labour protection in Canada. She is also working on a study of inter-jurisdictional competition for corporate charters in Canada and a book on unincorporated business entities in Canada. This year, she was also appointed to the Dalhousie Pension Advisory Committee and outside the University, continued to serve as the chair of the Nova Scotia Securities Commission and as president of YWCA Halifax. Professor ALDO CHIRCOP was on sabbatical leave. He was visiting professor at the University of Western Brittany in Brest, France and at the Catholic University of Lisbon, Portugal where he taught ocean and maritime law and policy. On invitation, he presented at conferences in Germany, Norway, Portugal and China. Chircop was external examiner at the World Mari-time University (Sweden), Shanghai Maritime University and Dalian Maritime University (China). His research continued to focus primarily on coastal law, maritime law and Arctic shipping and in which areas he published several refereed articles and chapters. In addition to the Ocean Yearbook Vol 27 (with McConnell & Coffen-Smout), he co-edited The Regulation of Continental Shelf Development: Rethinking International Standard (with Nordquist and others, Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff, 2013).
RETIRED PROFESSOR EMERITUS HUGH KINDRED
THE WELDON PROFESSORS
MEINHARD DOELLE JOCELYN DOWNIE JOANNA ERDMAN
MICHAEL HADSKIS ELIZABETH HUGHES
BRUCE ARCHIBALD
BILL LAHEY
JENNIFER LLEWELLYN CONSTANCE MACINTOSH WAYNE MACKAY
JAMIE BAXTER VAUGHAN BLACK SARAH BRADLEY
ALDO CHIRCOP STEVE COUGHLAN ROBERT CURRIE MICHAEL DETURBIDE
MOIRA MCCONNELL
RONALDA MURPHY LEONARD ROTMAN ROLLIE THOMPSON DAVID VANDERZWAAG
SHEILA WILDEMAN MICHELLE WILLIAMS
ARCHIE KAISER
RICHARD DEVLIN
2014 HEARSAY 31
Professor STEVE COUGHLAN was pleased to be able to return to the squash courts this year, after knee surgery sidelined him in April 2013. He was also happy that this year’s incoming class included an influx of badminton players which, along with the others already in the school, led to the formation of both singles and doubles ladders for that racquet sport as well. He taught two sections of first year criminal law this year along with criminal law problems, prepared the 7th edition of the Canadian Law Dictionary, co-wrote the 2013 Annual Review of Criminal Law, and continued to be a co-editor of the Criminal Reports, the National Judicial Institute Crimi-nal Law e-Letter, the IT.Can newsletter on law and technology, and became an editor of the Canadian Journal of Law and Technology.
Professor ROB CURRIE taught evidence, in-ternational criminal law and law & technology, and enjoyed a third year as director of the Law & Technology Institute, which hosted a number of interesting public events. He was a faculty member at the Federation of Law Societies’ annual National Criminal Law Program; gave a talk on hearsay to the yearly gathering of the Criminal Lawyers Association; and delivered an introduction to international criminal justice for the new Philippe Kirsch Institute’s series of continuing professional development programs. He had a number of publications appear in print, and enjoyed being a co-editor of the 8th edition of the Kindred et al international law textbook and the Routledge Handbook of Transnational Criminal Law (both forthcoming fall 2014). The highlight of the year, however, was playing music with and for law students at their coffeehouse event each semester.
Professor MICHAEL DETURBIDE com-menced a year-long sabbatical in July 2013. He spent some time in New Zealand, and participated in the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute’s education program in Bermuda. The second edition of his book (co-authored with Teresa Scassa ) Electronic Commerce and Internet Law in Canada was awarded the 2013 Walter Owen Book Prize for outstanding contributions to Canadian legal literature. Deturbide received a Queen’s Counsel designation in 2014, and was recently appointed to the Nova Scotia Securities Com-mission. He returned to the Associate Dean’s position in July 2014.
Professor RICHARD DEVLIN taught contracts and judicial decision-making which continues to be both challenging and fun, as does the graduate seminar. This year, in collaboration with Prof. Jocelyn Downie it was attempted to partially “flip the class” in order to provide the students with greater flexibility in their time management for class preparation. Also under
the auspices of the Canadian Association for Legal Ethics, and in collaboration with Prof. Downie, Prof. Cotter (University of Saskatch-ewan) and Colin Jackson (Ph.D student) a series of five videos under the title Legal Ethics in Canada was produced. The topics included were conflicts, confidentiality, cul-tural competency, professionalism and civility and access to justice. The videos will be avail-able for national distribution in the summer of 2014. On the research front, Devlin also published four co-authored articles: two in the Canadian Bar Review, one in the Criminal Law Quarterly, and one in Legal Ethics. Devlin has also given 10 conference presentations in Cape Breton, Saskatchewan, Quebec, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Ontario and France.
Professor MEINHARD DOELLE serves as the associate dean, research, and is the di-rector of the Marine & Environmental Law Institute. Since 2010, he has been teaching at Dalhousie’s College of Sustainability in addition to teaching environmental law at the School. With Prof. Bill Lahey, he has carried out a review of the regulatory approach to aquaculture for the province of Nova Scotia. Meinhard’s six-year term as the founding chair of the East Coast Environmental Law Associa-tion (ECELAW) came to an end in 2013. He has joined Solar N.S. as a board member, and has worked with the organization on policy proposals to help develop a sustainable solar industry for the province. Upcoming projects include a special issue on offshore renewable energy, SSHRC-funded research on model EA, and NCE-funded research on specific elements of the global climate negotiations. Topics of research include the roles of adapta-tion, loss & damage, technology, and forests in the post 2020 UN climate regime.
Professor JOCELYN DOWNIE spent the past year wrestling with the dragon of curriculum reform. The jury is still out with respect to how the curriculum will change but it was a fantas-tic learning experience. She also stepped into the role of associate dean graduate studies and has been enjoying learning the ropes of the graduate program. On the research front, she co-edited two special issues (one on reproductive travel and one on conscien-tious refusals in health care) and published articles on topics including public interest vocationalism as a foundation for legal educa-tion, unilateral withholding or withdrawal of potentially life-sustaining treatment, a con-scientious objection policy for physicians, and the collapse of Assisted Reproduction Canada. She also experimented with new (to her) forms of communication including blogs (with a number of entries on impacteth-ics.ca), twitter (@jgdownie), and a website (eol.law.dal.ca). She was kept occupied by the extraordinary recent developments in
the law on assisted dying in Canada. She also experimented with variations on flipping the classroom in legal ethics and professional responsibility and health care ethics and law
– and is interested to see whether the student evaluations match her enthusiasm for the shifts in the method of delivery (PR) and the focus of the course (HCEL).
Professor JOANNA ERDMAN, MacBain Chair in Health Law and Policy, enjoyed teaching public law and health law, and supervising the health law placement. She presented research in seminar series at the Schulich School of Law and the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, the Latin American Legal Conference on Reproductive Rights (Cuernavaca, Mexico) and the Socio-Legal Annual Conference (Ab-erdeen, Scotland). She continued her advisory work with the Public Health Program of the Open Society Foundations and the Reproduc-tive Health Department of the World Health Organization.
Professor MICHAEL HADSKIS was thrilled to receive the 2013-14 Dalhousie Law Students’ Society and Alumni Association Award for Excellence in Teaching and to be nominated for the university-wide teaching award. It was his pleasure to teach tort law to the first-year law students again this year. In addition to his law school teaching, Michael taught a health law course for Master of Health Administra-tion (MHA) students and authored a proposal for the School of Health Administration that will result in additional course offerings in law for MHA students and the introduction of a
“Certificate in Advanced MHA Studies: Legal Matters in Health Administration.” Michael was also pleased to have co-authored a peer-reviewed paper entitled “Incidental Findings and the Minimal Risk Standard in Pediatric Neuroimaging Research.”
Professor ELIZABETH HUGHES, Assistant Dean, Academic, taught youth and the law this year, and continued to serve as faculty supervisor of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court and Court of Appeal student clerkship pro-grams. She coordinated a number of new initiatives within the Law School, including a peer academic mentorship program to enhance academic support for first-year stu-dents, and a teaching workshop to support the valuable work of part-time faculty at the Law School. Professor Hughes serves on several law school and university committees. She delivered a Mini Law lecture on youth criminal justice to the community and organized a Canada-wide conference for associate and assistant deans held at the Schulich School of Law in June.
Professor H. ARCHIBALD (ARCHIE) KAISER continues to teach his classes in criminal law, criminal procedure, and mental disability law, civil and criminal, as well as legal issues in psy-chiatry in the Department of Psychiatry. He published a case comment on Ryan and a chapter in a text on forensic psychiatry on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. He was a Mini-Law school lecturer on the mental disorder defence and at the Black Law Students’ Association on advocacy in criminal justice and he provided a critique of the Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act to a consultation for the minister of justice. He completed six years of board service with the Canadian Mental Health Association and he remained the faculty advisor with Pro Bono Dalhousie. His older daughters worked on their PhD’s, Elspeth in Law (UBC), and Ca-triona in Social Epidemiology (U of T), while Freya was in her fourth year at Queen’s. His partner, Judge Anne Derrick, sat in Provincial (and Youth) Court in Halifax.
Professor WILLIAM LAHEY taught public law, administrative law, health systems law and policy and coached the Laskin Moot team. For the College of Sustainability, he did five lectures in “Humanity and the Natural World” and guest-lectured in two other courses. He taught an intensive course on law and risk at University of Saskatchewan for doctoral science students. With Justice La Forest, he completed a review of the Involuntary Psychiatric Treatment Act and with Prof. Meinhard Doelle, undertook an 18-month project on aquaculture regulation. The book he co-edited on health care federalism was published and articles and book chapters on health professional regulation, constitutional law and environmental law were published or submitted. He gave a keynote address on health care and equality for the Canadian Association of Gerontology.
Professor JENNIFER LLEWELLYN was pro-moted to full professor this past year. She continues to enjoy advising and supporting restorative work within the province including with the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commis-sion, the Restorative Approach in Schools Project, the Nova Scotia Restorative Justice Program and the Healing Approach to Elder Abuse Project. In connection with her work as director of the Nova Scotia Restorative Justice Community University Research Alliance she co-edited a special feature in the Dalhousie Law Journal. Internationally she continued her research and work on Peacebuilding with invited presentations to UN Peacebuilding Commission support office staff and Member States in New York and to the World Summit of Nobel Laureate’s in Warsaw, Poland. In conjunction with the project she co-directed at the Kroc Institute for Peace at Notre Dame
32 HEARSAY 2014
in Indiana her edited collection Restorative Justice, Reconciliation and Peacebuilding was just published by Oxford Press. Llewellyn spent the winter of 2014 as a visiting profes-sor at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. While there, she worked with the Ministry of Social Development, the Office of the Chief Social Worker and the Minister for Courts on the renewal of family group conferencing and the use of a restorative approaches to tribunals. She received a grant from the Fetzer Foundation for a project on restorative governance that supported a provincial delegation visit to New Zealand and an international workshop to be held this summer in Halifax. This work is related to the International Restorative Learning Commu-nity she is establishing in collaboration with partners in the United Kingdom, the US, New Zealand and Australia.
Professor CONSTANCE MACINTOSH’S work with a Council of Canadian Academies Expert Panel was concluded in the spring, when the panel released its report, Aboriginal Food Security in Northern Canada: An Assessment of the State of Knowledge. The report was ex-tremely well-received, and generated interest across Canada, the United States and Europe. She also continued to serve as director for Dalhousie’s Health Law Institute, and contrib-uted to various health law policy initiatives. While teaching contract law, and Aboriginal law, she also supervised a directed research project and numerous directed research papers, worked with master's students both in law and in anthropology, and led a judicial education workshop on Aboriginal law. Her pro bono work included supervising students working with Immigration Settlement Integra-tion Services, Amnesty International, and with the collaborative community-based Environ-mental Noxiousness, Racial Inequalities and Community Health project. Her ongoing pro bono work to support the health of First Nations & Inuit groups, as well as refugees, also continued. Finally she published several articles and a book chapter on Aboriginal law issues, co-organized a conference panel, and delivered talks on the intersection of health laws and migration laws, and on aboriginal title issues.
Professor WAYNE MACKAY taught a new privacy law seminar. He is pursued on cy-berbullying for conferences and the media at all levels. He participated in Canadian, British, and Japanese documentaries on cyberbully-ing. He is the go-to person on many media topics – cyberbullying, human rights, edu-cation law, privacy law and even collecting antique toys. He reported to the Canadian Human Rights Commission on adding social condition as a ground of discrimination, and made keynote presentations at a wide range of conferences – the Canadian Bar Association, Information Without Borders, Law Alumni Back to Weldon, Ottawa Anti-Violence confer-ence, and the Charlottetown Cyberbullying
Summit. He delivered the prestigious Univer-sity of New Brunswick Ivan Rand Lecture – “Is Privacy Dead?” He chaired the Saint Mary’s University President’s Council on the Orienta-tion Rape Chant. He is a leader for a national cyberbullying multi-million research project.
Professor MOIRA MCCONNELL taught first-year students contract law. In her view the students who come to Dalhousie are an interesting mix of talented people and it is a privilege to have this opportunity. As associate director of the Maritime & Environ-mental Law Institute, she is responsible for the certificates of specialization, which can be awarded with the JD degree. She also worked with graduate students and visiting scholars. She has continued in her role as an expert advisor to the International Labour Organization, including the design and deliv-ery of international workshops on national legal implementation. She also continued as a co-editor of the Ocean Yearbook and an associate editor for the Yearbook of Interna-tional Environmental Law in addition to other research and writing projects.
Professor RONALDA MURPHY has been based in Toronto with her family since 2009 and has been holding down three positions: she flies to Halifax on a weekly basis in the fall term to teach at Schulich (constitutional, evidence), and she commutes to Osgoode Hall from downtown Toronto to teach in the winter term as a visiting professor (evi-dence, constitutional, legal process). On the non-teaching days she works part-time at the Attorney General of Ontario as Special Counsel to the ADAG, Legal Services Branch. She takes time off to learn how to conduct criminal trials in order to improve how she teaches evidence. She was the organizer of the 2014 Annual Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice (CIAJ) conference in Toronto (on evidence) and editing the resulting book. And on behalf of the attorney general of Ontario, Murphy organized a large conference for civil government lawyers on the access to justice crisis. In addition she has a busy public speaking schedule and is publishing five articles on evidence and constitutional law issues. As of July 1, 2014 she will step away from teaching and practising to enjoy a year-long sabbatical. Her current plan is to rest and write in the fall, and to travel once the snow starts in Canada to visit her legal friends throughout the world working in various NGOs. After her sabbatical she plans to returns to Schulich full-time.
Professor LEONARD ROTMAN, Purdy Craw-ford Chair in Business Law, recently published the fourth edition of his leading casebook, Aboriginal Legal Issues: Cases, Materials & Commentary, 4th ed., (with John J. Borrows). He also published two articles in the area of corporate governance, “Re-Evaluating the Basis of Corporate Governance in the Post, Post-Enron Era,” in Susan Watson and P.M.
Vasudev, eds., Corporate Governance After the Financial Crisis, and “Is Corporate Law Experiencing its Own ‘Groundhog Day’?” (2013) 10 U. St. Thomas L.J. 1045 an invited contribution from a conference on Corporate Theory and Governance held at St. Thomas University Law School in St. Paul, Minnesota. This past year, Rotman juggled teaching two sections of business associations to two differ-ent groups of students at two different times during the same term. He is happy to report that professor and students all survived the experience. He also served as the coach for the 2014 Davies Ward Phillips and Vineberg Corporate/Securities Law Moot. The Schulich team (Alex Bruvels, Kate Byers, Erica Hen-nessey and Riane Tse) placed fourth overall and received second place in the factum writing competition against some pretty stiff national competition. Rotman will be teaching a new course, “Fiduciary Law in the Business Context,” which will be offered to students in the fall 2014. He is currently updating his treatise Fiduciary Law which was short listed for the Walter Owen Book Prize, and is in the process of writing a casebook, entitled Fidu-ciary Law: Cases, Commentary and Principles, to facilitate the teaching of fiduciary law in other law schools.
Professor ROLLIE THOMPSON has been on sabbatical this academic year, researching and writing on a range of family law and evidence issues. In particular, he has been working on issues of parental relocation, spousal support and child hearsay. He has been able to get out of the house occasionally, travelling to Saskatchewan, Italy, Moncton, Quebec City, Winnipeg, Deerhurst, New York City and Toronto (over and over again to Toronto). Even on sabbatical, he still edits the Nova Scotia Civil Procedure Rules and the Canadian Family Law Quarterly. He looks forward to seeing alumni at the National Family Law Program in July 2014 in Whistler, B.C. Rollie will be happy to be back in the classroom come September 2014.
Professor DAVID VANDERZWAAG, besides teaching international environmental law, had a busy speaking schedule. Presentations were given at: the Second South China Sea Work-shop (Beijing); International Forum on Sus-tainable Governance of the Ocean (Bangkok); workshop on Science, Technology and New Challenges to Ocean Law (University of Cali-fornia, Berkeley); Arctic Frontiers Conference (Tromsø, Norway); 5th Polar Shipping Summit (London); and the Shapiro Environmental Law Symposium (George Washington Uni-versity). Key publications included; “The ICJ, ITLOS and the Precautionary Approach: Paltry Progressions, Jurisprudential Jousting” and
“Canada and Governance of the Northwest Passage: Rough Waters, Cooperative Currents, Sea of Challenges, in Navigating International Straits: Challenges for International Law. He also co-edited a special double issue of the Journal of International Wildlife Law &
Policy on the topic “Tracking and Protecting Marine Species at Risk: Scientific Advances, Sea of Governance Challenges” with four co-authored articles also included.
Professor SHEILA WILDEMAN was ap-pointed associate director of the Health Law Institute this year. She organized the Health Law and Policy Seminar Series (with valued assistance from past associate direc-tor, Prof. Elaine Gibson), which was once again a hit. In the summer of 2013, Sheila lectured at two Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice (CIAJ) roundtables at which judges, lawyers and administrative tribunal members discussed the intersection of administrative law and the Charter. She also addressed a conference of Canadian ombudsmen on overseeing reason-giving in a “culture of justification.” Last fall, Sheila gave a mini-law school lecture on guardian-ship and substitute decision-making and the urgent need for our province to move toward a model of supported decision-making. She taught administrative law and jurisprudence in 2013-14, and considers herself privileged to work with the brilliant and passionate students of Weldon. She continues to serve on the Board of the Canadian Mental Health Association, NS Division.
Professor MICHELLE WILLIAMS continued to lead the Indigenous Blacks &Mi’kmaq (IB&M) Initiative and to teach criminal law. During the summer of 2013 she supervised a sentencing protocol project developed in partnership with the Mi’kmaq Legal Support Network (MLSN), and in January 2014 she presented at the 23rd Annual Black Law Students Asso-ciation of Canada Conference held in Halifax. Throughout the year she supported various memorial events in honour of the late Dr. Burnley “Rocky” Jones, and she proposed a new course entitled, “African Nova Scotians and the Law.” Her restorative justice research was published in the fall 2013 Dalhousie Law Journal. She looks forward to celebrations to mark the 25th anniversary of the IB&M Initiative in 2014-2015.
RETIRED:
Emeritus Prof. HUGH KINDRED met with graduate students and gave guest lectures on international law between working on the preparation of three different books. The manuscript titled Law Beyond Borders: Extra-territorial Jurisdiction in an Age of Globaliza-tion and written with Profs. Steve Coughlan, Rob Currie and former Dalhousie colleague Teresa Scassa, is now in press with Irwin Law Inc. Meanwhile Hugh is in the midst of co-authoring and co-editing a new, eighth edition of International Law Chiefly as Interpreted and Applied in Canada for publication later in 2014 and a second edition of Canadian Maritime Law, due to come out in 2015.
THE WELDON PROFESSORS
2014 HEARSAY 33
The trio’s success as a team has a long history. Their friend-
ship is rooted in the Weldon building and grew as they
collaborated on projects while members of an Atlantic
Canadian firm, not the least of which was a successful
rowing team in 2007 and 2008.
It was natural to come together professionally as part-
ners. All three knew that if they could work as a team in a
rowing shell, with independent effort toward a common
goal, they could do it in a law office.
Long days and nights at Weldon (and the Domus Legis)
in the early 2000’s provided the loyal base for these three.
They are proud to speak whenever possible with fondness
about where their legal careers began. Their days in Halifax
helped fuel their passion for a joint business venture that
is sure to last and grow for many years. They credit largely
their time at Dalhousie for preparing them to become
successful lawyers and now founding partners at a firm
embedded with the Weldon tradition and work ethic, and
a lot of laughs along the way. These three are proof that
good times don’t end after law school. They go on for as
long as you want.
WPH is a law firm with a different approach to serving
clients. Its aim is to work collaboratively in a partnership
where more time can be spent face to face with clients, in
a relaxed atmosphere, to help them achieve their goals.
Their mandate is to provide the kind of accessibility and
value they’ve not seen elsewhere.
GRAPEVINE
ALUMNI AND PARTNERS ANDREW WADDEN (‘02), CHRIS PEDDIGREW (‘03), AND JOHN HOGAN (‘03), OPENED THE DOORS OF THEIR LAW FIRM, WPH, IN ST. JOHN’S.
1955CHARLES MACINTOSH will be honoured in Sept. 2014 at the annual recognition
reception by the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society for 60 years of membership. He recently retired from Armour Group in Halifax.
1956SIR GRAHAM DAY, counsel with Stewart McKelvey’s Halifax office, was named an
Officer of the Order of Canada in 2014.
1962BRIAN FLEMMING, of McInnes Cooper, Halifax, received an honorary degree
from Saint Mary’s University in Jan. 2014.
CLYDE WELLS was appointed Cox & Palmer’s Chair of the Board of Directors. He is
counsel in the St. John’s, NL office.
1964 DONALD OLIVER retired as Senator after 23 years of service.
1971 CLARENCE BECKETT of Patterson Law in Halifax, was named a 2014 “Litigation
Star” by Benchmark Canada in the area of insurance law.
LEROY LENETHEN retired from Taylor MacLellan Cochrane in Kentville, N.S.
He is a former managing partner. He will continue to provide counsel for the firm.
DOUGLAS MOORES of St. John's was chosen to be inducted into the
Newfoundland Volunteer Hall of Fame.
34 HEARSAY 2014
1972 GEORGE MACINTOSH, formerly of Farris Vaughan Wills & Murphy in
Vancouver, was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Dec. 2013.
TOM MARSHALL was sworn in as the 11th Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador
in Jan. 2014.
DANNY WILLIAMS was awarded the 2013 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the
Year Award for Lifetime Achievement.
1975ADRIAN REID of Halifax retired as Deputy Director of the Public Prosecution Service in Nova Scotia.
1976 ROBERT PURDY of Patterson Law, Halifax, was named a 2014 “Litigation Star” by
Benchmark Canada in the area of personal injury and insurance law.
1977THOMAS MATHESON is counsel with newly formed Carpenters Ricker in the Charlottetown office.
HAROLD SMITH, partner with Stewart McKelvey’s St. John’s office was elected as a
Fellow of the College of Lawyer & Employment Lawyers, Class of 2013.
1978KENNETH CLARK is Counsel with newly formed Key Murray Law in the Sum-merside, P.E.I. office.
MICHAEL LEBLANC was appointed CEO and chief agent for First American Title
Insurance Company (FCT) in Canada. He previously served as COO since 2010.
1979SUZAN FRAZER was appointed to the advisory committee of the Toronto
Stock Exchange (TSX) Listing Committee. She is a partner with McInnes Cooper’s Halifax office.
MARGARET GASS and EVELYNE MELTZER
have joined forces with Ovarian Cancer Canada (OCC) Atlantic to raise much-needed funds for ovarian cancer research by hosting a reception, dinner and the Canadian Premiere of Jenny Al-len’s acclaimed comic one-woman show “I Got Sick Then I Got Better” in Hali-fax at the Schooner room, Casino Nova Scotia on September 30, 2014. Margaret was diagnosed with ovarian cancer two years ago.
198 0 NIGEL KENT, formerly of Clark Wilson LLP in Vancouver, was appointed to
the Supreme Court of British Columbia in December 2013.
1981EMILY BURKE of Vancouver was ap-pointed Judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in May 2014.
NANCY KEY was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of P.E.I. in Oct. 2013 and
DEREK KEY is partner in the new firm Key Murray Law based in Charlottetown.
NANCY RIDEOUT joined MacKinnon Buckle Stevenson in Halifax.
1982 JOHN MAYNARD is practising with new firm Key Murray Law in its O’Leary and Summerside, P.E.I. offices.
1983LYNN MURRAY is partner in the new firm Key Murray Law based in Charlottetown, P.E.I.
CHRISTENE HIRSCHFELD of BoyneClarke in Dartmouth, N.S. was awarded the 2013
Lexpert Zenith Award: Celebrating Women Leaders in the Legal Profession.
KIMBERLEY PATE, executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry
Societies in Ottawa, was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada for advocating on behalf of women who are marginalized, victimized or incarcerated, and for her research on women in the criminal justice system. She will also receive an honorary degree from the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC) at the Call to the Bar Ceremony in September 2014 and is the new University of Saskatchewan College of Law’s Ariel F. Sallows Chair in Human Rights.
LAWRENCE STORDY, partner with Stewart McKelvey in Halifax, was elected Chair of Dalhousie University’s Board of Governors.
198 6 DENNIS JAMES was named the Nova Scotia Branch of the Canadian Bar
Association’s 2014 Community Service Award recipient. He is a partner with Patterson Law.
1987 ROBERT PATZELT of Halifax became president and CEO and a director of the
Corporation of New Millenium Iron in Jan. 2014.
PAMELA STEWART is practising with newly formed Key Murray Law in the Charlotte-town office.
JOHN TRAVES is the new Director of Legal Services, Insurance and Risk Management for the Halifax Regional Municipality.
198 8 BLAISE CATHCART was re-appointed the Judge Advocate General (JAG) of
the Canadian Armed Forces for a second term. He was first appointed in 2010 and was promoted to the rank of Major-General in 2012.
BERNIE MILLER of Halifax was appointed Deputy Minister of Planning Priorities for the Nova Scotia Government.
CATHERINE TULLY was appointed the new Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Review Officer for Nova Scotia and begins her new position in Sept. 2014 in Halifax.
1989 JOSH ARNOLD of Arnold Pizzo McKiggan, in Halifax, was appointed Judge of the
Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in Oct. 2013.
SCOTT BRISON and husband Max St. Pierre welcomed
their twin daughters, Clair and Rose, on Feb. 22, 2014.
MICHAEL DETURBIDE was sworn in as a member of the Nova Scotia Securities
Commission.
199 0ALLEN MURRAY of New Glasgow, N.S. was named Chief Crown Attorney for central Nova Scotia in Dec. 2013
HEATHER DE BERDT ROMILLY
of Halifax is the new executive director of the
Legal Information Society of Nova Scotia.
LENA DIAB was appointed Minister of Jus-tice for the province of Nova Scotia. She was elected the MLA for Halifax-Armdale in the Oct. 2013 provincial election.
2014 HEARSAY 35
1991 JAMES CHIPMAN of Halifax was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of Nova
Scotia in Oct. 2013. He previously was a partner with Stewart McKelvey.
1992PAUL CARVER of Halifax was appointed Chief Crown Attorney of the Halifax rejoin June 2014.
LEE ANNE MACLEOD-ARCHER of Sydney, N.S. was appointed Justice of the
Supreme Court of Nova Scotia – Family Division in Apr. 2014.
1993DAVID FRASER, privacy lawyer with McInnes Cooper’s Halifax office, received the 2013 Canadian Legal Blog Award for Best Practitioner Blog. Read his blog at http://blog.privacylawyer.ca.
JOSEPH B. MARSHALL of Eskasoni, N.S. was named a Member of the Order of
Canada in June 2014 for his contribu-tions to the preservation and promotion of Nova Scotia’s Mi’kmaq language and culture.
1994 MIKE CHRISTIE has been appointed Vice President of Human Resources at the
Halifax International Airport Authority. He was previously the Director of Human Resources with the Halifax Regional School Board.
PETER DRISCOLL, partner with McInnes Cooper in Halifax, was recognized as the
Benchmark Canada Atlantic Litigator of the Year Award.
ROBIN GOGAN of Sydney, N.S. was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of Nova
Scotia in Oct. 2013.
1995DAVID CHU of Hong Kong has joined the firm of Proskauer as partner to lead its Asia litigation practice.
TARA ERSKINE was appointed to the Canadian Human Rights Commission for a
three-year term. She is a partner with McInnes Cooper in Halifax.
KRIS SMITH was promoted to Executive Vice President, Refining and Marketing at Suncor. He was previously Senior Vice President, Supply, Trading and Corporate Development.
1997ANGELA JONES of Dartmouth has ac-cepted a position as a litigator with the Department of Justice for the province of Nova Scotia.
MICHEL SAMSON was appointed Minister of Economic Development for the province of Nova Scotia. He was elected as MLA for Cape Breton-Richmond in the Oct. 2013 provincial election. 1998
SEAN FOREMAN, formerly of Wickwire Holm in Halifax, is the new senior solicitor with
the Nova Scotia Department of Justice as of April 2014.
1999ALLAN DOUGHTY has joined ISIS Law Lim-ited in Bermuda. He previously practised with Trott & Duncan, also in Bermuda.
GREG MOORES was named a 2013 Lexpert Rising Star. He is a partner with Stewart
McKelvey in St. John’s.
DOUG SKINNER has been named a 2013 Lexpert Rising Star. He is a partner with
McInnes Cooper in St. John’s.
2001LAILA BRABANDER has been recognized as one of Lexpert’s 2013 Rising Stars. She is Assistant Vice President, Specialty Claims Manager for Chubb Insurance Company of Canada in Toronto. ROBERT PINEO, partner with Patterson Law in Halifax, was named a 2014 “Litigation Star” by Benchmark Canada in the area of general commercial and labour and employment law.
2002ALLISON BURRISON is now partner at McLeish Orlando in Toronto. She had been practising as an associate with the firm since 2006. TYANA CAPLAN is a partner with Stewart McKelvey in the Halifax office.
2003 STEWART HAYNE was named a 2013 Lexpert Rising Star. He was also recognized as being
one of Lexpert’s 2014 Leading US/Canada Cross-Border Corporate Lawyers in Canada—being named “Canadian Corporate Lawyer to Watch.” He is a partner with Cox & Palmer in Halifax. SCOTT HUGHES was appointed Crown Attorney in Yarmouth, N.S.
2004JEFF AUCOIN has been appointed partner at McInnes Cooper’s Halifax office.
LEAH RIMMER is now partner and leader of the business law team at BoyneClarke in Dartmouth. She has been practising with the firm since 2005.
SCOTT WILSON was appointed partner at McInnes Cooper’s Saint John, office. He was
recognized by Best Lawyers in Canada 2014 for his practice in real estate law.
2005JASON COOKE is a partner with Burchells LLP in Halifax. He is also a member of the City Hall’s Heritage Advisory Committee for the city of Halifax.
200 6JONATHAN COADY is now partner with Stewart McKelvey’s Charlottetown office.
SADIRA JAN is now a board member of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. She is a partner
with Stewart McKelvey’s Halifax office.
2007WILLIAM CAHILL is now partner with Cox & Palmer in St. John's.
200 8 JARVIS GOOGOO was recognized with an “Instructor of Excellence” Award for GoodLife Fitness in the Halifax region, as well as one of Top 20 “Instructor of Excellence” for the entire company Canada-wide. He was also recognized as a Top 1000 and Top 500 Performing As-sociate. He is a part-time Group Exercise Instructor for GoodLife Fitness
2010BRIAN COX of Halifax was appointed Crown Attorney with the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service. 2011MARIE-PIER NADEAU is now an associate in Cozen O’Connor’s Toronto office.
2012NICOLE SLAUNWHITE is practising with Taylor MacLellan Cochrane in Kentville.
2013KATHLEEN BOYLE is an associate with newly formed Key Murray Law in the O’Leary and Summerside, P.E.I. offices.
ALLAN RICHARD was chosen the 2014 winner of the Canadian Tech Law Association (IT.Can) writing contest. His winning paper was titled “Near-Field Communication Technology: Regula-tory and Legal Recommendations for Embracing the NFC Revolution."
36 HEARSAY 2014
Guimei Bai was one of the first two international law students from mainland China to attend Dalhou-
sie Law School after the Cultural Revolu-tion, earning her LL.M. in 1982. Now a professor of international law at Peking University Law School and deputy director of the university’s Research Centre for Hu-man Rights, she reflects on her experience at Dalhousie, her career in China, and the chal-lenges of human rights in her homeland.
Why did you decide to apply to Dalhousie Law School?I did not apply, because there was a stu-dent-exchange program between Peking University and Dalhousie. According to the contract, I had to return to Peking Uni-versity and teach.
What was it like adjusting to living in a new country?I was going to turn 27 when I began study-ing at Dalhousie. It was hard for me to live so far away, and the culture was so different. It was hard to catch up to the lecturing and even harder to write in English. It was my first time to write a thesis and the first time to write it in a foreign language.
What did you do after you earned your LLM?I did not wait for the graduation ceremony, which was held in September or October. I went back home immediately after I submit-ted my thesis. I did not want to stay one day longer because I missed my husband, whom I had left less than four months after our wedding.
Your original thesis topic was going to be human rights. Why couldn’t you pursue it? Human rights was the choice of my Dal-housie supervisor, Professor Ronald St. John Macdonald. I contacted my supervisor in China, Professor Wang Tieya, who sug-gested changing to another topic because human rights was too sensitive in China to take it as an academic field. I chose it as my specializing field when I attended a nationwide conference on human rights in 1990. I presented a paper titled “On the Emerging Generation of Human Rights,” which was published by a legal journal. I was encouraged and started my human rights career.
How have human rights changed in China since you were a law student? Things have changed a lot. Human rights
education has been developing in Chinese universities; more than 100 offer human rights courses to undergraduate and post-graduate students. But there is a long way to go. Sometimes the situation is not encourag-ing at all. Three steps forward, one or two steps backward, human rights defenders are arrested now and then. It is not easy.
How have things changed for law students in China since you were one? When I started studying law, it was only one year after China started her Open Door Policy. Legal personnel were very much lacking, so it was easy for law graduates to find a job. Law schools became popu-lar, and it continued like that for about 20 years. Now law students have difficulty finding a job.
You have returned to the Law School several times since you graduated. Why?Dalhousie has held a special place in my heart for my whole life. It is a place which I had many firsts, a place which was the source of my human rights career, a place which encourages me all the time. Dalhou-sie is in Halifax, and Halifax is my second hometown. •
BY JANE DOUCET
PROF. GUIMEI BAI (LL.M.'82)Peking University Law School
GRADUATE ROUNDUP
Are you a graduate student alumnus? We hope that you would take a few minutes to write a short paragraph about where your education (and life) has taken you and an email address where you can be contacted by your classmates. We hope this will be a first step to reconnect friends and colleagues and all those who shared the Dalhousie experience. Contact Tammi Hayne at [email protected] 902-494-5100
2014 HEARSAY 37
ROBERT BLOIS (’48) passed away at home on the February 13, 2014. He graduated from Dal-housie University in 1942 with a B.Comm. He enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces in May of 1942. After the war he at-tended law school. He entered into the practice of law at Pazant and Coffin. In 1962, Bob and his classmate, Bruce Nickerson, QC formed the Halifax law firm of Blois Nickerson subsequently known as Blois Nickerson and Bryson. He continued to practice law for over 50 years.
KENNETH GERARD ‘KG’ WILSON (’49) passed away in Halifax, on Octo-ber 20, 2013. After serving in the RCAF and British Fleet Air Arm, he received his law degree. He practised corporate and commer-cial law with the firm of Wickwire MacInnes Wilson & Hallett for the entirety of his career.
PETER HENRY EDWARD BLOOMER (’50) passed away on May 18, 2014 in New Zealand.
JAMES ARTHUR MACDONALD (’51) passed away on October 28, 2013 surrounded by his loving family. After receiving his law degree he spent 59 years in Oshawa, Ont. and serving as a lawyer and deputy judge for over 40 years.
JOLINE LEE HIGGINS (’52) passed away on June 10, 2014 after a brief ill-ness. While at the Law School she graduated number one in her class and became one of the first female lawyers in Nova Scotia. Before moving to Venice, Florida in 1984 she lived in Lewiston, New York.
H. PURDY CRAWFORD, C.C. (’55) passed away in Toronto, Ont. on August 12, 2014. He obtained his B.A. from Mount Allison Univer-sity, his LL.B from Dalhousie Law School and his LL.M. from Har-vard Law School. He went on to Toronto and Montreal where he had full and rewarding careers at the law firm Osler, Hoskin and & Harcourt and as president, CEO and chair of Imasco Ltd. He served on numerous boards of directors including Imasco, Ca-
nadian National, PetroCanada, FootLocker and Maple Leaf Foods and industry committees such as the groundbreaking Craw-ford Panel on a single national securities regulator and as chair of the Pan-Canadian Investors Committee for Third-Party Struc-tured Asset Backed Commercial Paper. Perhaps his greatest legacy was his uncanny ability to un-derstand and champion the true potential of so many individuals who joined him on his path. He most enjoyed lending a hand to organizations that help people overcome obstacles and realize their full potential. Through his generous support to the Schul-ich School of Law, Crawford’s legacy lives on in a number of ways. The new Crawford Learn-ing Commons in the Law School’s library transformed the space into a research and tech-friendly place for students to study. The Purdy Crawford Chair in Business Law captures his concern for the evolu-tion of business law in its academ-ic context. The Purdy Crawford Fund for Global Financial Mar-kets is the result of the support of friends and colleagues who witnessed his extraordinary dedi-cation leading efforts to resolve the 2007 asset-backed commercial paper crisis as Chair of the Pan-Canadian Investors Committee. As Dean Brooks states: “Purdy was a giant in the history of this law school, and in the trajectory of the practice of corporate law in this country.”
ROBERT GOSS, Q.C. (’55) passed away November 22, 2013 in Cal-gary, Alta. He articled in New Brunswick then moved to Calgary and started his law career with California Standard Oil. He later went into private practice until joining the McCaffrey law firm as a partner in 1988. He retired in 1992. LLOYD CLINTON ‘CLINT’ RUSSELL (’56) passed away January 17, 2014, in the QEII Health Sciences Cen-tre Hospital, Halifax. After law school he became Maritime Man-ager of New York Life Insurance Company. He was later employed with the Federal Civil Service for
25 years when he was Director General of the Income Security Branch for Health and Welfare Canada. He retired in 1992.
ERIC GEORGE TENNANT (’58) passed away in Fredericton, N.B. on March 14, 2012. He worked for the Ontario Public Service until his retirement in 1993.
JAMES LEWIS (’59) passed away August 16, 2011 after a long and courageous struggle with prostate cancer. He spent the next 33 years practising law at Emery Jamieson in Edmonton Alta. In 1993, he was appointed to the Court of Queen’s Bench and retired in 2008.
LEONARD ANDREA, Q.C. (’61) passed away peacefully at home on De-cember 23, 2013, after a coura-geous battle with Parkinson’s disease. While at Dalhousie, he used his education degree, doing part-time teaching and later be-came full-time principal at Mount Edward School in Dartmouth. Len began his full time practice of law in Port Hawkesbury and later es-tablished his own private practice at his home in Mill Creek.
HOLMES MATHESON (’61) passed away suddenly while on vaca-tion in Florida on Friday, March 9, 2012. He was a member of the University Naval Training Division of the Royal Canadian Navy from 1956 to 1961. He practised law in Halifax and then in Ontario, opening his own law firm in Brampton in 1970. ALAN RICHARD FLEMMING (’62) passed away in New Glasgow, N.S. on June 22, 2014. After law school he moved to New Glasgow where he worked for Scott Paper. Upon his retirement, he found true enjoyment as Volunteer Vic-tim Assistance Co-ordinator for the Stellarton Detachment of the RCMP which he did for several years.
GARRY MACLEAN (’70) passed away on Saturday, July 6, 2013 at the Moncton Hospital. He was a lawyer for 25 years and an avid outdoorsman who en-joyed hunting and fishing.
BRIAN CHARLES CROCKER, Q.C. (’71) passed away in Halifax on May 18, 2014. He cofounded Boyne, Crocker and Jones (now Boyne-Clarke) in Dartmouth in the early 70’s. He taught at the law school and then, for decades, he advised Presidents of Dalhousie Univer-sity, eventually becoming Univer-sity Secretary and Legal Counsel. He also served as President of the Canadian Association of Univer-sity Solicitors and was appointed Queen’s Counsel, Province of Nova Scotia in 1988.
DIANNE THOMPSON-SHEPPARD, Q.C.
(’71) passed away on July 11, 2014 having fought various cancers for more than 23 years. She earned her BA from Acadia University in 1964 and her B.Ed in 1965, after which she briefly taught at Hor-ton District High School. She also served in the West Nova Scotia Regiment and the Halifax Service Battalion from 1967-1972 and was commissioned with the Substan-tive rank of Captain in the mili-tia. Dianne practised law in New Minas and Wolfville until health forced her to retire in 2007. Dianne was an accomplished artist and has had her work commissioned and exhibited.
EUGENE MURPHY (’74) passed away suddenly at Bothwell Beach, P.E.I., on July 19, 2010.
RALPH CROSBY THOMPSON (’74) passed away on July 9, 2014 in Summerside, P.E.I. As a lawyer Thompson practised with Camp-bell, Mitchell, Lea, Cheverie and Thompson. In the public sector, Thompson served as a Crown prosecutor, departmental solici-tor and director of legal services. In 1985, he was appointed chief judge of the provincial court, a position he held until 1990 and again from 1995 - 2000. He retired from the court in Octo-ber of 2005. In 2008, he was ap-pointed by the government as the commissioner on land and local governance. He delivered an extensive report on land use issues to the province in 2010. JANE ELLEN RUSH-LEBLANC (’77) passed away on June 17, 2014
IN MEMORIAM
38 HEARSAY 2014
in Vancouver, B.C. She attend-ed Neuchâtel Junior College in Switzerland, graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1974 and from Dalhousie Law School in 1977, and practiced law for the majority of her career at the Department of Justice.
THE HONOURABLE CHIEF JUSTICE
EDMOND BLANCHARD (’78) passed away on June 27, 2014 in Ottawa after a short battle with cancer. He practiced law in Campbell-ton, NB before being elected to the New Brunswick legislature, where he held a number of min-isterial positions including At-torney General and Minister of Justice, and Minister of Finance. In October 2000, he was appoint-ed Judge of the Federal Court of Canada, Trial Division and ex officio member of the Court of Appeal. In 2004, he was ap-pointed Chief Justice of the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada. AVARD LONGLEY JAMES BISHOP (’79) passed away on July 18, 2014 in France. After practicing law in Halifax, Avard joined the Cana-dian Foreign Service. He was posted to Geneva, Switzerland, where he was part of the Cana-dian delegation negotiating the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Avard and his family remained in Ge-neva for over twenty years, where Avard worked for the World In-tellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), first in its legal depart-ment and then as the first head of WIPO’s Ethics Office.
WILLIAM GUSHUE (’80) passed away on February 21, 2013 at his residence in Corner Brook, Nfld. at the age of 66 years.
RICHARD PEARSON (’82) passed away unexpectedly while rowing in an eight-man crew. His career spanned Canada, England, Hong Kong, Australia and most recently Seattle, at Davis Wright Tremaine, and then in 2014 starting his own company, Team Development As-sociates.
ERIC LEDREW (’85) passed away on March 28, 2014. He began his law practice with Pink MacDonald Harding, Yarmouth, N.S. after law school. He joined McInnes Cooper as an associate in the litigation department in 1988 and in 1997 he and Bernie Miller established McInnes Cooper’s first New Brunswick office. He was recog-nized by Best Lawyers in Canada for his construction law practice. He was a lecturer of Civil Trial Practice at Dalhousie Law School and chaired the Law Society of New Brunswick’s Judicial Facility Committee.
SUELLEN MURRAY (’90) passed away at her home in Halifax on Friday, February 7, 2014 following a three-year battle with cancer. She articled in Toronto with Gowl-ing, Strathy, Henderson and was admitted to the Ontario Bar. She worked in policy with the Ontario government before returning to Halifax. She worked first with the Workers Compensation Board, and then with the Nova Scotia Department of Health, where she was project manager, Health In-formation Legislation.
BRAD MCISAAC (’97) passed away December 23, 2013 at his home in New Waterford, N.S. In earlier years he was enlisted with the Army Medical Corps and later, studied to become a mortician in Boston, MA. Upon returning, Brad worked underground as a medic with Devco. After years of employment with Devco, he left the mines to further his education. After completing his undergrad at U.C.C.B., he attended Dalhousie University, where at the age of 49, he earned his law degree. Prior to being called to The Nova Scotia Bar, he articled with B.A. ‘Rocky’ Jones and Associates and upon completion was employed with his good friend, Rocky, in Halifax. Brad also worked for Nova Scotia Legal Aid before venturing north-ward to Iqaluit, Nunavut, where he worked in various capacities such as criminal law, labour law and legal aid from 2002 until his death.
Send us your newsThe law school’s alumni magazine is a great way to communicate with your classmates and let them know what you have been up to lately.
Send your submissions to Tammi Hayne
(tel) 902-494-5100
(fax) 902-494-4222
Schulich School of Law 6061 University AvenuePO Box 15000Halifax, N.S.B3H 4R2
IN MEMORIAM
2014 HEARSAY 39
Join Dean Kim Brooks as she hosts the Law School’s premier event: the Annual Law Alumni Reunion.
Sit in on a class, join us for supper and finish off the evening with a pub social with students.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2014
For more information contact Tammi Hayne at
[email protected] • tel 902-494-5100 • fax 902-494-4222
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Domus Night The party continues! Join students of the Domus Legis Society at an after-supper pub social.8:30 pm to closing • University Club, Downstairs Pub
Back-to-Class with a Favourite Prof Just for old-times’ sake, sit in on a class with Professor Rollie Thompson. Then head on over to the party across the street.4:30 pm to 5:30 pm • Weldon Law Building
Lobster PartyReception...Enjoy appetizers and local beer and wine as the party starts.5:30 pm to 6:30 pm • McInnes Room, SUB
...and SupperWe’ll be serving a traditional East coast lobster supper with all the fixings. (An alternative will be available for the landlubbers).6:30 pm to 8:30 pm • McInnes Room, SUB
LAWBSTER PARTY East Coast
reunionThe annual law alumni
40 HEARSAY 2014