Celebrates its 40th Anniversary.

By Wayne Robertson, QC

The Law Foundation of British Columbia celebrated its 40th LFBC Anniversary in 2009 and an event held at the Law Courts Inn marked the occasion. More than 200 people, including former Law Foundation governors, grantees and representatives from the legal profession gathered to acknowledge the 40 years of work supported by the Law Foundation. Present were former Attorney General Wally Oppal, QC, The Honourable Chief Justice Lance Finch, The Honourable Donald Brenner, QC, former Chief Justice, Associate Chief Judge Nancy Phillips, Past-President Gordon Turriff, QC, of the Law Society and Past-President Miriam Maisonville, QC of the B.C. Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, along with a number of other distinguished guests. The presence of two of the founders of the Law Foundation, Arthur Harper, QC and The Honourable Kenneth Meredith was of particular note. Former Chairs of the Law Foundation, including Mr. Justice David Brine, also attended.

It is useful to reflect on the early history of the Law Foundation as its 40th year comes to a close, particularly how the idea of using the interest on lawyers, trust accounts for public purposes came to North America.

Prior to 1964, in England and Scotland, the interest paid on clients’ money held by lawyers was kept by the lawyers. Eventually, the House of Lords in the Brown v. Inland Revenue Commissioners case found that the interest did not belong to the lawyer.

After the Brown decision, common law jurisdictions around the world had to find ways to adapt. In New South Wales, Australia, in 1967, a Law Foundation was created to resolve the matter by receiving the interest and using it for legal aid, legal education and legal research purposes.

That year, Charles Brazier, QC, of Davis and Company in Vancouver, later the Treasurer of the Law Society, went to Australia and learned about the Law Foundation. When he returned to British Columbia, he informed his friends Arthur Harper, QC and The Honourable Kenneth Meredith, about how New South Wales had resolved the issue. They recommended that the government form a Law Foundation in British Columbia to collect and distribute the interest on lawyers’ trust accounts. Mr. Harper travelled to Victoria by ferry to meet with Attorney General Les Peterson to ask him officially to change the Legal Profession Act to establish the Law Foundation.

In April of 1969, the Law Foundation of British Columbia was formed. After receiving a loan of $100 from the Law Society to buy supplies and enlisting the administrative support of the Vancouver Foundation, the Law Foundation of British Columbia, the first in North America, opened for business. Income in the first year was $50,000 and grants were made totalling $5,000.

Since then, the Foundation has distributed more than $420 million to promote access to justice for British Columbians and there is a law foundation in every jurisdiction in North America.

Photo: LFBC Chair Mary Mouat with Art Harper, QC and The Honourable Kenneth Meredith

This article was published in the April 2010 issue of BarTalk. © 2010 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.