Have faith in laughter

Mary N. Fus was one of Fort St. John’s first female lawyers. She and Chris, her husband, moved to Fort St. John in 1980, the year Mary was called to the Bar. The couple soon worked in practice together. Mary’s practice consists of civil litigation, including family and personal injury, as well as wills and estates. She is an advocate of mediation.

Mary is a great listener, says Judy Barth, a friend from Mary’s church. “She has dancing eyes, there’s a certain amount of happiness to her.” Michael Gray, a Fort St. John colleague, says that “in a one-on-one conversation, she asks questions and probes.” He relates those information acquisition skills to Mary’s mediation work. “She likes to find out what makes people tick.” Long-time friend Susan Ferguson says, “wherever Mary is, her presence is felt.” She is known to be very assertive on behalf of clients and those who need her help.

Mary’s community work includes working for the past 11 years on Fort St. John’s Child Development Centre Board of Directors. She has also served on the Provincial Board of the Cerebral Palsy Association of BC. Mary gives a lot of herself to people around her, says Susan. There have been some office changes for Mary in the past years. Chris became a provincial court judge, and then their partner Pat Walsh passed away. Michael remembers that time: “Mary had warm recollections of him. She told his stories and remembered his warmth and thoughtfulness. Here we were talking about this lawyer’s achievements and cases, and she was talking about how kind he was to staff.”

Another long-time colleague, Les Dellow met Mary 17 years ago at the Bar’s convention at the 108 Ranch. “She has a sense of the zaniness of life,” says Les. Mary has had a bulldog named Mickey in her office for 10 years. “Mickey faithfully goes to the office with Mary every day, raising half an eyelid at those entering the room,” says Les. One staff member has requested the firm name be changed to “Walsh & Fun”. Mary and Chris regularly host the Walsh & Fus Annual Croquet Tournament at their home for staff and their families. This year, their baseball caps proclaim “Walsh & Fus Team” with a bulldog as their logo.

Mary has waged her personal battles. ICBC probably still has scars. Mary’s firm used to receive letters from ICBC stating “Walsh & Fus, Mary Fus, Dear Sir”, Susan laughs, “it was always ‘Dear Sir’. Mary nagged them and heard every argument about how much trouble it would be to change the standard greeting”, says Susan. “But it was very important to her. Lawyers aren’t all boys anymore.”

Mary is active in church, often leading discussion groups. When their priest is away, Mary and Judy perform Mass. Mary’s faith, says Susan, “gives her a moral and ethical base from which she practices.”

Les describes Mary as “a very caring individual who does very dedicated and caring work for her clients.” Her concern for clients has caused Mary to see beyond legal requests. Years ago, Mary was consulted by a client who wanted to divorce an unfaithful spouse. Mary questioned the client’s feelings and asked the client to talk with the unfaithful spouse about their marriage. Years later, the client returned and thanked Mary for her advice. “She has a deep-seated belief in the value of people. That’s where the faith issue comes in,” says Susan. Michael agrees: “How people behave and conduct themselves is important to her. You can talk the high talk but it’s in the doing that you get the measure of the person.”

This article was published in the April 1998 issue of BarTalk and is subject to the copyright by the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, 2006, all rights reserved.