FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 19, 2000

VANCOUVER-The BC Branch of the Canadian Bar Association is pleased to introduce its 2000/2001 Executive Committee, led by president, Margaret Ostrowski, QC. A brief biography of Ms. Ostrowski is attached.

"With the help from more than 600 volunteers, the Canadian Bar Association in BC works not only to improve and promote the knowledge, skills and well-being of its members, but also to advance access to justice and law reform in the public interest," said Ms. Ostrowski. "As well, our Dial-A-Law, Lawyer Referral Service, Public Forums, and Pro Bono programs directly aid public understanding and access to the law of the land."

Ms. Ostrowski's fellow 2000/2001 Executive Committee members are as follows:

Vice President, Ken Sarnecki, Doak Shirreff, Kelowna
Secretary-Treasurer, Carman Overholt, Douglas Symes & Brissenden, Vancouver
Past President, D. Mayland McKimm, Mayland McKimm & Associates, Victoria
Officer, Robert Brun, Harris & Brun, Vancouver
Officer, Robert J. (Jim) Herperger, Berge & Company, Kelowna
Officer, David Paul, Paul & Company, Kamloops
Officer, Margaret Sasges, Berge, Sasges & Company, Victoria
Young Lawyer Representative, Kenneth Armstrong, Kane, Shannon and Weiler, Surrey
Equality Committee Representative, E. Wynn Lewis, Ministry of Attorney General, Victoria

More than 9,600 lawyers and members of the judiciary are members of the BC Branch of the CBA. Nationally, the CBA represents the interests of more than 35,000 members. In addition to being a professional resource for its members, the CBA works to improve access to justice for all Canadians and assists the federal and provincial governments through legislation and law reform programs.

Canadian Bar Association, British Columbia

Margaret Ostrowski, QC, President
Margaret graduated from the University of Toronto with an Honours BSc in 1971, from the University of Western Ontario with an M.A. in 1973, and from UBC with a LLB in 1979. She has been very involved and committed to the CBA for many years. She served on the executive of the General Practitioners' Section and was elected as a Vancouver County Representative to the CBA in 1995. She was elected to the Executive Committee in 1996 as Member-at-Large and has served on the Executive diligently ever since. She has chaired numerous committees, boards and task groups over the years including the Planning and Priorities Committee, Unclaimed Intangible Property Committee, Co-Chaired the first and very successful President's Forum on Solicitor's Issues, BarTalk Editorial Board, Solicitors' Issues Committee, and our Awards and Recognition Committee. She has been the Executive Liaison for our Title Insurance Committee, the Real Estate Practice Committee, the Equality and Diversity Committee, the Auto Insurance Committee, the Trial Lawyers Association, and is our representative to the Law Society. As our CBA representative on the Law Courts Education Society Board, she is its Vice-President and Secretary-Treasurer and chaired the Tenth Anniversary Fundraising Celebration Committee. She assisted in the organizing of the Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin Gala this past year and is presently on the committee organizing the 2001 Act of Settlement Conference for next May.

She has been a guest lecturer at People's Law School, PLTC, CLE, and the Wills and Trusts Section, and has authored many articles. She has also been active in community and public service activities and local politics. She was the lay appointee on the Board of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists and the Chair of the Dental Technicians and Denturists Board. She is a past member of the legal committee of LEAF and the Point Grey Mini School Consultative Committee Executive. She has two teenaged sons—Kevin in Grade 12 is an avid golfer and Simon, a sophomore at Harvard University, is a cross-country and track athlete.

She is a sole practitioner in the wills and estates area of law and has acted on many occasions as a Custodian appointed under the Legal Profession Act.

Mr. D. Mayland McKimm, Past President
Mayland was born in Calgary in 1957 and graduated from the University of Toronto in 1979 with an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree. In 1983, he graduated from the Northwestern College of Law at Lewis & Clark College in Oregon, with a Juris Doctor degree. He was called to the Oregon State Bar in 1983, and then to the BC Bar in 1984.

Mayland served as Chair of the Young Lawyers Section from 1986 to 1988 and as Chair of the Criminal (Victoria) Section from 1988 to 1990. He has served as a member of the BC Branch Provincial Council from 1992 until the present and was elected to the Executive Committee in 1997. From 1996 to the present he has also served as representative to the Policy and Planning Council for the Legal Services Society. Mayland is a past Chair of the Legal Aid Committee and a member of the Government Relations Committee, the Automobile Insurance Committee, and Lawyers Assistance Program. He served in the past on the National Task Force on Para Legals, and most recently on the National Task Force on Fee Increases.

Mayland operates his own firm, Mayland McKimm & Associates, in Victoria.

Margaret Sasges, Officer
Margaret graduated from the University of Victoria Law School in 1989 and was called to the BC Bar in 1990. She is a solicitor, focusing her practice on the areas of wills and estates and elder law, and a partner in the firm of Berge, Sasges & Hart in Victoria.

Prior to her election to the Executive Committee in 1999, Margaret was extensively involved in the CBA, both provincially and nationally. Nationally, this included serving on the CBA Finance & Planning Directorate, Executive Committee, Nominating Committee and the Law Practice Management Task Force. She was also chair of the National Young Lawyers Conference and in this role she spearheaded the Future of the Legal Profession initiative, and was instrumental in producing various publications and resources that are of use to all young lawyers across Canada.

During the past year, she has served as chair of the Solicitors' Issues Committee, made representations on behalf of the CBABC in relation to the Representation Agreement Act and is chair of the Task Force on Legal Issues of the Elderly. Margaret has also been a member of the Board of Directors of the Continuing Legal Education Society since 1995 and has been elected to serve a second year as chair of that Board for the year 2000/2001. Back in Victoria, she is now resting on her laurels as Past-President of the Craigdarroch Castle Historical Museum Society having served as President for three years.

E. Wynn Lewis, Equality Representative
Wynn was born in Toronto in 1957 and lived most of her youth and all her adult life in beautiful British Columbia. Having completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of British Columbia, she graduated from the University of Victoria with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1984 and was called to the BC Bar in 1985.

Wynn served as a Board member of the Victoria Women's Sexual Centre from 1989 – 1992. From 1994 – 1996 she was an active member of the Executive of the Victoria Bar Association. In 1997, Wynn was first elected as member for Victoria County of the BC Branch Provincial Council and has been recently re-elected to that position to serve a second three-year term. As an appointed member of the Equality Committee of the BC Branch Provincial Council since 1998, Wynn was also involved in its Working Group that examined the recommendations of the Report on Racial Equality in the Legal Profession presented to the CBA National Council in February 1999. In her capacity as Chair of the Equality Committee for the upcoming year, Wynn will also sit as a member of the Executive Committee as its Equality Representative.

From September 1985 until January 2000, Wynn was in private practice in the Greater Victoria area, most recently as a partner with Trudi Brown, QC and Jane Henderson, QC. Her area of practice was primarily civil litigation with a focus on family and personal injury law. In February 2000, Wynn joined the civil litigation department of the Legal Services Branch of the Ministry of Attorney General.

Ken Sarnecki, Vice President
Ken has spent his entire professional life serving the law – in several different capacities. From 1970 to 1979, he was a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He was awarded a Commanding Officers commendation for outstanding investigative ability in a particular homicide investigation. While attending law school, in the summers of 1980 to 1982, Ken worked as an immigration officer in Windsor, Ontario. In 1982, he graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Windsor and articled with the firm of Doak Shirreff in Kelowna where he is now one of 11 partners practising criminal and civil litigation.

He served on the Canada Pension Plan Appeals Committee as Chairperson from 1992 to 1997. He is a standing agent for the Attorney General of Canada for Federal prosecutions in the Kelowna and district area. Ken served on the Executive of the Kelowna Bar Association as Vice-President and President from 1987 to 1990. He was the lawyer representative of the New Kelowna Courthouse Committee.

This is Ken's fourth term on the Executive Committee. He has served as Chair of the Government Relations Committee and as amember of the Membership Committee. He also chairs the Provincial Court Judges Salaries and Pension Committee.

Ken was a CBA delegate to the All China Lawyers Association training session on the organization of the legal profession held in Fuzhou and Guilin, China in March 2000. Ken also participates in various community organizations.

Jim Herperger, Officer
Jim was born in 1952 and graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1974 with a degree in Political Science. In 1976 he attended Simon Fraser University where he obtained his teaching certificate. Jim taught high school in the Interior until 1982 when he returned to university.

In 1985 he graduated from the University of Victoria with a Bachelor of Laws degree. He then articled for the then firm of Norton, Stewart and Scarlett in Vancouver. In 1987 he moved to Kelowna to commence employment with the then firm of Berge Thiessen & Company where he is now a partner and has a solicitors practice.

Jim served first as Secretary and then Chair of the Okanagan Real Property Section of the CBA. He has been a member of the Provincial Council from 1995. From 1998 he served as a member of the Notaries Committee and later its Chair. Jim was heavily involved in the development of the Benevolent Society and currently sits on the Board. He is also a Non-Bencher member of the Unauthorized Practice Committee of the Law Society of BC.

Jim is active in a variety of community groups including Rotary and the Central Okanagan Foundation where he is currently working on establishing a fund to which lawyers in Kelowna would contribute with the funds being used for worthy projects in the community as chosen by the Kelowna Bar Association.

Jim has two passions in life: flyfishing and the Chilcotin area of BC.

David A. Paul, Officer
David graduated from the University of Victoria's Law School in 1986. Since his call to the Bar in 1987, David has spent his professional career in Kamloops, where he was born and raised. His practice areas include Criminal Law, Family law, Personal Injury Law, and Mediation. He worked with Jensen Mitchell & Company in Kamloops from 1986 to 1992, and with Paul and O'Fee from 1992 to 1997. In 1997 he established the law firm of Paul & Company where he now practises with his sister, Lorianna Bennett. David is a member of the BC Trial Lawyers' Association, the BC Arbitration & Mediation Institute, and the BC Mediator Roster Society.

Prior to his election to Provincial Council, David was actively involved in the profession at the local level. He served the Kamloops bar Association from 1990 - 1994 where he held various executive roles until his presidency in 1993-94. As well, David participated on the Law Day committee and he sat on the Advisory Committee for the University College of the Cariboo.

David was first elected to Provincial Council in 1995 and he is currently serving his second three year term on Provincial Council.Additionally, David was recently elected to serve his third term as an Executive Committee Member. David is an enthusiastic supporter of Sections. He belongs to the Kamloops Criminal and Family Bar Sections and served two years as the CBABC Branch Sections Coordinator. David also chaired the Section Task Force that was established to review and revitalize Section Policy. David is also serving his second term as the Chair of the BarTalk Editorial Board. In the past, David has also served the Branch as a member of the Supreme Court ADR Committee and the Communications Committee.

Kenneth Armstrong, Young Lawyer Representative
Kenneth Armstrong attended law school at the University of Alberta. He articled with Roberts and Griffin in downtown Vancouver, and was called to the Bar in 1996. He then joined Stone and Alexander in Burnaby, practicing family law and wrongful dismissal litigation. In October, 1997 he joined Michael R. Hoogbruin, practicing plaintiff's personal injury litigation and wrongful dismissal litigation, and joined Kane, Shannon and Weiler in August, 1999, where he currently practices ICBC defense litigation and wrongful dismissal litigation.

Ken has been active in the community since his undergraduate days at UBC, where he was active in the Arts Undergraduate Society and Alma Mater Society. At law school, Ken was an editor and Treasurer of the Alberta Law Review, and served on the Law Faculty Council. In December, 1997 Ken was a founding co-chair of the Young Lawyers (Westminster County) Section, a post he held until June, 1999. He then served as co-chair of the Young Lawyers (Vancouver) Section for the 1999-2000 year. Over the past two years, Ken has served on the Legal Aid Committee, the Membership Committee, the Council Reform Task Force, and chaired the Entrance Exam Task Force. He is now an elected member of Provincial Council, representing Westminster County, and is entering his second term on the executive as Young Lawyers' Representative.

Carman J. Overholt, Secretary-Treasurer
Carman was born in London, Ontario in 1958. He received an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in History in 1981 from the University of Western Ontario. In 1984, Carman received a Bachelor of Laws degree from Queen's University. He was called to the British Columbia Bar in 1986 after articling with Russell & DuMoulin.

Carman is a Past President of The Advocates Club. He is also a past Director of the Law Courts Inn and a past member of the Executive of the Vancouver Bar Association. Carman has been involved in the activities of the CBA throughout his time at the bar, including service as a member of the organizing committee for the 1989 annual conference in Vancouver and the 1996 Joint CBA Commonwealth Law Conference in Vancouver. More recently, Carman organized the President's Forum in Vancouver on April 16, 1999 on 'The Business of Law' and the President's Forum on 'Specialization and Success in the Practice of Law' in Kelowna, BC on April 14, 2000. He is also the Co-Chair of the Task Force on Multi-Disciplinary Partnerships. A frequent lecturer for the Continuing Legal Education Society, in recent years Carman has organized and chaired the annual Employment Law CLE.

Carman is a litigation partner with the Vancouver firm of Douglas Symes & Brissenden where he has practised since 1989.

Robert Brun, Officer
Robert was born in Whitehorse, Yukon Territories, in 1952 and attended elementary and secondary school in Vancouver. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from UBC in 1974 and a Bachelor of Laws degree from UBC in 1977. He was called to the Bar of British Columbia in 1978. Robert entered private practice in Vancouver in July of 1978, going to the Legal Services Department of the WCB in May of 1979. He remained there until July of 1984 when he entered into a partnership with Lyle Harris in Vancouver. The firm of Harris & Brun now consists of 15 staff and lawyers.

Since 1984, he has practised continuously in Vancouver, appearing frequently in the Supreme Court of BC and the BC Court of Appeal. On several occasions he has ventured before the Supreme Court of Canada.

Robert is a frequent guest speaker at seminars put on by CLE and the Trial Lawyers Association of BC. He has been an active member of the Trial Lawyers Association of BC since 1991. He has been a member of the Canadian Bar Association since 1977 and was an Executive Member of the Insurance Law Subsection from 1991 to 1995. In 1997, he became an Elected Member of the Provincial Council and is now entering his second term.