Mentor Program a Record Success
The 1998-1999 Mentor Program, which matches BC law students with Lower Mainland and Victoria lawyers, enjoyed record participation this year. More than 600 students and lawyers were matched according to their mutual legal interests and met over coffee, lunch or a mentor reception to talk about law, law school and the legal profession.

The goal of the mentor program is to ensure that every BC law student has the opportunity to meet a lawyer who practices in the student’s area of interest. These interests are as diverse as the lawyers who volunteer, with first year calls to senior partners signing up to share what they know about corporate, tax, competition, litigation, family, entertainment, criminal, real estate, ADR and every other conceivable area of law.

The mentor program is generously sponsored by the CBA, BC Branch, who assist student coordinators in soliciting lawyers every summer, and hosting mentor receptions every winter. The 1999 year is no exception.

Vancouver and Victoria lawyers are kindly invited to participate in the upcoming 1999-2000 CBA and BC Law School’s Mentor Program. To sign-up, lawyers need only mail or fax their business card, with their areas of practice written on the front, to the student coordinators at the Universities of Victoria or British Columbia (please see addresses below).

Mentors can expect a phone call from their student before the end of September and are expected to arrange a first meeting over coffee, lunch or a CBA Section meeting. Later in the year students invite their mentors to their respective law schools for a mentor reception to thank them for participating. This past year the Deans of the law schools and CBA representatives joined the students in thanking mentors for a record year of participation. This year we would like to exceed the record and invite the legal community to join us again to mentor the next generation of young lawyers. To past mentors, thank you for a great year, and to future mentors, BC law students look forward to meeting you in September.

In Vancouver, please contact Clayton Jones by fax at 604.822.8108, by mail at the UBC Faculty of Law, 1822 East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1.

In Victoria, please contact Kim Darling by fax at 250.721.8146, by mail at the University of Victoria Faculty of Law, Law Student’s Society, PO Box 2400, MS8159, Victoria, BC V8W 3H7.


New Information and Privacy Commissioner
David Loukidelis has replaced Dr. David Flaherty as the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia. Mr. Loukidelis is well-known to the Branch and the profession, having served for several years as a member of the Branch’s Special Committee for Freedom of Information and Privacy.

Mr. Loukidelis practised at Lidstone, Young, Anderson in Vancouver, and had a specialized practice in access to information and protection of privacy. He has written on a range of access and privacy matters, and provided legal advice to local governments, to the media, and to members of the public. Both the government and the Official Opposition supported his appointment.

The Information and Privacy Commissioner is a statutory officer of the Legislature. The appointment is for six years and is not renewable. The Commissioner is mandated to exercise the powers and duties assigned to the Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC pursuant to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.


Pat Manson’s Legacy of Research
Former lawyer Pat Manson and husband Tom Manson, of Russell and Dumoulin, helped found the Lymphoma Research Foundation when Pat was struggling with lymphoma herself. After her death in 1998, The Rain Dogs, a Vancouver band comprised primarily of lawyers, released a special CD called “Strong (for Pat)” as a tribute and fundraiser for the Foundation. Proceeds from the CD (available in many outlets, including Chapters’ Granville store) have contributed to a recent $85,000 research fellowship to UBC doctoral student Stevan Robert Knezevich, to explore new gene therapies for lymphoma cancer. Many thanks to the lawyers and law firms who have supported the endeavours of the Foundation in Pat’s memory.

These articles were published in the August 1999 issue of BarTalk. © 1999 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.