Doug F Robinson, QC, President
Doug was born in Vancouver and graduated from UBC with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1971 and a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1972. He was called to the BC Bar in 1973.

He served as an executive of the Vancouver Bar Association from 1980 to 1982 and was elected to two terms as member for Vancouver County of the BC Branch Provincial Council from 1992 to 1996. He was first elected to the Branch Executive Committee in 1992 and again in 1994, serving until 1995. In 1996, he was elected Secretary/Treasurer of the BC Branch. He has served as Chair of the Branch Legal Aid Subcommittee, BC Chair of Government Relations, Chair of the BC Membership Committee and the National Membership Committee.

Doug also served as a member of the task force on Court Delays (National), on the Dickson National Task Force on Judicial Delays and was Chair of the BC Branch Working Group with respect to the Systems of Civil Justice Task Force. Doug served nationally as a member of the Implementation Committee on the Civil Justice Task Force. He is the Chair of the Board of the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice.

He serves as a director on the boards of several private companies and is a past director of Foundation Inc. (the funding arm of the Vancouver-Richmond Association for Mentally Handicapped People). He is also active in a variety of community groups, clubs and associations.

From 1979 to the present, Doug has served as a Litigation Partner with the Vancouver firm of Lawson Lundell Lawson & McIntosh. He is also a director of the BC Law Institute and serves on the committee for the Coalition for Access to Justice.

Kerry-Lynne D Findlay, Past President
Kerry-Lynne was born in Ladysmith on Vancouver Island and graduated from UBC Faculty of Law in 1978 after earlier graduating with a BA with Honours in History and Political Science in 1975. She was called to the Bar in 1979.

She was first elected to Provincial Council and the National CBA Council in 1987 and has served on both ever since. From 1989 to 1991, she served on the National Task Force on Canadian Court Reform. She served as National Chair of the Constitutional Law Section from 1989 to 1991 and as Provincial Chair from 1988 to 1989. She was a member of the National Sections Council from 1989-92, serving as an Executive Member in 1990-91 and Vice-Chair in 1991-92.

Kerry-Lynne was elected to the BC Branch Executive Committee in 1991 and served as a member until 1994. In 1995, she was elected Secretary/Treasurer, in 1996, Vice-President, and in 1997, she was elected Branch President for the 1997/98 year. In August 1998 Kerry-Lynne was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Canadian Bar Insurance Association.

Kerry-Lynne is also active in a number of community groups and organizations. She served as Chair of the Vancouver City Planning Commission from 1987 to 1989 and was on the national executive of the Federation of Junior Leagues of Canada from 1988 to 1989. In 1988, she was a nominee for the YWCA Women of Distinction award for Community Service in recognition of her service in a variety of capacities in numerous national and provincial organizations.

Kerry-Lynne joined the firm of Watson Goepel Maledy in March 1996 after previously practising with Connell Lightbody for nine years.

D Mayland McKimm, Vice 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 Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon, with a Juris Doctor degree.

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 currently the Chair of the Legal Aid Committee and a member of the Government Relations Committee and Lawyers Assistance Program. He served in the past on the National Task Force on Para Legals.

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

Margaret Ostrowski, Secretary-Treasurer
Margaret graduated from the University of Toronto with an Honours B.Sc. in 1971, from the University of Western Ontario with an M.A. in 1973, and from UBC with a LL.B. in 1979. She has been very involved and committed to the CBA for a number of years. She began her active involvement by serving on the executive and as Chair of the General Practitioners’ Section (Lower Mainland) years ago and was first elected as a Vancouver County Representative in 1995. She was elected to the Executive Committee as a Member at Large in 1996 and 1997. She has recently chaired our Planning and Priorities Committee, Unclaimed Intangible Property Committee and Co-Chaired the President’s Forum on Solicitor’s Issues held in March. She has been the Executive Liaison for our Title Insurance Committee and Real Estate Practices Issues Committee and our Representative on the Law Courts Education Society. She is the Chair of our BarTalk Editorial Board, our new Solicitors’ Issues Committee, and our Awards and Recognition Committee.

She has been a guest lecturer at People’s Law School, PLTC, CLE, and the Wills and Trusts Section. She has also been active in other community and public service activities as the lay appointee on the Board of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists and as 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.

Margaret was called to the Bar in 1980. She is presently a sole practitioner in Kerrisdale practising in the wills and estates area of law.

Ken Sarnecki, Officer
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 situation. 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 Salloum Doak 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 has served on the Executive of the Kelowna Bar Association as Vice-President from 1987 to 1988, and as president for two terms from 1988 to 1990. He was the lawyer representative on the new Kelowna Courthouse Committee.

This is Ken’s second term on the Executive Committee. This is his second year as Chairperson of the Government Relations Committee and member of the Membership Committee. He also chaired the Provincial Court Judges Salaries and Pension Committee. Ken also participates in various community organizations.

David A Paul, Officer
David graduated from the University of Victoria’s Law School in 1986. Since being called to the Bar in 1987, David has spent his professional career in Kamloops, where was born and raised. He worked with Jensen Mitchell & Company in Kamloops from 1986 to 1992, and with Paul and O’Fee from 1992 to 1997. In 1997 his firm became Paul & Company.

David is a enthusiastic supporter of Sections; he belongs to two in Kamloops and is this year’s Section Coordinator for BC. He has been involved in the Law Day organization, and the BC Arbitration and Mediation Institute. He previously sat on the Advisory Committee for the University College of the Cariboo, for their Legal Secretary Course. David’s interests also include the Sacred Heart Cathedral—he is a former chair of their Parish Council.

Working locally, David served on the Kamloops Bar Association from 1990-94, where he filled various executive roles until his presidency in 1993-94. In 1995, David was elected to the Branch’s Provincial Council, and is presently serving his second three-year term. This year he is an Executive Member at large, Chair of the CBA Sections Task Force, and members on the Communications Committee, and the Supreme Court ADR Committee.

Clare Barry, Officer
Clare Barry was called to the BC Bar in 1983, and the Ontario Bar in 1988, after graduating with her LL.B. from Dalhousie University in 1982. Her legal career has largely been spent as Crown Counsel, having worked for the Province of BC from 1983-87, and the Federal Crown Counsel in Toronto from 1989-93. In 1993 Clare moved back to BC to work with Vancouver’s Federal Crown Counsel, where she continues her work.

Elected to Provincial Council in 1996, this is Clare’s first year as a member of the Executive Committee. She is a member of the National Membership Committee, and Chair of the Provincial Membership Committee. Clare’s involvement in BC Branch activities has been long-term and varied. She was involved in Law Day events, such as the Mock Trials, Mentor Program, the Barry Sullivan Law Cup, and general Law Week planning, on the Law Week Committee. Other CBA activities of Clare’s have included the Speakers Bureau, the Dial-a-Lawyer Program, the Membership Committee, Sections, in particular the Public Sector Lawyers Section.

Clare volunteers, or has volunteered in the past, with: the Canadian Diabetes Association; the Vancouver Art Gallery; UBC, as a Moot Court Judge; the Vancouver Marathon; and The Longest Day Run for the Alzheimer Society of BC.

Carman J Overholt, Officer
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. Carman has served as a member of the Canadian Bar Association’s Advisory Committee that studied proposed changes to the BC Human Rights Code and is a current member of the Member Services Committee. 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.

This article was published in the October 1998 issue of BarTalk. © 1998 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.