For Immediate Release
August 12, 2005
VANCOUVER – Sholto Hebenton of Vancouver has been named the recipient of the Canadian Bar Association’s Louis St-Laurent Award of Excellence for 2005.
"Sholto Hebenton's dedication to legal research, scholarship and education for all lawyers shows a true understanding of what it means to be a CBA member," said CBA President Susan McGrath of Iroquois Falls, Ont. "His leadership abilities and lifelong commitment to the CBA put him in a class of his own. "
A CBA member since 1958, Mr. Hebenton served on the CBA's National Council from 1972-1980. He was also a member of the Executive Committee of the CBA's B.C. Branch and was both a member and chair of the B.C. Professional Services Committee and the National Professional Services Committee. From 1984 until 2002, he served as a provincial editor for the Canadian Bar Review, the official learned journal of the CBA.
From 1990-2003, he served as the chair of the Foundation for Legal Research in Canada. During that period, the Foundation increased its levels of funding of grants and prizes for legal research and tripled the size of its endowment to $2.4 million.
Mr. Hebenton has also served as a director for the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice, a member of the Dean's Advisory Committee to the Faculty of Law of the University of British Columbia, and a director of the British Columbia Law Institute. He served as acting executive director of the Law Society of British Columbia for a number of months, beginning in November 2004.
Mr. Hebenton’s commitment to the profession continued through a successful legal career as a partner at Shrum, Liddle & Hebenton in Vancouver, which later merged with Toronto-based McCarthy & McCarthy (now national firm McCarthy Tétrault) from 1965 until 2000.
He received his law degree from Oxford University in 1960 and his Master's in law from Harvard Law School in 1961. He was called to the Bar of British Columbia in 1965.
The Louis St-Laurent Award, which takes the form of a bronze statue of the former prime minister, recognizes distinguished or exceptional service to the goals of the Canadian Bar Association. The award is presented at the CBA Council Awards Luncheon on Saturday, Aug. 13, at the Vancouver Convention Centre, Ballroom B, during the CBA’s 2005 Canadian Legal Conference, Aug. 14-16. The event is open to accredited journalists who have registered with the CBA Media Centre.
The Canadian Bar Association is dedicated to improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 34,000 lawyers, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members.
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CONTACT: Hannah Bernstein, Canadian Bar Association, Tel: (613) 237-2925, ext. 146; E-mail: hannahb@cba.org. Aug. 12-15: (604) 647-7408.
