2014 Distinguished Service Award Recipient Norm Picard QC shares about his LESA volunteer experience. He received the Service to the Profession award at the Alberta Law Conference in January 2014.
How long have you been a lawyer and what is your area of practice?
I have been a lawyer for 38 years. I am a University of Alberta graduate and was admitted to the Alberta Bar in 1976. My area of practice for most of my 38 years has been family law.
I had the good fortune of articling to a large firm called Bryan Andrekson (now called Bryan and Company). As a result of being embedded in a big firm that did every area of practice, for the first couple of years I had exposure to everything. Obviously, that’s great for a young lawyer. After a couple of years, there was need for someone to move into the family law area. I became the designated family law guy, and as a result, my practice concentration has been family law for about 36 years.
How long have you been a LESA volunteer?
I have been a LESA volunteer for over 30 years. Bryan Andrekson was one of those firms that were very supportive of LESA. There was really no question about your ability to go to anything intended to improve your knowledge, your expertise, or even to participate in the legal community. This included being a member of Edmonton Bar Association, going to Edmonton Bar functions, going to Canadian Bar functions, becoming involved with the Canadian Bar – all of that the firm supported.
That firm’s support of LESA seminars and other professional involvement has been a perspective that I have brought to subsequent firms in which I have been an associate or a partner.
How did you first get involved with LESA?
In my first couple of years at the Bar, I attended LESA seminars. I seem to remember that the first time that I was involved as a volunteer panelist would have been in the early 80s when the late, great Leonard Pollock called me and said, “Picard, I want you on a panel I’m chairing. I want you to talk about Section 36 of Matrimonial Property Act.”
This was one of the first LESA seminars about the Matrimonial Property Act, and I was very flattered and overwhelmed to be asked. First, because Leonard was a well-regarded, senior family law lawyer and law professor. Second, I had limited experience with the new Matrimonial Property Act and probably had no idea what Section 36 provided. Nevertheless, when asked you go out, and make yourself knowledgeable on a subject, I was able to do that and offer available judicial interpretation by the Court.
What do you like best about being a LESA volunteer?
Being a LESA volunteer is stimulating and exciting. You are part of a grouping of people who are there because they want to be informed, and they want to be the best that they can be. Being involved as a volunteer, whether chairing a panel or presenting a paper, is an intellectual stretch, and it’s invigorating. It keeps you on top of your game.
The other thing that I like about being a LESA volunteer is the interaction with other members of the Bar and the dialogue that results. I could say that equally about presenting, or attending LESA seminars. Being in the flow creates a feeling of community, which I am high on in the profession, so that we aren’t islands in the stream. There’s a tendency to become or to feel a bit isolated, particularly when you restrict your practice and deal with the same lawyers all the time. It is an opportunity to get out there and see what the rest of the profession is doing, thinking, and saying.
Interested in volunteering with LESA? Contact Carolyn Bernardin at [email protected], and she will find the right volunteer opportunity for you.
