138 THE ADVOCATE
VOL. 79 PART 1 JANUARY 2021
after a long and fruitful career, culminating in his appointments as Chief
Justice of both the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal of British
Columbia. The profession decided to give him a grand sendoff. The ballroom
of the Hyatt Hotel was rented. It was a black tie affair. Everyone who
could attend, did attend. After the dinner a program was devoted to lavishing
accolades upon the retiree. Important people spoke. Celebrities around
the world sent messages of congratulations. The one that has remained in
my memory was that of Lord Denning, who sent a video, at the end of
which he said, “Nathan, I drink to your health. I’ve drunk to your health so
often, I have lost my own.”
Having been approached to create something that would add levity to the
proceedings, I came up with making His Lordship an honorary member of
s.m.a.l.l. This, of course, meant drawing attention to his size, an idea that
did not meet with universal approval. Shortly after my plans became
known, I received telephone calls from both Justice Ray Paris and Tony
Pantages suggesting that this might be demeaning and embarrassing to His
Lordship. I disagreed and went ahead. What I felt they did not fully appreciate
was that the investiture was to be made by David Freeman, Q.C. (5´1˝),
a very senior member of the bar and, more importantly, a close personal
friend of Nemetz.
On the night in question David, Derek Cave, Q.C., and I had Judge
Nemetz brought up on stage. David proceeded to recount in a stentorian
voice and with a straight face all the deeds that Nemetz was supposed to
have performed on behalf of s.m.a.l.l., extolling him for his success in a land
of giants, notwithstanding his diminutive size. Well, Nemetz thought this
was a hoot. He started laughing so hard, he had to wipe the tears from his
eyes. The audience broke up. We then presented His Lordship with a specially
made podium, appropriately inscribed, upon which he could stand
should he decide to go back into practice and appear in court. This event
was, of course, wholly out of the question. Finally, Derek and I sang a homage
to him, extolling all his accomplishments for s.m.a.l.l. The tune was
from Guys and Dolls; the song, “Good Old Reliable Nathan”. For those who
have never seen that show, it is a song about a bookie who always manages
to find a place to hold his floating crap game. The lyrics, of course, were
rewritten for the occasion. The song brought down the house, and s.m.a.l.l.
was back on top of the charts again.
In the last two decades, very little new has been written about s.m.a.l.l.
From time to time there would be references to it by some lawyer or other,
but by this time I was busy benchering and had lost interest. Anyway, I had
pretty well shot my bolt.