THE ADVOCATE 17
VOL. 80 PART 1 JANUARY 2022
A week or so before the twins’ first birthday, Lisa’s younger brother, Alan,
passed away unexpectedly at age 22. She was devastated by his death and considered
quitting law school. Fortunately, Lisa completed her LL.B. in 1994.
Lisa is a dedicated and beloved mother, raising the twins while completing
her final year of law. Keenan recounts how he and his brothers discovered
that the things Lisa does with seeming ease are actually the result of
her incredible work ethic:
We came to realize that our mom did not pass the LSAT, pass law school
while having twins and find success starting a new firm because she was
a genius. Our mom worked incredibly hard for all of the success she has
had. I remember the days at home in Chilliwack, before we moved to
Vancouver, where Mom recorded countless takes, and retakes, on her
handheld voice recorder. I remember her bringing piles of client files
home so that she could read them late at night after she had spent time
with us after work. We all think back to how much time and effort she put
into supporting our family, and we couldn’t think of a better reason to,
this time fairly, be amazed by our mom.
Apparently, Lisa’s irreverent sense of humour is congenital. Her third
son, Alex, has her listed in his contacts as “birthgiver” so that whenever she
phones, that shows up as the caller and makes people laugh.
“CELERY”
Lisa went from UVic to yet another new student setting, articling at Baker
Newby in Chilliwack.
There were two articling students there at the time. The other student
declined to participate in the firm holiday skit, so Lisa put on a one-woman
show in which she portrayed and skewered the lawyers in the firm, earning
rave reviews.
Lisa was called to the B.C. bar in May 1995 and quickly became a highly
proficient courtroom lawyer while at Baker Newby. Lisa honed her skills as
a federal prosecutor, handling thousands of drug prosecutions and, what
was to become her forte, family law cases.
Initially, RCMP officers involved in Lisa’s cases called her “celery”
because they thought she was so “green”. They soon came to experience celery’s
mettle. Lisa conducted 12 criminal drug prosecution trials during articling
and became a favourite lawyer among local police. Lisa even received
an unofficial “police escort” to the after-party she hosted following the
annual firm–police golf tournament. Paralegal Chris McSweeny remembers
Lisa as being the life of the party, throwing “epic” Halloween soirées and
Survivor get-togethers.
Alex was born in December 1996 when Lisa was an associate at Baker
Newby. Back then, there was no parental leave, so Lisa took three weeks of