THE ADVOCATE 609
VOL. 80 PART 4 JULY 2022
NEW MASTER
Master Scott Nielsen
By R.C. Tino Bella
Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole
strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason
mastery demands all of a person.
—Albert Einstein
Meet Scott Nielsen, a man who has devoted himself
to the practice of law at every phase of his long and illustrious career. Master
Nielsen took his seat at the bench on April 8, 2022, bringing with him 28
years of legal experience as a fearsome litigator, administrative tribunal
member, district registrar and, most recently, registrar of the B.C. Supreme
Court.
Scott was born in Vancouver to an Australian mother and a Canadian
father. His father was a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force, which meant
the family uprooted and moved every three years. Consequently, Scott’s
formative years were spent in places literally spanning this great and
diverse nation: Comox, B.C.; Goose Bay, Labrador; Val-d’Or, Quebec;
Courtenay, B.C.; and Ucluelet, B.C. His family also did a posting in Lahr,
West Germany.
In high school, Scott worked hard at mastering the art of being cool,
sporting his shoulder-length blond hair in the fashion of his favourite heavy
metal band members. Scott graduated from George P. Vanier High School in
Courtenay in 1977. In the summer after Scott’s graduation, Scott’s father
found him lying on the couch watching television. Nielsen Senior grabbed
his car keys and told his son: “I’ll drive you to the local college where you
can enroll, or I’ll drive you to the local recruiting office where you can
enlist, but you are not going to lay around the house. It’s your choice.” As