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donations he had made over the years, and although I can no longer
remember the precise number, it is sufficient to say I did not know anyone
could give that many blood donations.
Len had a keen interest in military history, particularly the Second World
War. He was aware that my family included individuals who had served in the
Canadian Army, Air Force and Navy during the war. He was keen on exploring
my knowledge of their experiences during the war, including one family
member who was on board a Corvette (K368) on escort duty when sunk by a
U-boat in the English Channel in February 1945; another who was a bomber
gunner in a plane shot down over Germany and spent the rest of the war in
a prisoner of war camp in Germany; another who served in the Canadian
Army artillery and fought in Holland and Belgium after D-Day; and another
who was a pilot who was shot down and died in the war. Len was too young
to be involved in the war. He was deeply interested to learn of war veterans’
experiences and to understand the effects of the war on the combatants.
Len’s practice included general corporate/commercial work as well as
family law matters. One of Len’s files became known in our office as the
“Rutherford Case” (Rutherford v. Rutherford (1981), 30 B.C.L.R. 145 (C.A.)).
Len was counsel for a wife in a dispute over a family asset, a pension of the
husband. This case resulted in a formula developed by the B.C. Court of
Appeal for establishing entitlement to a share of a pension not payable until
a later date. This became known as the “Rutherford Formula”. Since the
“Rutherford Formula”, legislation has been enacted to address pension division.
Len also had experience in the Federal Court of Appeal relating to matrimonial
asset pensions.
Around the time of Rutherford, Len asked me if I could arrange to have
my pal Bob Edwards (E. Robert A. Edwards, later Deputy Attorney General,
and later Mr. Justice E.R.A. Edwards) advise him on appellate practice tips.
Before going to the bench, Bob spent most of his practice as a constitutional/
administrative law practitioner in appellate courts throughout
Canada, including multiple Supreme Court of Canada appearances. Bob
welcomed this request, came to our office, met with Len and gave Len
appellate practice tips. Len valued this assistance and expressed how grateful
he was for Bob’s practical advice.
As a practitioner, Len was a true wordsmith when it came to the creation
and editing of agreements and documents. He had an extraordinary command
of the English language, punctuation and spelling, including the correct
choice and placement of words. Anyone working with Len soon
learned of this trait. He was an excellent mentor. He was also active in
teaching ethical responsibilities to younger lawyers both inside and outside