438 THE ADVOCATE
VOL. 80 PART 3 MAY 2022
in southern Ontario were dear, and trips to see family were always enjoyed,
there was no going back.
Gerry started at UBC Law in the fall of 1954. He and Pat were the first
“marrieds” in the class and celebrated 66 years of marriage in February 2021.
Gerry was the first articling student at one of Victoria’s oldest firms,
Pearlman & Lindholm, which was founded by Edwin Pearlman and Louis
Lindholm in 1954. Following his call to the bar in 1958, he established a
solicitor’s practice with a focus on commercial and residential real estate,
wills, estates and trusts. He remained at that firm for his entire career. He
became a partner in 1965 and retired from practice in 2005.
Gerry served as a director of the Victoria Bar Association and ultimately
became president in 1986. One of his concerns was that the Victoria bar had
grown so large that the ordinary civilities one expects from other lawyers
were being eroded by the lack of personal contact. Forming subsections was
a way to bring together lawyers with shared interests. Apart from the Real
Property and the Wills and Trusts subsections, he initiated monthly meetings
for members interested in law office management. Other subsections,
including the Family Law subsection, were created as a result of these activities.
In 2007, the Victoria Bar Association acknowledged Gerry’s lifetime
accomplishments with the Contribution to the Law Award.
Gerry was a member of the Victoria Estate Planning Council from its formation
and a frequent speaker. He served on the executive for several years
and was elected president for the 1974/75 term.
Gerry’s longstanding relationship with the British Columbia Real Estate
Association (“BCREA”) began in the mid-1970s when he was retained to
review all provincial legislation impacting the real estate profession. He
prepared briefs to various government ministries concerning, among other
issues, the protection of realtors’ commissions and the establishment of a
real estate foundation.
In 1981, he started writing 17 Legally Speaking columns each year, and did
so for approximately 18 years, and then once a month, on legal issues that
affect realtors. January 2006 marked the 25th anniversary of the columns.
The 400th of those columns was written for September 2006. BCREA
describes the Legally Speaking columns as “one of the most trusted publications
for real estate professionals in BC”. In addition to realtors, notaries and
lawyers subscribe to the publication, which has summarized over 500 cases
in a manner that translates “legal jargon into entertaining, meaningful reading
which turns risk avoidance into a welcome task”. The complete set of
Legally Speaking columns, together with a Keyword Index and Case Citations,
are in the Courthouse Libraries in Victoria and Vancouver.