THE ADVOCATE 657
VOL. 80 PART 5 SEPTEMBER 2022
Having spent previous summers in British Columbia visiting his grandparents,
and realising that The Piano Stylings of Perry Ehrlich at the Holiday
Inn would only take him so far, Perry headed west to look for articles—not
an easy prospect at the time for someone with a law degree with “Sask” on
it. The policy at the time was for law firms to hire B.C. students first. He
finally secured a position, but unfortunately, a month before the job was to
start, the lawyer got cited by the Law Society and the job evaporated. Perry,
being rather tenacious, managed to find another position where he was
offered substantially less than the going rate and was required to do all his
own typing (this was in 1976). Perry seized the opportunity.
After articling, Perry got a job with Barry Kerfoot, who had just left Cumming
Richards (now Richards Buell Sutton). He let Perry loose with all his
clients. Barry was a great mentor who guided Perry and gave him confidence.
The first few years, though, were tough. Perry ran criminal trials,
contested divorce cases, finalized conveyances, handled complicated trust
agreements and advised on s. 85 rollovers. There was nothing he did not do.
It was trial by fire.
Helping him through these tumultuous years was the woman who has
been Perry’s wife now for over 45 years, Marilyn. In 1980, Marilyn’s aunt,
Rosalee Hardin, a probation officer in Richmond, knew a lawyer named
Danny Zack who worked with his childhood friend, Larry Kahn, and
another lawyer, Soren Hammerberg, practising family law and civil litigation.
They were looking for someone to start up a business law practice with
them. Rosalee told Marilyn, who told Perry, and against all the naysayers
who told Perry that moving away from Vancouver was “professional suicide”,
he seized the opportunity. Perry joined Kahn Zack Hammerberg, and
he and Marilyn moved to Lulu Island.
Perry and Marilyn had two daughters. Lisa was born in 1982, and Mandy
arrived in 1987. By then, Perry had become a partner. Starting with 13 corporate
records, he was growing the business (to almost 1,000 eventually)
and growing with his clients. For example, someone might come in for a
simple notarization, then perhaps a lease. The next time they came in, they
needed a share purchase agreement, or were engaged in a merger or buyout.
Perry also developed a personal wills and estates practice. His solicitor
practice grew with his clients, and he became part of the business team of
multiple businesses including Costco Wholesale Canada, Keg Restaurants
Ltd. and Shoppers Drug Mart. By that time, the firm had its current name—
Kahn Zack Ehrlich Lithwick—and Perry was outside counsel for a number
of growing companies.
Perry’s partners encouraged a work-life balance that enabled a presence
in the community that humanized what they did. Larry Kahn was involved