Current Issue: May 2024

Next Issue: July 2024

Highlights

Spring has sprung and the fresh flowers of the season are blooming everywhere! What better way to celebrate the start of May than with a wonderful portrait of the dean of UVic law on the cover? Meet Freya Kodar, who graduated from UVic law in 1995 and returned in 2005 as a faculty member. Teaching in the areas of pension law, torts, consumer law and disability and the law, Freya brings a feminist perspective to her work. After a stint as associate dean, she became dean in July 2023. Read about her dedication to fairness and equality starting at page 337.

This month’s Entre Nous ponders the ubiquitous rush to all things “A.I.” the apparent panacea for all that ails the practice of law. Perhaps not surprisingly, we are not entirely convinced. Real intelligence has yet to be bettered, in our view. If you disagree, send us a grumble … or get your A.I. to generate something you can pass of as your own.

Inside this issue, amongst our usual blossom of articles from law schools and legal institutions, we have an abundance colourful articles. Joseph C. Bellows, K.C. provides us with the first of a two part series on examining how the courts deal with gang violence in Vancouver in the 1950s and the 2020s. Fife Ogunde examines Bill 48 and its proposal to deal with the gig economy and the rights of platform workers. The winner of the Advocate’s short fiction competition for 2023 is Eric Kroshus and his short story “Everywhere But After” appears in this issue. There is also a monster of an article from Leslie Palleson who uses Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as a lens for examining how to avoid scorch-the-earth litigation methods.

As if that’s not enough, there are those lost and those appointed (including an amusing account of Judge Nicholas Perovolos’s journey to the bench). Michael Welsh, K.C.’s wine column examines difficulties the BC wine sector has been facing of late while another Michael with a K.C. (the Advocate’s editor, D. Michael Bain, K.C.) provides a second instalment on BC cult leader, Brother XII, and his inevitable tumbling towards trial as the fates would have it. Our past issues have encouraged enthusiastically and opinionated readers to write in … are you one of them!? From Our Back Pages echoes this month’s Entre Nous with a prior look at the promise of technology on an unsuspecting (and somewhat sceptical) profession. We took considerable heat for our Bench & Bar theme involving frogs a few episode back, we moved away from amphibians towards something tangible – gold. This time we’ve moved towards the consumable. The theme for Bench & Bar is coffee and tea. So brew a cup (of either or both) and have sit down and enjoy this May 2024 edition.

Please enjoy the potpourri. Stop and take the time to smell the roses!

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Retirement

The Advocate

May 4, 2024

The Hon Justice Gregory F. Fitch retired from the Court of Appeal of BC and the Court of Appeal of Yukon April 30, 2024. Justice Fitch was appointed to the Court of Appeal on September 1, 2015, after a four year tenure on the Supreme Court of BC. His remarkable contributions to the jurisprudence of this Court, particularly in the areas of criminal law, are recognized nationally as fair, deliberate and clearly communicated statements of law. On his retirement, the Court of Appeal extends its deepest gratitude for Justice Fitch’s dedication and guidance and wishes him the best for his retirement.