By Lucianna Ciccocioppo
(Jan. 25, 2012) Outstanding law graduates Justice Ian Binnie, LLB 1965, Jean Fraser, LLB 1975, Sarah Corman, JD 2003, and Benjamin Perrin, JD 2005, were celebrated at the 2012 Distinguished Alumnus Award dinner Jan. 25, 2012 at Hart House's Great Hall.
Jean Fraser '75
As one of the two recipients of the Distinguished Alumnus Award, Fraser remembered her law school experience as an exhilarating time in which she made lifelong friends. Surrounded by members of the Class of 1975, Fraser talked about being a trailblazer in a male-dominated corporate law world, and credited her mentors and her law firm for creating an environment in which she was encouraged to succeed. Describing her children as her "greatest accomplishments", she argued that young lawyers should worry less about achieving "balance" in their lives, and should instead focus on pursuing those activities, both professional and personal, that are most meaningful to them.
Ian Binnie '65
Ian Binnie, formerly of the Supreme Court of Canada, spoke of how impressed he was to hear of the accomplishments of today's generation of lawyers, and joked "We didn't have mergers and acquisitions in 1965." He paid tribute to legendary Dean Caesar Wright and the early cohort of faculty members who had a profound impact on the members of his class. Binnie was lauded for his impact on the bench, his "clear and concise judgment writing" and his public service to the Department of Justice.
Video tributes for Binnie and Fraser gave thoughtful and humourous introductions for these notable alumni, while Justice Gloria Epstein, LLB 1977, and Law Alumni Association president, John Laskin, LLB 1976, warmly introduced Corman and Perrin respectively.
Guests heard the dazzling list of achievements, from Corman's board work at the YWCA, probono community services, and volunteering with the Grand Moot at the Faculty of Law, to Perrin's academic research and activist accomplishments to effect change in some of the poorest countries in the world-and closer to home, in Canada-in the human trafficking underground.
Corman, of McCarthy Tetrault, and Perrin, of UBC's Faculty of Law, each received the Wilson-Prichard Award for their notable career, community and volunteer achievements. The award recognizes exceptional alumni who graduated no more than 10 years ago. In her acceptance speech, Corman quoted the late US President Teddy Roosevelt: "Do what you can, where you are, with what you have."
Perrin spoke of "a fire that ignited within him" when he saw the horrors of the child-sex trade in Cambodia, and resolved to do something about it upon his return to Canada, one of which was to apply to the U of T Faculty of Law. Dean Mayo Moran, SJD 1999, called Perrin "UBC's bright light at the Faculty of Law."
New at this event was the After Party, with its cheese and dessert table and jazz quartet, which drew many current law students and new alumni and gave them an opportunity to meet the award recipients.
Congratulations to all our 2012 award winners!
Enjoy the photo gallery.
Photos: Jeff Kirk
