History Cover & Text.qxp - The Advocates' Society

that would be provided by moreexperienced members. This was,after all, one of the Society's predominantfounding principles.There was also a suggestion thatfully 75% of a lawyer's practiceshould be in advocacy as a qualificationfor membership, although thisrecommendation was criticized bysome as being too difficult to accuratelydetermine.Ultimately, a compromise wasreached when it was decided that, infuture, a new member must havebeen practising law for at least fiveyears, and that 75% of the last threeof those years must havebeen spent in advocacy.The benefits of this exercisewent beyond merelynumbers and by-lawchanges. For the first timesince its inception, theSociety had taken theopportunity to pause,reflect, and focus on thefundamental issues ofwhat it was and where itwas going.The End of Term broughtanother dinner, anotherguest speaker -- theHonourable Justice A.M.Harradence of the SupremeCourt of Alberta, AppellateDivision -- and anotherworthy recipient of TheAdvocates' Society Medal --Walter B. Williston, Q.C.With the turning of thedecade and a new termunder Joseph W. O'Brien,Q.C., (1980-81), the Society wasfaced with an unexpected problem.As a matter of course, members haddeducted expenses incurred on theSociety's conventions outside ofOntario. Revenue Canada, however,decided it was disinclined to allowthese expenses, and indicated that itwould begin to audit variousreturns dating back to the 1976Australia trip.To commemorate one of its keyfounding members, IsadoreLevinter, Q.C., the Society establisheda prize in his name to beawarded annually, at the President'sdiscretion, to the student obtainingthe highest mark in Civil ProcedureII in the Bar Admission Course. The$150 prize would be funded with a$2,000 sum paid to and held by TheLaw Society of Upper Canada.As part of The Advocates' Society'songoing efforts to assess its members'needs and remain relevant, itsLong Range Planning Committeespent considerable time and effortBarry C. Pepper, Q.C. and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth TheQueen Mother at the official opening of Campbell House onJune 28, 1974.investigating the workings of theSociety and, eventually, made thefollowing recommendations: Anannual budget was needed; aprocess for the short-term investmentof excess funds was needed;the long-term use of CampbellHouse should be determined, andthe need for the Society to take amore active role in advocacy educationshould be addressed. All of12these recommendations would beconsidered in the months to come.During this term, the Society decidedto experiment with an informalopen house at Campbell House,with wine and cheese being servedon Thursday evenings. This conceptproved to be a poor draw and wascancelled. The Campbell HouseDining Room, however, was madeavailable to members for $50 plusthe cost of catering and proved to bean attractive draw for such events asChristmas parties and meetings ofother legal organizations.In a departure from tradition,there was no guestspeaker at the 1981 End ofTerm Dinner; instead,toasts were made to thebench and the bar, and tothe Honourable MayerLerner and His HonourBen Grossberg on theirretirement, with correspondingresponses.The 1981-82 term, underthe presidency ofTheodore H. Rachlin, Q.C.,dawned with the issue ofthe deductibility of out-ofcountryconventionexpenses still a thorn in theSociety's side. By mid-November a decision wasreached that wasunfavourable to theSociety. An immediateappeal was launched, withJohn J. Robinette, Q.C.,leading the process, andMerv Ellis, Q.C. and BertRaphael, Q.C., being examinedfor discovery by lawyers forRevenue Canada. Using his unparalleledeloquence and persuasiveness,Mr. Robinette eventually convincedRevenue Canada to abandonits challenge of the deductibility ofconvention expenses. So as to avoidany further problems, the by-laws ofthe Society were amended to permitthe study of foreign legal systemsthrough travel to foreign jurisdic-