Remembering Alan Marshall, K.C.

Alan Marshall, K.C. with OBA President Kathryn Manning at the OBA's Thomas G. Heintzman Member Recognition Dinner in August 2024.

Alan Marshall, K.C. – Thank you and Bon Voyage

October 14, 1928 – July 15, 2025

CBA-O President, 1971-1972

By Hon. Mr. Justice J. K. Trimble (OBA President, 37 years after Alan) [1]

“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." [2]

Alan Marshall died last month. He was 96. He was a giant. 

There are few now alive, however, who knew Alan in his most active years. Bruce Hillyer, the Baron of the personal injury Burlington Bar, writes below of his personal ties to Alan and the time he worked at Martin & Hillyer. In that piece, we catch a glimpse of Alan’s organizational and personal talents. I could find no one who could honour Alan’s contributions to the Bar, so I took it on, myself.

I knew Alan as a fellow OBA Past President. The Marshalls lived near me. I walked the dog(s) by his home and often stopped to chat. He was a short man who, by the time I knew him, gravity and age had rendered shorter. Notwithstanding, his mind was always clear, and his energy and curiosity, limitless.

I knew Alan more from our frequent trips together to Toronto for an OBA event. They were wonderful car rides. I asked a question, maybe two, then listened to an hour or more of legal history told by someone who lived it. He told marvellous stories of the work he did on behalf of the Bar along with people like John Arnup, Allan Leal, John Bowlby, William Sommerville, Bill Davis, Donald Macdonald, William Howland, Harvey Bliss, John Morden, Alan Linden, Ronald Rolls, Syndey Robins, John Hodgeson, George Finlayson, Gibson Gray, Laura Legge, Ian Outerbridge, Bertha Wilson, Lorraine Gotlieb,  and Willard (Bud) Estey. They were his contemporaries and our legal luminaries. What became clear early in those car rides was that Alan, too was such a luminary, although a quiet one. We all owe Alan a debt of gratitude.

Alan was born and raised in Hamilton, largely by his mother and maternal grandparents, his father having died when Alan was a young teenager. Alan admitted to being a lackluster student, so his parents sent him to a Quaker-run boarding school, Pickering College, where he excelled, followed by McMaster University and Osgoode Hall Law School, where he also excelled.

He and his wife, Kathleen, married in 1953, beginning a 71-year romance affair that ended with her death in February this year. They settled in Burlington and had three sons. The family expanded to include six children and spouses, and seven great grandchildren.

After law school, Alan returned to Hamilton, practicing as a solicitor beginning with what is now known as Ross McBride where he articled beginning in 1953 [3]. He left Ross & McBride and was on his own or in a small firm from 1964 to 1980. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1968. He worked at the Law Society from 1980 to 1990, and was office manager for Martin & Hillyer from 1990 to 2001, following which he retired.

Alan was a volunteer, dedicated to his community. He fundraised for the Burlington and Hamilton Kiwanis Clubs and for a building fund for what became Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington. He was a director of the John Howard Society (Hamilton Branch), the John Howard Society of Ontario, the Canadian Bible Society Hamilton Branch, and founding director of the New Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. [4] I only scratch the surface.

Alan’s greatest contributions came with his time with the CBA-O (now OBA). He chaired committees at both the national and provincial levels and served as CBA-O President in 1971-1972. He was active in making recommendations to the Ontario Government regarding privilege of communications between clergy and professionals and their clients under the Evidence Act. Alan was deeply religious, so this issue was dear to  his heart.

Alan was deeply involved in most of the major reforms in the 1960s and 70s. For example:

• In 1966, he chaired the Ontario Civil Justice Committee that made recommendations which fundamentally altered the law of Divorce in Canada, which were accepted by the Government of Canada;
• On behalf of the national Civil Justice Section, he worked on and presented the CBA’s resolution to establish the Law Reform Commission in all Canadian Jurisdictions to The Hon. John Turner, who shortly after established The Canadian Law Reform Commission;
• Was a member of the Ontario Real Estate Section Executive that pressed for changes to Ontario’s real estate law including changes to the Planning Act, Land Registration reform, undertakings and procedures for mortgage discharges.

Alan’s reputation for sponsoring change led to his moving to other pastures. In 1980, he was recruited by The Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC) to advise it with respect to the rapidly climbing costs of claims against the LSUC’s insurance fund. His solution, accepted by the Benchers, was to create the Practice Advisory Service to help lawyers better manage their practice. In this role, he was the chief architect of area-specific practice guidelines and standards for Law Practice Review.

Alan wasn’t just Practice Advisory’s chief architect; he became its chief salesperson. He determined that for Practice Advisory to be successful, the Bar had to accept it. Therefore, Alan travelled the province, promoting the service. He was also one of its main service providers, helping lawyers to practice responsibly. Alan also made contributions to the LSUC’s Office Management Handbook and the Bar Admission Practice Management course.

Alan also applied his organizational talents to helping individual lawyers deal with personal and addiction issues to enable them to return to practice. This started as a personal issue, which led to Alan’s direct involvement in forming the Ontario Bar Alcohol Programme (now Bar Assistance Programme) and developing the LSUC’s and OBA’s guidelines for lawyers in recovery.

Finally, Alan was deeply religious, in a very quiet way. He never preached to me. Understanding his deep faith helped me understand his commitment to volunteerism and to the practice of law. We are all indebted to him. I hope that in death, he discovered the rewards his faith promised. Farewell, Alan.

________________

[1] I am indebted to Alan’s family and to Alan himself. Alan gave a long interview to the Osgoode Society’s oral history project. HIs family gave me their copy of the transcript of those interviews.  They are available in the Osgoode Society’s archives.

[2] Reportedly, by Isaac Newton to Robert Hooke

[3] He completed his articles at Tory, Miller, Thomson, Hicks, Arnold, and Sedgwick in Toronto. Back then students spent a year at any firm but had to do another year at a firm in Toronto. As an aside, guess how many firms were born out of the Toronto firm at which Alan completed his articles?

[4] The Hamilton Philharmonic went bankrupt after its first hundred years. It re-formed itself and continues today.

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Leadership Even in the Strangest of Situations

By Bruce Hillyer (a founding partner of what is now Martin & Hillyer Associates, retired)

Alan Marshall joined our firm as its office manager, back in the mists of time

We were a rowdy bunch of sole  and employed practitioners not used to the discipline Alan provided

Before long we really started to appreciate his leadership.

Budget days were always a challenge, but Alan held firm to the rudder and his pencil – and we were all the better for it.

On a lighter note, I can’t help but share with you an example of Alan’s leadership even in the strangest of situations.

It was our annual winter retreat, which included dinner out at a fancy lodge on Lake Bernard in the Almaguin Highlands – north of Huntsville.

The place was packed, as a world-renowned entertainer was headlining another event for his adoring fans.

Our group was having so much fun that we didn’t realize we were annoying the fanbase of the entertainer. Alan directed us to quiet down to no avail and so we moved en masse to take over the lounge area replete with a roaring fire in the fireplace.

The route home was another matter. We were all piled into my seven-seater luxury travel van with some, of necessity, without a seat. The back country road was snow covered and well plowed when I lost control on a hard curve to the right. I had time enough to yell, “Hang on we’re going in!”

Luckily, the snowbank slowed us down enough that we came to rest not six inches away from a large birch tree. After scrambling out of the well-stuck truck, we soon realized that many of us were not suitably dressed for a winter’s outing.

Alan of course was suitably outfitted for this winter adventure and quickly started walking at a brisk pace. It was a moonlit night, with little or no wind. An hour later, we arrived at the cottage to find Alan sitting by the fire, drink in hand, none the worse for wear compared to the rest of us.

Alan always preached preparation, preparation, preparation.

When Alan retired, we eventually hired a CA to take over the situation – that was the level of work Alan did for us.

We all miss him.