The Hon. John Sopinka

This 1996 interview with Justice John Sopinka provides a comprehensive overview of his legal career and significant involvement with The Advocates’ Society. Born in Saskatchewan to Ukrainian immigrant parents, Sopinka moved to Hamilton as a child, attended the University of Toronto for both his undergraduate degree and law school, where he studied under notable figures including Caesar Wright and Bora Laskin. Remarkably, he balanced his legal education with a professional football career, playing for both the Toronto Argonauts and Montreal Alouettes while in law school.

Sopinka articled and practiced at Fasken & Calvin, working closely with Walter Williston, a founder of The Advocates’ Society. His early practice included notable cases such as R. v. Garbella, a capital murder case. As a member and director of The Advocates’ Society in the early 1970s, Sopinka chaired the Law Reform Committee and dealt with issues arising from the McRuer Report on court reform.

A significant portion of the interview focuses on Sopinka’s critique of The Advocates’ Society’s direction in the 1980s, when he led what he describes as a “take-over” of the Board of Directors. He argued that the organization had become dominated by the negligence bar and was too narrowly focused on issues like civil jury abolition and removing motor vehicle accidents from the courts. Sopinka advocated for broader law reform initiatives and successfully changed the Board’s composition to be more representative of the litigation bar generally.

This description was written by AI and may contain some inaccuracies.