Brian Coleman, QC, a long-serving criminal law lawyer dedicated to legal aid work, recently retired from practice. (While the QC designation is now KC, Brian preferred the QC honorary title throughout his career). Brian has been a pillar in the criminal defence community for many years, impacting the lives of numerous clients and defence colleagues. By our count, Brian has accepted 736 contracts since 2013, which is as far back as our current contract management system allows us to see.
Called to the bar in 1969, Brian has dedicated nearly 56 years to legal aid work. It’s an understatement to say he lives and breathes criminal defence. Any counsel will tell you that it was a pleasure to see Brian at the courthouse. He would lend an ear, offer whatever support a lawyer may need, and enjoyed speaking of old war stories. If a lawyer was having a problem with a client, Crown counsel, or even a judge, Brian would be the first person to stick up for them. There is no question that he has the utmost respect of the criminal bar.
Brian has always gone above and beyond in the representation of his clients. He provided them his cell phone and home landline numbers and answered calls seven days a week, anytime a client was able to call. Even when Brian was in trial for a serious matter, he continued to take jail calls or other calls from his clients during the court break, during lunch, on the drive home, and when he arrived home. One mentee recalled that they received a call from one of Brian’s clients, frustrated because Brian was in trial and didn’t get a chance to bring the client money for his canteen yet. This money of course came from Brian’s personal finances.
Brian continued after all these years to dedicate a part of his weekend to attendance in person at the pre-trial institutions to visit his clients and another part of the weekend at his office to prepare for the week ahead. Pro bono work was always part of Brian’s practice, and he always underestimated how much pro bono work he did each year.
He would never say no to taking a case, whether the charge be murder or breach of probation. He would accept referrals for the most challenging cases and clients. A client could get charged with a breach of probation, and Brian was willing to drive out to Chilliwack to assist. It wasn’t unusual for Brian to drive to up to four different courthouses in a single day. He felt he owed his time to the vulnerable clients who needed his help, no matter how serious or trivial their matter was. He has always gone above and beyond for his clients and accepted very difficult clients without hesitation. His only concern was that if he didn’t accept the client that perhaps they would have difficulty finding counsel.
Brian cared about the outcomes of his clients’ cases. He would make it known if he felt the judge “got it wrong.” To many lawyers, the job and the results are what they are, but he was bothered by an outcome that he felt unjust. He cared so much about every client and every outcome. Brian always expressed that it was a privilege to practise law and serve his clients, and he never felt that that they owed him anything.
A positive influence on junior lawyers
Brian has had many students over the years, all of which expressed how positive the experience was. He took on many junior lawyers to assist him in his cases and learn from the experience. He always found a way for an active role for the junior to meaningfully participate in the client’s case. Anyone who had the chance to learn from him counted themselves lucky. Many of his students were approached by Crown counsel and told how lucky they were to be articled to Brian, and that he was such a kind man.
Robyn Young, who did a shared article with Brian a few years ago, said: “Shortly after I was called, I learned that one of my DCC clients also had a Supreme Court sentencing scheduled for a drug trafficking conviction and he requested my assistance. I’d never done a sentencing in Supreme Court at that point and in fact had only done fix dates in Supreme. By the time I found out about the sentencing, it was pre-scheduled before the trial judge and Crown would be opposing any adjournment. I had three days to prepare. I asked Brian to help me look over my casebook and written submissions. Instead of just looking over my casebook and written submissions, Brian met the client with me, went over all the sentencing materials and dropped everything to come to court with me to supervise the sentencing. There were no mentoring hours on this contract and Brian refused any fee splitting or even reimbursement for meterage and parking. I even wrote a cheque and sent it to him, and he refused to cash it. This was an all-day sentencing in New West Supreme Court.”
Rene Allain, a former student, shared that when Brian had to retire, he had to call a few of his former clients in custody and the first thing they asked was “Is Brian okay?” Even clients that had to spend some additional time in custody while someone else could bring themselves up to speed, these clients had no difficulty with waiting and were more concerned about Brian than their own case.
Although he’s never asked for any sort of recognition, LABC acknowledges the many years Brian has dedicated to assisting our most vulnerable clients. We wish Brian all the best and will endeavour to fill the very large hole he has left in the legal aid community.
Many thanks to Criminal Defence Lawyer Mark Swartz for assisting in providing this content and the quotes from Brian’s former students.
