The Jewish Immigrant Experience and the Practice of Law in Montreal, 1830 to 1990

The Jewish Immigrant Experience and the
Practice of Law in Montreal, 1830 to 1990

Mario Nigro and Clare Mauro*

There exists inadequate research analysing both the
history of racial and ethnic minority group participation in
the legal profession within Canada, and racial and minority
group influence on the development of the Canadian legal
profession. This note examines the experiences of the Jew-
ish legal community in Montreal from 1830 to 1990 using
both historical data and oral testimony to analyse the char-
acter of legal practice for Jewish lawyers.

The historical struggles and challenges that Jewish
lawyers faced in their attempts to enter and practice law in
Montreal reflect similar struggles that other members of
their community encountered. The discrimination
that
Jewish lawyers encountered strengthened their relationship
with their ethnic community. This relationship became one
of mutual need: Jewish lawyers survived on the basis of
connections and relations with Jewish clients and the Jew-
ish community needed the expertise of lawyers to further
the development of community interests. The note also
demonstrates how the effects of these interdependent rela-
tionships influenced the development of the legal profes-
sion in general.

Also considered are the effects on the practice of law
of diminishing discrimination against Jews in Montreal af-
ter World War II. Opportunities for Jewish lawyers to ex-
pand their practices outside their community became pos-
sible beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s, ulti-
mately resulting in a considerable increase in the number of
Jewish lawyers employed in large Canadian law firms.

la profession

II existe une recherche inad&tuate qui analyse A la
fois l’histoire de la participation de minoritds ethniques ct
raciales dans
juridique au Canada et
l’influence de ces groupes sur le d6veloppement de Ia pro-
fession juridique canadienne. Cette note examine les exp-
riences de la communaut6 juridique juive de Montral de
1830 A 1990, utilisant h la fois des donndes historiques ainsi
que des tdmoignages oraux pour analyser le caractre de la
pratique du droit parmi les avocats juifs.

Cette note ddcrit les d6fis qu’ont connus les avocats
juifs en pn6trant la profession juridique. La discrimination
qu’ont connue les avocats juifs a renforc6 leurs relations
avec leur communaut6 ethnique. Les avocats juifs survi-
vaient grace h leurs clients juifs, et la communaut6 juive
n6cessitait l’expertise d’avocats afin de poursuivre le dd-
veloppement de ses int~rets communautaires. Cette note
examine l’influence des relations interddpendantes entre les
avocats juifs et leur communaut6 ethnique sur la pratique
du droit chez les avocats juifs de Montr.al et sur le ddve-
loppement de la communaut6 juive. Cette note dtmontre
aussi comment les effets de ces relations interddpendantes
ont influene6 le ddveloppement de la profession juridique
en gdndral.

Cette note dfcrit aussi l’effet de la baisse de discri-
mination envers les juifs de Montrdal bi la suite de la Se-
conde Guerre Mondiale. L’occasion pour les avocats juifs
de rdpandre leur pratique en dehors de leur communaute
ethnique est devenue possible ds la fin des anndes 60 et au
d6but des ann~es 70, cc qui a r6sultd en une considdrable
croissance du nombre d’avocats juifs employds dans les
grands cabinets canadiens.

. Mario Nigro, B.A., B.Ed., M.A., is completing his final year of the LL.B. and B.C.L. National
Program at McGill University. Clare Mauro, B.A., LL.B., completed her studies at McGill University
in 1998. The authors would like to thank Professor G. Blaine Baker for all his support and commit-
ment. Without Professor Baker, this essay would not have been possible. The authors would also like
to express their gratitude to all those who shared their stories, especially Justice Alan Goldberg. This
note is dedicated to all those whose struggles helped create a more equitable climate in which Cana-
dian law can be studied, taught, and practised, and to all those whose struggle continues.

McGill Law Journal 1999

Revue de droit de McGill 1999
To be cited as: (1999) 44 McGill L.J. 999
Mode de rtftrence: (1999) 44 R.D. McGill 999

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Introduction

I. Ethnic Lawyers and Legal Elites

I1. The Montreal Jewish Community: Important Themes

Immigration in the Late 1800s

A.
B. Strained Relations with Francophone and Anglophone Communities
C. The Effects of Anti-Semitism

Ill. Jews in the Legal Profession, 1880 to 1950

A. Discrimination of Jews in the Legal Profession
B. The Importance of the Ethnic Community for Jewish Lawyers
C. Jewish Lawyers and Community Activism

IV Jewish Lawyers: 1950 to the Present

Conclusion

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Introduction

When examining literature on the history of the legal profession in Canada, one
theme dominates in particular: it is a history of white, male elites-most often of An-
glo-Saxon Protestant origin, and in Qu6bec, French-Catholic.’ The paucity of litera-
ture reflecting the experiences of other ethnic minorities in the profession might create
the misperception that ethnic minorities did not enter the profession until the post-war
economic boom which coincided with the increased arrival of non-white and non-
English-speaking immigrants.2 Alternatively, some believe that diversification in the
profession was simply a result of governmental multiculturalism policies.

There has recently been a proliferation of work on the experiences of “that other
visible minority” in the profession, i.e., women.! However, with regard to racial and
ethnic minorities in the legal profession, there has yet to be a definitive history detail-
ing the experiences of non-white, non-Anglo-Celtic, non-Francophone, or even non-
Christian lawyers in Canada, akin to Jerold Auerbach’s work on discrimination in the
American Bar, Unequal Justice.! This is not to suggest that there could be, or need be,
a singular work that addresses all of these experiences, given the ethnic and cultural
diversity prevalent among current members of the profession, not to mention the geo-
graphic distinctiveness of the various Canadian bars. The existing body of literature,
however, fails to acknowledge the vital contribution of certain ethnic minorities to the
development of the legal profession-and, by extension, the law-in Canada.

One of the more prevalent themes concerning the development of the legal pro-
fession is the relationship between the practice of law and the evolution of nation-
hood. For instance, G. Blaine Baker considers the Law Society of Upper Canada’s
role as educator of nineteenth-century elites and future statesmen.! The theme of na-

‘ One notable exception is P. Sworden, “‘A Small United Nations’: The Hamilton Firm of Millar,
Alexander, Tokiwa and Isaacs, 1962-1993” in C. Wilton, ed., Essays in the History of Canadian Law,
Inside the Law: Canadian Law Finns in Historical Perspective, vol. 7 (Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 1996) [hereinafter Canadian Law Finns in Historical Perspective] 469. Sworden’s article ad-
dresses the theme of racial and ethnic under-representation within the “mainstream” of the profession,
and illustrates how lawyers of diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds could find success in the profes-
sion through alternatives to large, corporate mega-firms.
2 In his introduction, Sworden, ibid., briefly describes the experiences of black Ontario lawyers at
the turn of the century, and the disrimination in British Columbia against admitting Chinese-
Canadians to the Bar (although the latter information is drawn from sources related to their absence
from the Voters’ List).

See generally Sworden, supra note 1.
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1976).
5 See G.B. Baker, “Legal Education in Upper Canada, 1785 to 1889: The Law Society as Educator”
in D.H. Flaherty, ed., Essays in the History of Canadian Law, vol. 2 (Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 1983) 49 at 55 [hereinafter “Legal Education in Upper Canada”] where Baker describes how in
1826, Bishop John Strachan wrote:

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tion-building is also prevalent in other works contemporary to this period, such as
Brian Young’s study of George-Etienne Cartier.’ Young illustrates how Cartier’s links
to socially and politically powerful French-Catholic and Anglo-Protestant families of
Montreal allowed him to develop a thriving legal practice and further his own political
aspirations. J.K. Johnson’s work on Sir John A. Macdonald illustrates parallel devel-
opments in Kingston, Ontario.!

Other works on the development of the legal profession are illustrative of com-
mercial developments in Canada and their relationship to the practice of law.’ In
Lower Canada, as in Upper Canada, the practice of law had become a family affair,
with many members of the profession emanating from a few established legal dynas-
ties. The ranks of the legal elite became predominantly swelled with men of English
or Scottish backgrounds who were intimately connected to the commercial and social
elites of the day. A review of the “biographies” of many of the prominent law firms
that emerged at the end of the nineteenth century illustrates that these dynastic net-
works severely limited opportunities of admission into the profession for those who
were not of their ranks.9 What these works illustrate is that until well after the second

[I]n a country like this [the legal profession] must be the repository of the highest tal-
ents. Lawyers must, from the very nature of our political institutions-from there being
no great landed proprietors-no privileged orders-become the most powerful profes-
sion, and must in time possess more influence and authority than any other.

The ideal lawyer described by Strachan and his contemporaries was to have been a “‘most worthy,
intelligent, loyal, and opulent inhabitant [,] … and [a] gentlemen’ of high character, of large property,
and of superior information!’ See also G.B. Baker, “The Juvenile Advocate Society, 1821 to 1826:
Self-Proclaimed Schoolroom for Upper Canada’s Governing Class” [1985] Hist. Papers: Can. Hist.
Ass’n 74 at 77, 81.

Writing about American lawyers, Alexis de Tocqueville expressed similar views: “If I were asked
where I place the American aristocracy, I should reply without hesitation … that it occupies the judi-
cial bench and bar” (A. de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 3d ed., trans. Henry Reeve (London,
1838) at 2, cited by Auerbach, supra note 4 at 14).
6 B. Young, “Dimensions of a Law Practice: Brokerage and Ideology in the Career of George-
Etienne Cartier” in Canadian Law Finns in Historical Perspective, supra note 1, 92.

‘J.K. Johnson, “John A. Macdonald and the Kingston Business Community” in G. Tulchinsky, ed.,
To Preserve and Defend: Essays on Kingston in the Nineteenth Century (Montreal & Kingston:
McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1976) 141.

8 See G,B. Baker, “Law Practice and Statecraft in Mid-Nineteenth Century Montreal: The Torrance-
Morris Finn, 1848 to 1868” in C. Wilton, ed., Essays in the History of Canadian Law, Beyond the
Law: Lawyers and Business in Canada 1830-1930, vol. 4 (Toronto: Osgoode Society, 1990) [herein-
after Lawyers and Business in Canada] 45. See also D. Hamill, “The Campbell, Meredith Finn of
Montreal: A Case-Study of the Role of Canadian Business Lawyers, 1895-1913″ in Canadian Law
Finns in Historical Perspective, supra note 1, 122.

For a general overview, see M. Bliss, Northern Enterprise: Five Centuries of Canadian Business
(Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1987); and G. Tulchinsky, The River Barons: Montreal Business-
men and the Growth of hIdustry and Transportation, 1837-53 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press,
1977).

Of particular note for the history of the Montreal legal community are D. Mitchell & J. Slinn, The
History of McMaster Meighen (Montreal: McMaster Meighen, 1989); and D.H. Tees, Chronicles of

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World War, a lawyer essentially was the firm, and a firm’s growth and evolution de-
pended entirely on the associations of its practitioners.”

With the wave of non-English-speaking immigrants that began at the end of the
nineteenth century, Canada’s justice system faced new challenges. An ethnically diverse
profession was important in ensuring that there was a public perception-and eventually
the reality-that all citizens had equal access to Canadian justice. One group that had a
significant impact on the development of the legal profession was the Jewish commu-
nity, particularly that of Montreal. Not only did these lawyers face discrimination from
the powerful Anglophone elite, but they encountered prejudice from their Francophone
colleagues as well, many of whom lived and worked alongside members of the Jewish
community. Despite the discrimination they faced, these pioneers-who were among
the first distinct non-Anglophone, non-Francophone ethnic community to have a signifi-
cant representation within the legal profession-not only achieved immense success as
lawyers, but also created opportunities in the profession for members of other under-
represented groups, such as women and other ethnic minorities.

This note purports to examine the experiences of Jewish lawyers in the context of
their relationship with their own community, and with the dominant groups within the
legal profession. It will also consider how these experiences shaped the legal practices
of Jewish lawyers and, ultimately, how the contributions of Jewish lawyers to the
practice of law affected both the development of the legal profession and the Jewish
community.

I. Ethnic Lawyers and Legal Elites

Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, one of the salient char-
acteristics of the legal profession was ethnic homogeneity. Writing about the Ameri-
can Bar, Auerbach maintains that Anglo-Saxon Protestant lawyers not only shared the
legal heritage of the common law, but they also shared a “common national cultural
experience’ which served to unite members of the legal profession regardless of their
economic situation or social standing.” Therefore, whether a “country solicitor” or
“city barrister”, membership in the legal profession bestowed society’s recognition
upon an individual and ensured that he belonged not only to a professional fraternity,
but to a fraternity with a homogeneous ethnic identity.

The idea of a common cultural experience for lawyers was weakened by the in-
dustrialization, urbanization, and immigration of the late nineteenth century. With the
large influx of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, the homogeneous
character of North American society was radically altered. As members of these eth-

Ogilvy Renault 1879-1979 (Montreal: Ogilvy, Montgomery, Renault, Clarke, Kirkpatrick, Hannon,
and Howard, 1979).
‘0 C. Wilton, “Introduction: Inside the Law-Canadian Law Firms in Historical Perspective” in Ca-

nadian Law Finns in Historical Perspective, supra note 1, 3 at 8-10 [hereinafter “Inside the Law”].

” Supra note 4 at 19.

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nic groups began to seek admission to the legal profession, it became apparent that
there could no longer be a “common national cultural experience” for lawyers.’2 Thus,
the profession responded by closing its ranks, and it became difficult for the members
of ethnic communities to acquire admission to the legal profession.

The influx of these new ethnic groups was contemporaneous with the develop-
ment of corporate law firms. As the business enterprises of corporate clients grew, the
demand for corporate lawyers increased. However, rather than grant opportunities to
members of new ethnic communities who were seeking to advance themselves in the
legal profession, corporate firms responded by continuing to hire candidates from an
exclusive group of elite families:

The emergence and proliferation of corporation law firms at the turn of the
century provided those lawyers who possessed appropriate social, religious,
and ethnic credentials with an opportunity to secure personal power and to
shape the future of their profession. … Only lawyers who possessed “consider-
able social capital” could inhabit the corporate law firm world. [As descendants
of] families of British lineage, they … followed their fathers into business and
professional careers. They molded the law firm to resemble the corporation;
both restricted access to those who presented proper ethnic and social creden-
tials.

In the early twentieth century, corporate law firms were becoming the “pinnacle” of
success for the legal profession-due in part to their close association with large,
commercially successful enterprises and their monopoly of wealthy clients. Although
the vast majority of law firms would remain “a cottage industry of sole practitioners,”
corporate firms nonetheless had a profound effect on the size, structure, and style of
legal practice-as well as on the recruitment patterns of law firms.”

In the United States, the response to the hiring dilemma in the corporate law
“factories” had been to seek excellent candidates from among the top university law
schools in the country.” The underlying assumption was that the best graduates would
be attracted to these firms, and that this hiring system would create a meritocracy
within the profession.

1 Ibid. at 20.
“Ibid. at 21-22 [emphasis in original].
” Ibid. at 22.
‘* Ibid. at 24. Auerbach wrote:

No longer did friendship with a client or a partner automatically qualify a lawyer for
firm membership. New recruits followed a carefully prescribed path: college (perhaps
Phi Beta Kappa); Harvard, Yale, or Columbia law school; preferably a law review edi-
torship. In addition to academic credentials they were expected to possess “warmth and
force of personality” and “physical stamina”.

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This trend was not mirrored by Canadian law firms for several reasons. First, the
education of lawyers was not consistent across the provinces.” Second, the legal
community and its social network were vastly smaller than those of the north-eastern
American states, and the patronage links were harder to break. For example, at the
Campbell, Meredith firm, candidates other than relatives of partners and clients were
occasionally recruited from among the gold medalists at McGill University’s Faculty
of Law. While this represented a slight enlargement of the hiring pool, this was only a
modest step toward fully meritocratic hiring practices. Family connections still con-
tinued to outweigh considerations of academic credentials in the selection of the
firm’s lawyers.” Thus, the hiring practices of the larger firms-such as Campbell,
Meredith and Brown, Montgomery and McMichael-consolidated enclaves of the
Anglo elite within the corporate element of Montreal’s legal profession.

Although the corporate law firms were over-representative of Anglo-Protestant
Montrealers, they were under-representative of the demographic changes that were
occurring during the same period. Despite the excellent qualifications of many candi-
dates, they nonetheless found themselves excluded from opportunities in “main-
stream” corporate practice because of the persistence of traditional hiring patterns:

Despite the significant developments faced by corporate law firms during the
inter-war years, there was a remarkable degree of continuity in the culture of
the large firms. This was true in relation to firm governance, hiring practices,
and the use of technology. … Personal contacts remained the basis of recruit-
ment, and the vast majority of those hired were White males.”

The Law Societies’ requirement that candidates clerk in the office of one of its mem-
bers for a period of at least three years served to limit opportunities for many candi-
dates. As a result, a large number of ethnic-minority students were excluded because
they did not have the connections required to obtain clerkship positions. Therefore,
they began to rely upon connections within their own communities. The experience of
lawyers in the Montreal Jewish community provides an example of how one ethnic
community responded to discrimination in the legal profession.

II. The Montreal Jewish Community: Important Themes

An analysis of the Montreal Jewish community’s literature reveals several themes
that assist in contextualizing the experiences of Montreal Jewish lawyers.” One of the
primary themes is the impact on the existing Jewish conmunity of substantially in-

” The Law Society of Upper Canada remained the exclusive educator of Ontario lawyers until well
after World War II. In Quebec, McGill’s Faculty of Law continued to be the primary legal educator
for elite Anglophone lawyers. See generally “Legal Education in Upper Canada”, supra note 5.

“”Inside the Law”, supra note 10 at 15.
“Ibid. at 23-24.
‘9 See J.D. Sama, “Jewish immigration to North America: The Canadian Experience (1870-1900)”
[1976] Jewish J. Socio. 18 at 31-41. See also M.L. Smith, Jews of Montreal and their Judaisin: A
Voyage of Discovery (Montreal: Aaron Communications, 1998).

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creased immigration by Eastern European Jews to Montreal in the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries. Another theme is the Jewish community’s relationship with
the Francophone and Anglophone communities in Quebec. It is equally important to
consider the effects of anti-Semitism on the Jewish community. Together these three
themes provide the necessary context for our analysis of the experiences of Montreal
Jewish lawyers.

A. Immigration in the Late 1800s
In the 1880s, a wave of immigration known as The “Great Yiddish Migration”
began and continued until the early 1920s. Hoping to escape a devastating cycle of
political persecution and poverty, thousands of Eastern European Jews began to flee
their homelands and set their destinations for the entry ports of North America. The
numbers immigrating to Montreal were significant enough to result in a “demo-
graphic revolution” in Montreal.” Robinson and Butovsky wrote that this influx of
Eastern European Jewish immigrants into the existing Jewish community of Montreal
“succeeded in transforming a relatively small, largely [acculturated] community into
one of the most prominent Jewish Communities in the North American diaspora ‘2’

This large number of immigrants differed from the older, established Jewish
community which had consisted primarily of Western Europeans who were accultur-
ated, and formed a prominent part of the financial and political spheres of Quebec. In
contrast, the newer arrivals consisted of Jews from a multitude of Eastern European
countries, speaking a variety of languages-none of which was English or French-
thus making integration difficult. Furthermore, they were poor, and this placed a great
strain on the existing Jewish social assistance institutions. One essential distinction is
that, unlike the older community, this new group defined itself not simply as co-
religionists, but as a distinct people.22

The new immigrants placed an overwhelming demand upon the existing Jewish
community resources. To maintain and establish Jewish community services, knowl-
edge of the political and legal framework was required. As a result, the training and
experience possessed by lawyers proved to be vital. Belkin describes how Jewish
lawyers became actively involved in advancing the interests of Jewish immigrants

20 1. Robinson & M. Butovsky, “Introduction” in I. Robinson & M. Butovsky, eds., Renewing Our

Days: Montreal Jews in the Twentieth Century (Montreal: Whicule Press, 1995) 9 at 13.

21 Ibid.
2 G. Tulchinsky, Taking Root. The Origins of the Canadian Jewish Community (Toronto: Lester

Publishing, 1992) at 42 [hereinafter Taking Root]:

[T]hey defined themselves primarly as an ethnic group and included among their num-
bers some Jews who were professed atheists and many more for whom the Judaic re-
ligious institutions served only, or mainly, to legitimate their ethnic distinctiveness in
the eyes of the host society.

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through community agencies.’ An additional advantage was that lawyers were more
likely to speak both French and English, which made them ideal candidates to assume
leadership positions within the community and to represent its interests to Montreal’s
dominant cultural groups.”

B. Strained Relations with Francophone and Anglophone

Communities

The development of the Jewish community’s role in Quebec society can be
viewed from the perspective of its relationship with each of the two dominant relig-
ious and linguistic groups in Quebec.’ Jews were considered by French-Quebecers to
be outsiders because of the connection between the Jewish and English communities
in matters of language, schooling, and commerce 6 Thus, the anti-Semitic sentiment
of the French community increased in proportion to the number of Eastern European
Jews that arrived during the period of the Great Yiddish Migration.” Scholars have
identified that additional sources of this anti-Semitism were the competing social and
economic interests within the small urban neighbourhoods shared by the two groups.2

” See S. Belkin, Through Narrow Gates, A Review of Jewish Inmigration, Colonization and hnni-

grant Aid Work in Canada (1840-1940) (Montreal: Eagle Publishing, 1966).

‘4 Interview with Alan Gold at the offices of Goodman, Phillips & Vineberg, Montreal (11 Novem-
ber 1997). Irwin Cotler noted that Jews had the highest level of bilingualism among non-
Francophones and Jewish lawyers had the highest rate of bilingualism among Jews. According to
Cotler, Jewish lawyers became established as intermediaries between the Jewish community and the
non-Jewish Francophone community (interview with Irwin Cotler, McGill University, Montreal (25
April 1998)).

2S J. Jewab, “The Politics of Dialogue: Rapprochement Efforts between Jews and French Canadians,

1939-1960” in Robinson & Butovsky, supra note 20,42 at 44:

As Quebec’s education and charitable systems were divided along confessional and
linguistic lines, social interaction between French Catholics, Anglo-Protestants and
Jews was somewhat more infrequent in Montreal than elsewhere in North America. As
the other groups created their own hospitals, golf clubs and summer camps, so too did
the Montreal Jewish community. With the relative failure of either the Anglo-Protestants
or French Canadians to display what has been described as “an attitude of receptivity”
some suggested that the Montreal Jewish community constituted a “third solitude”. Yet
others have referred to the Montreal Jewish community as a “world between”.

A more exhaustive study of the relationship between the Jews and French Canadians is found in J.
Langlais & D. Rome, Jews & French Quebecers. Two Hundred Years of Shared History, trans. B.
Young (Waterloo: Wilfried Laurier University Press, 1991).

26 See generally W.M. Harold & M. Weinfeld, “The Jews of Quebec and ‘Le Fait Frangais'” in M.
Weinfeld, W. Shaffir & I. Cotler, eds., The Canadian Jewish Mosaic (Rexdale: John Wiley & Sons
Canada, 1981) [hereinafter Mosaic] 415 at 418.

2See generally Langlais & Rome, supra note 25.
26 Robinson & Butovsky, supra note 20 at 17: “Their immediate neighbours in the working-class

slums and ghettos were the French Canadian poor. In many cases the French-Canadian working-class
was hostile to the intrusion of ‘foreigners’ in their districts and expressed their animosity in violent
altercations.”

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In addition, the perceived need to protect the homogeneous character of French relig-
ious and cultural institutions against the growing Jewish population increased anti-
Semitic attitudes and behaviour.” In light of their experiences with French-Quebecers,
the Jewish community regarded the less hostile anti-Semitic attitudes of the Anglo-
phone community as more tolerable. The Jewish community therefore sought inte-
gration with the Anglophones, thereby even further alienating themselves from the
Francophone community.

The Anglophone community had been the Jewish community’s model of leader-
ship and integration into Canadian society for economic and social advancement.”
The association between the two communities was strengthened by the fact that Que-
bec’s education system was organized along the lines of religious denomination. Be-
cause Jewish students were excluded from Roman Catholic schools, they became de
facto Protestants for the purposes of education. For much of the nineteenth century,
the Anglo-Protestant community of Montreal had maintained a cordial relationship
with the established Jewish community. By the end of the century, however, the influx
of these non-English-speaking immigrants strained relations between the two groups.
The tension was heightened in 1921 when the Protestant School Board drafted a bill
that effectively segregated Jewish students. Moreover, restrictions were not limited to
primary and secondary schools; at McGill University, for example, strict quotas were
introduced to limit the number of Jewish students in several faculties.” Thus, anti-
Semitism was not confined to the French community; instead, the systematic anti-
Semitism of English-Protestants was “more efficient, though better concealed.”

C. The Effects of Anti-Semitism
Throughout the early twentieth century, Jews were actively discriminated against
in their attempts to participate equally in Canadian life.” In response to the anti-

Langlais & Rome, supra note 25 at 53. See also Irving Abella’s analysis that highlights the extent
of discrimination among the leaders of the Francophone community in 1. Abella, “Anti-Semitism in
Canada in the Inter-war Years” in R. Moses, ed., The Jews of North America (Detroit: Wayne State
University Press, 1987) 235 at 239: “In the writings of almost every leading church and nationalist
figure in Quebec, the Jew was commonly depicted as a parasite, the bearer of a germ spreading an in-
sidious disease that was undermining the national health.”

” Robinson & Butovsky, supra note 20 at 16, described Montreal’s Anglophone community: “Re-
motely ensconced in the western parts of the city, [the English Canadians] demonstrably occupied
leadership positions in the city: in trade and commerce, the professions, and public institutions.”
” Taking Root, supra note 22 at 241. While this was true of the Faculties of Arts and Medicine,

McGill’s Faculty of Law did not institute quotas.

12 Langlais & Rome, supra note 25 at 87-88.
“Abella, supra note 29 at 236-239. Abella emphasized that during the inter-war period it was not
uncommon for Jews
to be excluded from employment opportunities, educational institutions,
beaches, resorts, and restaurants. In addition, Jews were continually threatened, harassed, and as-
saulted because of their religious and ethnic identity.

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Semitic reaction of Quebec’s two ethnic majorities, the institutions of the Jewish
community began to reflect the community’s more immediate needs and concerns.’
Jews began to develop a network of ethnic community organizations through the for-
mation of social, cultural, and economic institutions in order to preserve their ethnic
roots.'” According to Evelyn Kallen, author of a socio-anthropological study on Jew-
ish identity:

Prejudice and discrimination against Jews in Canada, as in Europe, provided
strong boundary maintaining mechanisms, isolating the Jewish population and
reinforcing the negative, racial stereotype imposed upon Jews by others. While
this negative stereotype impeded penetration and upward mobility of Jews
within public, Anglo-Canadian institutions, it also created a “backlash” by
strengthening bonds forged with ethnic insiders through common participation
in Jewish institutions.”

Kallen describes how the Jewish values of “hard work and moderate living”–similar
to the Anglo-Protestant work ethic-helped facilitate the community’s acculturation
process.” Furthermore, the underlying religious premise (rooted in Talmudic ethics)
that Jews are responsible for one another was an additional factor that motivated them
to build essential services within the Jewish community.

The significant degree of prejudice and discrimination encountered by Jews iso-
lated the community and compelled its members to promote self-reliance and protec-
tion. Kallen indicated that the community’s adoption of self-employment was a self-
preservation technique and a means of avoiding job discrimination.” Collective bonds
within the ethnic community were consequently strengthened. To establish and
maintain Jewish community services, knowledge of the political and legal framework

The negative results of anti-Semitic attitudes on various aspects of Jewish life were described by the
Canadian Jewish Congress, Report on Anti-Semitic Activities in Canada (Montreal: Canadian Jewish
Congress, 1937) at 236:

The most pernicious results of this movement have been the startling increase in the
number of individuals and companies who refuse to rent living quarters to Jews; the
spreading policy of not employing Jews; the boycott of all Jewish firms; the sporadic
attempts by various organizations to involve Jews in disturbances and in violence.

4Jewab, supra note 25 at 44. Jewab described how the dynamics between the Jewish community

and Quebec’s two dominant groups affected the community’s development:

From the beginning of the twentieth century, the insularity of the French Catholic
community, combined with the English Protestant minority’s desire to maintain strict
control over its institutions, resulted in the Montreal Jewish community assuming per-
haps greater responsibility for its own social and institutional development than was the
case elsewhere in Canada and the United States (ibid.).

‘4See generally M. Rosenberg, “The Montreal Jewish Community” in C. Spillberg & Y. Zipper,
eds., Canadian Jewish Anthology (Montreal: Canadian Jewish Congress, 1982) 31 at 33 [hereinafter
“Montreal Jewish Community”].

“E. Kallen, Spanning the Generations: A Study in Jewish Identity (Toronto: Longman, 1977) at 44.
‘ Ibid. at 43.
Ibid. at 42.

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was required. The training and experience possessed by lawyers proved to be vital. As
Jewish lawyers were impeded from practising outside their community, their depend-
ence on the Jewish community for clients strengthened their commitment to the
community’s development.

Ill. Jews in the Legal Profession, 1880-1950

For the better part of the twentieth century, Jewish lawyers were not segregated
from their community by educational achievement, professional affiliations, or class
distinctions.”9 The fact that Jewish lawyers shared a similar immigrant experience with
others in their ethnic group created a “positive effect” on their participation in com-
munity activities.”‘ The limited number of Jewish lawyers only reinforced their im-
portance within the role of community development.” In a predominantly immigrant
community not familiar with the laws and workings of Canadian society, lawyers
played a crucial role. One Jewish lawyer in Montreal during this period emphasized
the degree of respect that was shown by immigrants coming to his office: “The for-
eign elements regard a lawyer or a doctor as a god.”” Philip Vineberg described the
unique role that a Jewish lawyer played in his ethnic community in similar terms:

A lawyer at that time was a rather more remarkable person within the Jewish
community than he is today. To the people who had little in the way of secular
education, the lawyer was an intellectual aristocrat, something rather special.
There were a very limited number of lawyers in the Jewish community.”

Lawyers within the Jewish community were thus well-respected, and participation in
the legal profession was encouraged within the community.

In the early twentieth century, there was a high rate of Jewish participation in the
legal profession across Canada. According to the 1931 census, the total number of
Jewish lawyers and notaries in Canada was 351-representing 4.35% of the popula-
tion of those occupational groups in Canada-yet Jews totalled only 1.51% of the

” L. Rosenberg, Canada’s Jews: A Social & Economic Study of the Jews in Canada (Montreal: Ca-
nadian Jewish Congress, 1939) at 196 [hereinafter Canada’s Jews]. According to the 1931 Census,
the majority of Jewish lawyers practising in Canada were foreign-born: 178 out of the total 351 Jew-
ish members of the profession.

” “Montreal Jewish Community”, supra note 35 at 36. See also I. Howe, World of Our Fathers

(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1976).

“‘ In 1931, the Jewish lawyers and notaries of Montreal numbered only seventy-three, and repre-
sented 8.77% of all lawyers and notaries in that city. This figure demonstrates a high participation rate
given that Jews then represented only 3.78% of the population in the Greater Montreal area: see Can-
ada’s Jews, supra note 39 at 193, 370.

42 R. Gold, Occupational Selection and Adjustment in the Jewish Group in Montreal With Special
Reference to the Medical Profession (Masters Thesis, McGill University, 1942) [unpublished] at xlvi
[hereinafter Occupational Selection].

” P. Vineberg, “A Man of History, Samuel W. Jacobs, M.P.: One of the Founders of the Montreal
Jewish Community” in Canadian Jewish Congress, Congress Bulletin (Montreal: Canadian Jewish
Congress, 1967) 5 at II.

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Canadian population.’ The 1931 census’ further evidence of high Jewish participation
is that 0.57% of the Jewish population in Canada identified themselves as lawyers or
notaries, in comparison with the average for the general population, where only
0.22% identified themselves as lawyers.” This fact is explained by the 218.9% in-
crease in the number of Jews joining the professions in the period between 1921 and
1931, compared to a 129.3% increase in the general population.”

The significant participation of Jews in the Canadian legal profession was a result
of various factors, including the cultural importance that the Jewish community
placed on the attainment of educational success.” In his analysis of the 1931 census,
Louis Rosenberg concluded that Jews were attracted to the professions because they
provided an opportunity to escape the negative effects of discrimination:

Examination of the statistics and the actual situation in various cities leads one
to the conclusion that the motivating factor which attracts Jews to certain pro-
fessions rather than to others is not prestige, higher income, preference or he-
reditary tendency, but the necessity of training for a profession in which they
will not be dependent upon a public or private employer for a position, and will
not be faced with the danger of initial exclusion or subsequent dismissal as a
result of racial, social, or religious prejudice

A desire for self-sufficiency and security within their employment situation moti-
vated Jews in Canada to attain professional credentials. Casper Bloom described how
parental influence motivated Jewish children to pursue careers in the professions for
reasons of self-sufficiency and self-preservation:

Jews tended to become doctors, lawyers and accountants partly because their
parents influenced them and forced them into these professions, which did not
rely on employers who might take away their chances to succeed because they
were Jewish. Jews realized that they had to work harder to prove themselves
and even so they weren’t accepted and didn’t get a fair shake. Where Jews
could prove themselves and succeed was when they worked for themselves.’

Canada’s Jews, supra note 39 at 193 and 362.

4.,Ibid. at 19 1.
16 Ibid. at 173.
47 See Kallen, supra note 36 at 43:

The traditional Judaic value of religious learning and the customary favouring of intel-
lectual accomplishments, as opposed to physical, were easily transformed, within the
Canadian context, into a primary emphasis on the value of secular, public education.
Most Jewish immigrants had little or no secular education upon arrival in Canada, and
the demands upon their time and energy required in order to earn a living precluded
further education advancement. Under contact conditions, however, the high value
placed on education merged with the traditional goal of”a better life for their children”
and the strategy of immigrant parents focused typically on the acquisition of wealth as
the means to the primary goal of higher education for the next generation.

” Canada’s Jews, supra note 39 at 192.
” Interview with Casper Bloom at the offices of Ogilvy Renault, Montreal (23 January 1999).

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Participation in the professions allowed Jews to overcome dependence on positions in
large corporations or public bodies, where they experienced considerable difficulty in
obtaining employment!” For many Jews, law was not their first choice of profession,
but it was considered to be their best, given the anti-Semitism that was prevalent dur-
ing the 1930s and 1940s.

Another reason for the high participation rate of Jews in the legal profession dur-
ing the inter-war period was related to the ability of students to enter law school with-
out the usual quotas that affected Jewish participation in other university faculties.
Alan Gold has emphasized that being Jewish was not a hindering factor in his appli-
cation to McGill University’s Faculty of Law in 1938:

I should say even though those were the years when they still had a quota on
Jewish students, the Faculty of Law did not. It was only the undergraduate
school, arts and science that did, so I had no problem wondering whether I
would be admitted or not.”

It was not only McGill’s Faculty of Law that accepted Jewish students without a
quota. Gold ultimately studied law at the Universit6 de Montr6al, where his identity as
a Jew did not hinder his acceptance to the law school. Gold’s experience was reflected
in data collected by the Registrar’s Office of McGill University which reported that
41% of students in the Faculty of Law in 1924-1925 were Jewish, 39% in 1925-1926,
44% in 1926-1927, and 40% in 1930-1931 ” Furthermore, the archives of the Univer-
sit6 de Montrdal provide statistics that show 150 o-i.e., 32-of the 218 students reg-
istered in the Faculty of Law in 1933-34 were Jewish.” Across the country, there were
almost twice as many Jews studying law (10.53%) as members of all other groups
(5.97%)’4

A. Discrimination of Jews in the Legal Profession
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the elite members of the legal
profession equally discriminated against “non-whites, non-males, and non-Christians”
alike.” Although it has been argued that this type of discrimination reflected the nor-

” As emphasized by one Montreal lawyer, a career in the legal profession represented a means
whereby a Jew could obtain some control over his career: “The law profession was not a life-long
ambition with me, nor did I seriously consider it when I was in college. I became a lawyer because
this was the line of least resistance. I could pave my own way in life” (Occupational Selection, supra
note 42 at lii).

” A. Gold, “Lawyers and Judges are Just a Family for Better or for Worse” in B.M. Knight & R.A.
Alkallay, eds., Voices of Canadian Jews (Montreal: Chestnut Press, 1988) 63 at 65 [hereinafter “Law-
yers and Judges”].

” P. Anctil, Le rendez-vous manqu ? Les Jtifs de Montrial face an Qudbec de l’entre-detux-guerres

(Qubec: Institut Qudbdcois de recherche sur ]a culture, 1988) at 67.

“Ibid. at 146.
‘ Canada’s Jews, supra note 39 at 271.
“Auerbach, supra note 4 at 30.

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mative order with respect to cultural prejudices at the time, Auerbach contends that
discrimination within the legal profession had more to do with the self-preservation of
a perceived legal “culture” and the community to which this culture belonged.” While
the roots of this prejudice lay in the societal norms of the day, its actual manifestation
may have been motivated by concerns for the preservation of homogeneous values
within the profession.

The fact that Jews were entering the profession in greater numbers than most
other ethnic groups made them more susceptible to discrimination on a larger scale, as
they were perceived to be a threat to the homogeneous character of the legal elite.
Many of the opportunities available as a result of the expanding economy were not
available to Jewish lawyers. There was a shortage of qualified young lawyers in
Montreal, which further heightened the potential for Jewish lawyers to exploit new
economic opportunities.” The effect of anti-Semitism, however, was to limit their ac-
cess to many of the new opportunities. Jews had to work harder than other groups
only to accept less.’

Although opportunities existed for Jewish students studying law, these students
were not immune from the prevailing discriminatory environment against Jews in
Quebec. The large presence of Jews at McGill came to be identified in the late 1920s
as the “Jewish Problem”. In fact, even without a formal quota imposed on Jewish stu-
dents in the Faculty of Law, the number of Jewish students decreased dramatically in
the 1930s-from 40% of the total population in 1930-1931 to only 5% of students in
1935-1936.’ According to Rosenberg’s 1939 study of the Jewish community, he de-

56 In Hamill’s study of the Campbell, Meredith firm, supra note 8 at 96, the author maintains that
this type of systemic discrimination was based on social normativity rather than any defect in the pro-
fession:

In its gender and ethnic exclusivity, the [Campbell, Meredith] firm mirrored the con-
temporary prejudices of Canadian society. However, given that these prejudices were
societal rather than institutional in origin, it would be presentist to criticize Campbell,
Meredith for exhibiting racist or sexist tendencies: the firm was merely a product of its
time and culture.

In contrast, Auerbach, ibid at 4, argued:

A paramount objective of this elite was to structure the legal profession-its education,
admissions, ethics, discipline and services–to serve certain political preferences at a
time when social change threatened the status and values of the groups to which elite
lawyers belonged and whose interests they wished to protect.

.Mitchell & Slinn, supra note 9 at 79.
58See generally Canada’s Jews, supra note 39 at 304:

It is taken for granted that for a Jew to secure an appointment in competition with non-
Jews he must be ten times as good as the average applicant in order to have a tenth of
the average applicant’s chance. … Many firms in advertising for employees add the
words “Gentiles only” or “Christians only”.

59 Anctil, supra note 52 at 65, 69-73.

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scribed how the use of anti-Semitic propaganda discouraged the application and ac-
ceptance of Jewish students in Canada’s law schools:

[S]ome have even gone so far as to justify the many devices, open or camou-
flaged, which are used by professional schools and colleges to limit the number
of Jewish graduates in certain professional fields, or to suggest that Jews them-
selves adopt a sort of “self-denying” ordinance and limit the number of Jewish
students in training for the medical and legal professions.’

This discouragement was achieved even without official quotas.

Even admission to law school did not enable Jewish students to escape the effects

of anti-Semitism. As described by Gold regarding his own experience:

There is no doubt that during the years when I was at law school, 1938-1941,
there was a fairly obvious undercurrent and sometimes it was an over-current, if
that’s the proper term, of anti-Semitism in the community and the university
did not escape it. … [There were moments at the University where I was surely
unhappy and uneasy…. They were difficult times, without question. To say that
they were not would be to deny reality.”

Another experience demonstrates how Jewish law students had to deal with prejudice
among friends:

I was the only Jew in law and got along well with the French-Canadians. I was
invited to all their functions. One incident, however, disillusioned me greatly.
On a visit to the breweries, with a police escort, the boys, in the midst of a lot
of noise, started yelling “A bas les Juifs”! I was very surprised and said so.
“Mais vous &tes diffdrent”. The usual response. 2

In the inter-war years, Montreal’s Jewish lawyers thus experienced anti-Semitism
throughout every stage of their professional development-from the beginning of
their legal education to the development of their practice-and also in their profes-
sional activities and associations.

Despite the limitations placed on Jewish participation in the legal profession, Jews
were active in several professional associations and governing bodies. Nevertheless,
they could not escape anti-Semitic attitudes and behaviour, even among their profes-
sional colleagues. The most prominent lawyers in the Jewish community, such as
Samuel Jacobs and Louis Fitch, also experienced discrimination in their attempts to
obtain leadership positions at the Bar.” Jacobs, however, became Treasurer of the
Montreal Bar in 1916. Yet despite the unwritten custom that the English-speaking
Treasurer succeeded to the office of Batonnier, Jacobs was never accorded this title,

Canada’s Jews, supra note 39 at 190.

o “Lawyers and Judges”, supra note 51 at 73.
62 Occupational Selection, supra note 42 at 52.

See B. Figler, Sam Jacobs, Member of Parliament (Samuel William Jacobs KC., MR., 1871-1938)
(Gardenvale, Qc.: Harpell’s Press Co-operative, 1959) [hereinafter Sam Jacobs]. See also B. Figler,
Louis Fitch, KC. (Ottawa: Canadian Jewish Profiles, 1968) [hereinafter Louis Fitch].

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and was passed over in favour of an Anglo-Protestant candidate.’ Similarly, Fitch met
with disappointment in his attempts to gain recognition at the Bar: “His English and
French colleagues became Crown Attorneys, Bdtonniers of the Montreal and Provin-
cial Bars, [and] were appointed to the Bench of the Superior and Appellate Courts.
But no Jew could receive such appointments’
Instead, Fitch had to settle for modest
appointments as a member of the Bar Library Committee in 1927, and then as an
elected councillor of the Montreal Bar in 1950.

David Rome has described other examples of how Jewish lawyers continuously
struggled to obtain representation on the Council of the Montreal Bar.’ Nathan
Gordon, a Jewish lawyer, was nominated in 1933 as one of the three English-speaking
positions for the Council. The tradition was that Francophone members would sup-
port the Anglophone nominations, thus ensuring adequate bicultural representation.
However, various English members suggested to the French members that they should
nominate an additional French candidate in addition to the two traditionally assigned
to them. The result was that Gordon, the Jewish-English candidate, was defeated.
Rome concluded that prejudice was the reason for his defeat.” In Alan Gold’s opin-
ion, Rome’s conclusion is supported by the fact that because Jews were a minority
within the English-speaking sector of the Bar, they would never be able to elect a
Jewish candidate to the Bar prior to the end of the World War II.

The following account is a clear example of the struggle that Jewish lawyers en-
countered in their attempts to obtain representation on the Council of the Montreal
Bar.” The Quebec Bar held its 1948. conference at the Mont-Tremblant Lodge-a fa-
cility in the Quebec Laurentians owned by Joseph Ryan-which did not admit Jews.
This meant that senior members of the Montreal Bar who were Jewish could not at-
tend.”‘ The Batonnier of the Montreal Bar, Gustave Monette, K.C., was appalled by

‘4Sam Jacobs, ibid. at 43.
“Louis Fitch, supra note 63 at 84.

D. Rome, Clouds in the Thirties On Anti-Semitism in Canada: 1929-1939 (Montreal: Canadian

Jewish Congress) vol. 2 at 78.

,7 Rome, ibid., wrote:

In consequence-and by deliberate choice–the English had two minority seats on the
council instead of the three they were entitled to by agreement-a very significant sur-
render of position motivated solely by racial prejudice, for even those who opposed
Gordon paid high tribute to him as a person and as an advocate.
” The details of this experience were provided by Gold, supra note 24.
69 The Lord Reading Law Society, 50th Anniversary Gala Evening Program (Montreal: Lord

Reading Society, 1998) at 23:

At that time, the Lodge, like many other establishments in the Laurentians and else-
where, had a policy of “no Jews and dogs:’ When representation is made to change the
venue, Ryan’s reply is that, it being off-season, there would not likely be many gentile
guests around to be offended by a Jewish presence!

See also J. Arnold, “Jews make gains in Quebec legal profession” The Canadian Jewish News (7
April 1988) 7.

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the exclusion and demanded that the hotel admit Jewish members of the Bar as his
guests. The hotel tolerated this arrangement, but the senior Jewish members of the Bar
were not appeased. The Jewish members of the Bar held a meeting and urged a boy-
cott of the convention.

The affair galvanized Montreal’s Jewish lawyers to advance their objective of ob-
taining their own representative on the Montreal Council. The movement was de-
scribed in the Society annals as follows:

To prevent the recurrence of incidents like the unfortunate Mont-Tremblant af-
fair, Gustave Monette also assures the group that the Bar of Montreal would
amend its constitution whereby one member of the Jewish faith would be on
the Council at all times. Arrangements are made with the English-speaking
Section of the Bar of Montreal that one of the Anglophones be a Jew.7

The English members of the Bar acquiesced, provided that the Jewish lawyers found
their own method of electing that representative. The Lord Reading Society was thus
founded to serve as vehicle to ensure the fair representation of Jews at the Quebec
Bar, and also to function as a social group for Jewish lawyers. In 1948, the Jewish
lawyers of Montreal achieved their goal of attaining a seat on the Montreal Council,
but it was not until 1969 that a Jew would become the BAtonnier of the Montreal Bar.”
Since the Society’s inception, it has been recognized that the Jewish representative on
the Montreal Bar Council is a nominee of the Society. 2

The same policy of exclusion existed with respect to the judiciary. Prior to 1950,
there were no Jewish appointments to any tribunals in Quebec.” That year, Harry Bat-
shaw became the first Jewish lawyer in Quebec to be appointed to the Superior
Court.” Furthermore, it was not until 1961 that Alan Gold became the first Jew ap-
pointed to the Provincial Court of Quebec.” Rosenberg attributed the lack of Jewish
representation in the judiciary to the struggles between the two rival ethnic groups-
i.e., Francophones and Anglophones-who appointed judges to balance and preserve
their own power in the governing structures of Canadian society.’ During the 1960s

The Lord Reading Law Society, ibid.

“Sam Jacobs, supra note 63 at 43: Philip F. Vineberg, Q.C. was elected BAtonnier in 1969 by ac-

clamation.

7, One of the current responsibilities of The Lord Reading Law Society is to recommend to the Ex-
ecutive Committee of the English-Speaking Section of the Bar of Montreal the name or names of
members of the Jewish faith who would be worthy candidates for nomination to positions available to
English-speaking members on the Council of the Bar of Montreal.

” Canada’s Jews, supra note 39 at 196. Rosenberg found that in 1931 there was no magistrate or

judge of Jewish origin in Canada.

” Louis Fitch, supra note 63 at 84.

“Lawyers and Judges”, supra note 51 at.74.

76 Canada’s Jews, supra note 39 at 196. See also Arnold, supra note 69, where Morton Bressner

highlights the notable lack of Jewish representation in the Judiciary:

The rarity of Jews in judicial positions in Canada was all the more notable in view of
the fact that Jews had held very prominent positions in the judiciary and the admini-

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and 1970s, The Lord Reading Law Society continually advocated for greater repre-
sentation of Jewish legal professionals on the Bench-especially considering the large
number of Jews in the Montreal Bar. In a letter to the Minister of Justice and Attor-
ney-General of Canada, Otto Lang, Yoine Goldstein wrote:

[S]ince the Anglophone membership of the Montreal Bar is one-half Jewish, it
would be appropriate, given all the circumstances and the eminent positions
which some of the Jewish members occupy before the Bar, that a Jewish ap-
pointment to the Court of Appeal be considered.”

As a result of the Society’s efforts, in 1973 Fred Kaufman became the first Jew ap-
pointed as ajudge to the Court of Appeal of Quebec.

Not only were Jewish lawyers excluded from representation on the Bench, but
they also experienced the anti-Semitic attitudes of members of the Bench. The most
evident manifestation of this prejudice appeared in the Judiciary’s tendency to base
decisions on Jewish stereotypes: “Due to the prejudice of the judge, I lost one case
which I am sure I won legally. I had it against a French outfit. The judge was known
to be anti-Semitic “” Many lawyers thus became self-conscious of the effect of cul-
tural differences on their pleadings and they attempted to hide their ethnic identities,
as illustrated in the following example:

My partner tells me of an instance where two lawyers, one a Jew and one a
Christian, were fighting an accident case, when the judge imitated the sing-
song voice of the Jew. Personally I don’t think I speak with a Jewish tone of
voice. … It is not justifiable to mock my speech when I take particular pains not
to speak as a-Jew all the time.”

It was therefore perceived that a visible Jewish identity represented a negative factor
in the attempt to achieve courtroom success.

Once Jewish lawyers had attained admission to the profession, they were limited
in their opportunities for advancement beyond their own boutique practices. With the
shift to corporate law firms in the 1920s and 1930s, one of the main routes to career
and financial success for a lawyer was to find work in an established law firm. The

stration of justice in Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and the Crown colonies,
where Jews formed a much smaller proportion of the population than in Canada.

77 The Lord Reading Law Society, supra note 69 at 27.
71 Occupational Selection, supra note 42 at I; see also at xlviv which describes the following experi-

ence of how judicial decisions were affected by the fact that Jews were parties to the proceedings:
A grocer brought charges against a message boy who had not handed in the money he
had collected. The former knew that if he did not have a good lawyer, he would be li-
able for costs etc. He took out a warrant for his arrest. The boy, a French-Canadian,
admitted his guilt. The judge said to me, “My colleague often has collection cases in
this court from you people (Jews).” This judge doesn’t like Jews. I answered, “My
Lord, one must distinguish between collection and criminal cases?’ It was no use. I got
very little pay. I spent an enormous amount of time looking up things; waiting in court;
and postponing other business.
9 Occupational Selection, ibid. at I.

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connections made at those law firms provided channels into the economic and corpo-
rate elite. Most Jewish lawyers, however, suffered from the restricted hiring practices
of larger law firms in Montreal. For example, at Ogilvy Renault in the 1930s and
1940s, there were no Jews practicing law.” The climate of exclusion was similar at
McMaster Meighen, which hired no ethnic minorities in this period except for one
Egyptian lawyer as a junior for a brief period in January 1944.” Alan Gold describes
how the exclusion of Jews from larger law firms was the norm:

It was a well-accepted fact that English firms would not hire Jewish students.
Some may have been taken on a volunteer basis, however, with the under-
standing that they wouldn’t be kept on at the end of their articling stage. It was
not normally the practice for French firms to hire Jewish law students but this
was mostly because of a language issue. Also, French firms were mostly sole
practitioners unlike the larger English corporate law firms downtown.”2

Manuel Shacter, moreover, noted that after his graduation from McGill’s Faculty of
Law in 1947, it was extremely difficult for Jewish lawyers to find work in non-Jewish
law firms or businesses.”

The inability of Jewish lawyers to find work in their field was not limited to
Montreal. In 1937, Bora Laskin-future Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Can-
ada-was unable to obtain employment in Toronto after completing his LL.M. at
Harvard. This suggests that Jews in other Canadian cities may have encountered
similar resistance.” It would appear, at the time, that even the most successful young
Jewish lawyers struggled to find employment opportunities in non-Jewish firms.

Given their exclusion from large law firms, one option for Jewish lawyers looking
to advance their careers was to find work in the growing area of corporate legal coun-

“Tees, supra note 9 at 140-144.
,Mitchell & Slinn, supra note 9 at 80.
,Supra note 24,
‘ Interview with Manuel Shacter at the offices of Mendelsohn Rosentzveig Shacter, Montreal (22

“”Inside

the Law”, supra note 10 at 50-51, n. 92. Wilton describes similar experiences of other

January 1999).

Ontario Jewish lawyers:

It has been suggested that aspiring Jewish lawyers … during the inter-war years faced
increasing difficulties in establishing themselves in the law. Unlike the Jewish candi-
dates for entry into the profession at the turn of the century, the new cohort encountered
obstacles related to their working-class and Yiddish-speaking backgrounds (ibid.).

In J. Bickenbach, “Lawyers, Law Professors, and Racism in Ontario” (1990) 96 Queen’s Q. 585
at 594, the author illustrates how Maxwell Cohen attempted to accommodate himself to the reality of
anti-Semitism that surrounded Jewish lawyers:

Maxwell Cohen, writing from Harvard Law School to Caesar Augustus Wright about
Bora Laskin’s difficulties, allowed that he too would likely have similar problems when
he looked for ajob in Canada: “I recognize” he wrote, “that the Jewish Problem in To-
ronto presents a serious obstacle, but personal interviews might do a little to offset the
initial disadvantage of name.”

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sel. However, the same restrictions prevailed. David Rome describes how exclusion
from employment in the growing industrial and financial sector was a rallying cause
for the actions of the Canadian Jewish Congress in 1935:

The chartered Banks of Canada, the insurance companies of the Dominion, the
trust companies of the country, and large industrial and commercial interests
from coast to coast discriminate against the employment of Jews, openly….
The discrimination against Jewish labour … is the most serious problem faced
by Canadian Jewry.”

The Congress’ concerns about discrimination were justified by Rosenberg’s 1931 cen-
sus analysis which found that those of Jewish origin employed as officials in bank and
loan companies totalled seventeen for all of Canada, and only three for Montreal. Ro-
senberg reported that for the financial sector in general, there were only 130 Jews em-
ployed “forming only 0.35% of all persons engaged in financial pursuits in Canada-
although the Jewish population formed 1.51% of the total population.” The exclusion
of Jews from employment opportunities at larger corporate law firms and their corpo-
rate clients is also evident in the low number of Jewish directors on boards of major
Canadian corporations. Rosenberg found that Jews in 1931 held only 0.74% of all di-
rectorates listed in the “Canadian Directory of Directors”-far less than their 1.51%
of the total population. There were only five Jewish directors among Canada’s one
hundred largest corporations. In 1931, no Jew had been a director of any of the Cana-
dian chartered banks, railways, ocean or air transportation companies, telephone and
telegraph companies, or public utilities and pulp and paper corporations.”

With the expanding industrial economy came the demand for more regulation and
involvement by government in industrial development. Carol Wilton emphasizes that
government employment for lawyers “became an ever more significant alternative to
private practice.” However, Jews were also under-represented among those employed
in government. Rosenberg reported that according to the 1931 census, there were only
453 Jews working in public administration-representing only 0.73% of all Jews em-
ployed. In comparison to other ethnic groups, Jews had one of the lowest participation
rates in public administration even though Jews had the highest level of educational
achievement of any ethnic group in Canada. Casper Bloom explained that the under-
representation of Jews in the public service was a result of the fact that they were not
part of the traditional English or French elite:

In the 1960s, the public service in Quebec has become the exclusive domain of
Francophones. Very few non-francophones were working for the public service
and very few actually work there today. In the 1950s and 1960s, the federal

” Supra note 66 at 33. See also Bliss, supra note 8 at 400, where the author writes that the subse-
quent success of Jewish businessmen and professionals exposed those institutions controlled by the
Anglo-Protestant elite which had traditionally excluded Jews.

Canada’s Jews, supra note 39 at 215.
7Ibid. at 214-15.
C. Wilton, “Introduction-Beyond the Law: Lawyers & Business in Canada, 1830-1930″ in Law-

yers and Business in Canada, supra note 8, 5 at 5.

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government bureaucracy was too anglicized. However, it started to change un-
der St. Laurent and Pearson. Yet even though Jews were associated with the
Anglophone community in Quebec, they still got few jobs in the federal civil
service in the 1950s and 1960s.’

Rosenberg reported that in 1931, Quebec had the smallest percentage of Jews engaged
in public administration. In Montreal, only 0.01% of the public service was Jewish,
whereas the average of all other groups was 0.34%.” Even when Jews did find positions
in the public sector, discrimination limited their opportunities for advancement:

With the exclusion which operates at the top of other social hierarchies, and
with freedom of entry into the bureaucracy, there may be relatively more Jew-
ish candidates for promotion. Thus, for the Jew, ethnicity may act negatively on
promotion in the sense that a “tactful balance” at the higher levels may be
sought also for this ethnic group.”‘

The public sector therefore did not provide a refuge from the anti-Semitic attitudes
that Jewish lawyers encountered in private sector employment opportunities. The ex-
clusion of Jews from the public sector actually helped to reinforce discrimination.

The effects of anti-Semitism were intensified during the 1930s by the Great De-
pression. Jewish lawyers-who predominantly worked as sole practitioners-had
even greater difficulty finding business during the Depression. 2 In contrast to the
larger firms-whose large set of corporate clients allowed them to quickly recover
from the economic downturn-many Jewish lawyers struggled in dismal working
conditions.’ The enormity of the financial difficulty encountered by Jewish lawyers in
Montreal during this period is illustrated by the following experience:

Although every man thinks that his business is the hardest to be in, I seriously
believe that the law business is the toughest one for any young Jewish man. It is
full of that sense of insecurity which is almost as base as not having any money
at all. Here one either starves to death or goes nuts because one has to wait
around until clients come.’

Furthermore, Jewish lawyers were acutely aware of their difficulties in attracting
business-especially in comparison to their Anglophone colleagues:

Look at an English lawyer walking along the street, carrying a briefcase. He is
most likely thinking about the case. Did he present it well? How can he im-
prove it. The Jewish lawyer walking along is thinking: Where am I going to get
money for the rent? I wonder when I’ll get my next case. I haven’t had a case in

Supra note 49.

v Canada’s Jews, supra note 39 at 10- 11, 211-12,264-65.

J. Porter, The Vertical Mosaic: An Analysis of Social Class and Power in Canada (Toronto: Uni-

versity of Toronto Press, 1965) at 442.

92 C. Wilton, “Canadian Law Firms in Troubled Times: The Inter-war Years 1919-1939″ [19901 L.

Soc. Gaz. 232 at 245, 251 [hereinafter ‘Troubled Times”].

9″ Mitchell & Slinn, supra note 9 at 71, 73-74. See also “Troubled Times”, ibid. at 244.
9’ Occupational Selection, supra note 42 at lii.

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three weeks. The former can concentrate on his work for he has no financial
problems and this makes all the difference in the world.9

The struggle for survival thereby forced many Jewish lawyers to abandon their legal
practices.”‘

Some Jewish lawyers would work for free to build a reputation in the non-Jewish
community in the hopes of attracting new business. One documented experience
highlights how a Montreal Jewish lawyer would give free advice to a “big man” in or-
der to get a “big case” in the future from him. Many times that free work did not pro-
vide paying clients, and when the work did arrive it was often assumed that Jews
would expect less compensation for their work: “A client of mine, a bank manager, is
a cheap chiseller. He constantly tries to fineigle things his way. He feeds me cases and
big ones (e.g. on a $250 case I can get $31). He starts chiselling and does not give me
the collection.”97 The Jewish lawyer was forced to work harder and accept less pay to
combat the effects of discrimination that surrounded his attempts to find non-Jewish
clients.

Even when it was possible to get non-Jewish clients, one Montreal lawyer de-
scribes how he focused on middle-class clients because the larger industrial ones were
not accessible:

I did not go to the prime industries because I knew I did not have a chance and
not because I didn’t want to. Once I tried to approach a big industry, but did not
get anywhere. I thought over the reason for it and decided that it was because I
could not get close enough to the rich men. We had no common meeting
ground, no golf club around which to become friendly. ”

Another option for some Jewish lawyers was to become “ambulance chasers”.
Although this practice of hustling clients was illegal, some remained ambulance chas-
ers even though, as one Jewish lawyer explained, “[t]he law catches up with them in
the end” ‘” Even in this practice, Jewish lawyers were forced to compete against the
strategies of large firms to obtain clients. In the experience of one Montreal Jewish
lawyer involved in accident cases: “One large firm, known strictly for accident cases,
has policemen hand out their cards to visitors immediately after the accident” Jewish
lawyers in Montreal, however, did find it easier to attract clients from other ethnic

9″ Ibid. at liv.
9′ Ibid. at liii. As one Jewish lawyer in Montreal expressed the plight of his fellow lawyers at the

time: “Why starve in dignity, just because you have a diploma?” He described his personal knowledge
of a colleague who left practice because of the difficult economic times: “I knew of another lawyer,
who after suffering for six or seven years, gave it up and got a job as a shoe salesman. When I met
him he was quite happy. He knew that at the end of the week he would get his thirty dollars and
would not have to worry about it” (ibid.).

“Ibid. at xlviv.
“Ibid. at liii.
“Ibid. at liv.

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communities-including French-speaking clients-if they could communicate in that
language.'”

The industrial economy that had developed in Canada during the early twentieth
century increased lawyers’ vulnerability to market forces. At no time was this vulner-
ability more apparent than during the Great Depression. Jewish lawyers felt the effects
even more profoundly than their English colleagues. These effects were coupled with
the anti-Semitism that they experienced during this period. Jewish lawyers therefore
focused their legal practice inward toward their ethnic group, and became leaders
within their own community.

B. The Importance of the Ethnic Community for Jewish Lawyers

The changes that confronted the legal profession in the early twentieth century
had unequal effects on the practice of law. The impact of these changes did not solely
affect a lawyers’ ability to engage in, and take advantage of, opportunities that re-
sulted from the developing industrial economy. Rather, a lawyer’s ethnic identity and
social status determined his ability to exploit these new opportunities. Jewish lawyers
belonged to an ethnic community whose members were not predominantly part of a
higher social stratum. Their lower social status-combined with anti-Semitic dis-
crimination-left limited options for Jewish lawyers. They responded and adapted by
developing their legal practice in the expanding Jewish ethnic community and in the
emerging ethnic business clientele.”‘ By promoting and capitalizing on commercial
and social contacts in their own community, Jewish lawyers attempted to copy the
model of the elite firm. As their practice expanded, new opportunities were created for
younger members of the community in the profession, and subsequently for members
of other marginalized groups.’2

One advantage for the Jewish lawyer who was dependent on an ethnic client base
for his legal practice was that the Jewish community in Montreal was large and occu-
pationally well-diversified:

The socio-economic structure of the Jewish population of Canada appears to
have advanced farther towards the type of the highly industrialized and com-
mercially developed population and in comparative size of professional, “white
collar” and skilled and semi-skilled worker groups resembles that of British
and French origin more than any other group in Canada.”‘

‘a Ibid. at xlvii-xlviii.
101 Manuel Shacter describes the core of his early clients as “Jewish businesses developing in the

Jewish community,’ supra note 83.

102 Shacter, ibid., highlights how Jews created opportunities for members of other minority groups:

The Jews were the first in Montreal to open up opportunities for other lawyers. We
[Jewish lawyers] were quick to realize that it didn’t make a difference where you came
from as long as you were a good lawyer. We saw that also with women, and hired and
promoted women to partners.

‘o’ Canada’s Jews, supra note 39 at 164.

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M. NIGRO AND C. MAURO – JEWISH IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE

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In addition, Jewish employment was heavily concentrated in those sectors related to
the growing industrial economy. The total Canadian Jewish working population in
1931 was 30.7%–composed of proprietors, managers, or officials. Another 19.9% of
the Jewish working population was employed in the manufacturing sector. Wholesale
and retail merchants represented a further 17.8% of the Jewish workforce. In Mont-
real, 44.25% of the Jewish population in 1931 was occupied in commercial activities,
whereas the percentage for the general population was only 24.92%. Moreover,
66.02% of the Montreal Jewish population was involved in manufacturing and mer-
chandising, compared with only 30.76% of the general Montreal population.”‘

The Jewish community’s concentrated involvement in the growing industrial
economy provided Jewish lawyers with an opportunity to obtain business from ethnic
clients in various areas of practice which included workplace accidents, corporate
work for Jewish companies, and collection work for Jewish merchants. Manuel
Shacter, in his early years of practice during the 1950s, described the character of his
corporate legal work as follows: “The work was focused on small Jewish merchants
wanting to incorporate, or create partnership agreements, develop leases, or purchase
assets'” An examination of the correspondence of Montreal lawyer, Bernard Rose, in
the early years of the twentieth century further reveals the typical nature of legal busi-
ness that was procured from the Jewish community.” There were demand letters for
unpaid bills, services rendered, and promissory notes. There were negligence cases
involving car accidents, lost baggage, dog attacks, flooding, and falling icicles. There
were also more serious cases of defamation and threats to cause bodily harm.

The exclusion of Jews from established commercial endeavours motivated the
community to develop similar enterprises for themselves. Ethnic connections and
family networks provided Jews with legal business in a ‘Variety of economic areas
where Jews were concentrated. Since a large number of Jewish immigrants were in-
volved in the manufacturing sector, many Jews experienced industrial workplace ac-
cidents. The potential for legal business was provided through connections to those
workplaces by family, friends, or ethnic group members:

My father took me around to the big shots he knows, introducing me to them as
his son, the lawyer. We left a card everywhere. Many times, if my father heard
of an accident, if a customer of his had an accident, he tried to steer the case
my way. Through these clients, others have come my way.’06

’04IbidL at 158,160, 162,185.
‘ Bernard Rose practiced law in Montreal during the early 1900s, specializing in civil litigation. He
was a frequent contributor to Labor World, and was an active member of the Conservative Party. To-
ward the end of his career he was designated as King’s Counsel, and was honourned by the govern-
ment of France with the title “Officier d’Acadenie” (courtesy National Archives of Canada).

” Occupational Selection, supra note 42 at xlvi. Alan Gold also emphasized in his interview, supra
note 24, that family networks and knowledge of people in the community provided valuable business.
for a Jewish lawyer’s legal practice during this period.

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Networks that developed through ethnic-group ties also provided connections to po-
tential clients: “My father’s employees send me cases in order to get in the good
graces of the boss, my father. My father puts things my way indirectly. He knows a lot
of people through business and this is very fortunate for me “” In the context of the
discriminatory environment
in which Jewish lawyers found themselves, ethnic-
minority clients represented an important source of legal business.

As the century progressed, Jewish lawyers were actively involved in the repre-
sentation of Jewish business concerns. Philip Vineberg describes how Samuel Jacobs’
practice involved representing the “slowly but steadily rising” problems emerging in
the commercial activities of Jewish businessmen.”‘ Collection work was the predomi-
nant type of commercial work received by Jewish lawyers from their community cli-
ents.” As noted by one Montreal lawyer, involvement in collection work reflected the
fact that Jews were heavily concentrated in the retail and manufacturing sectors.
While collection cases were described as the least important type of work that a law-
yer could do, they represented a great deal of work for Jewish lawyers:”

At the beginning my clients were chiefly grocers and my cases all collection
cases. They were small grocery accounts which came to me chiefly through my
father. For two months I had nothing but collection cases. It drove me bugs. I
felt nauseous about the whole business because it is so mechanical. You do one
and you do them all.”‘

However, as evidenced by Rose’s correspondence, a great deal of work was obtained
as a result of the Jewish community’s domination of the garment industry.”2 As the la-
bour movement grew, many Jewish lawyers found opportunities within this industry
and others.”‘

Because of their professional knowledge and ability to control their hours of
work, Jewish lawyers were actively involved in the establishment and directorship of
ethnic community services and institutions.”‘ Unlike salaried employees, lawyers-as
members of a self-employed profession-were able to invest time in communal ac-
tivities more easily. Connections with communal activities allowed Jewish lawyers to

Occupational Selection, ibid. at xlvii-xlviii.

“‘ Vineberg, supra note 43 at 10.

Occupational Selection, supra note 42 at liv.

“0 Ibid. at liv.
‘. Ibid. at xlvi.
,’ Rose either acted on behalf of the following companies, or represented individual claims against
them. Some of the companies included the Montreal Skirt & Cloak Co., The Merchants’ Garment and
Cap Co., and Parisian Ladies’ Tailors, for whom he drafted the articles of incorporation. He also acted
on behalf of the Canadian Waterproof Clothing Workers Union (courtesy National Archives of Can-
ada),

“‘ There is some evidence that Rose was involved in the Montreal Light, Heat & Power Co. labour

dispute in 1923.

” See generally Y. Tzuk, Jewish Communal Leadership in Montreal: A Case Study (Montreal:

McGill University, 1984) at 55.

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M. NIGRO AND C. MAURO – JEWISH IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE

1025

develop linkages with some of the more successful Jewish businessmen who were
also actively involved in community affairs. Manuel Shacter benefited from his com-
munity connections for clients in his early years of legal practice: “The original client
base was made by establishing relationships with clubs and services in the Jewish
community. “‘ Canadian historian, Michael Bliss, suggests that the financial success
obtained by the Bronfmans and others in the community increased the visibility of
Jews within Canadian society, and also increased business for Jewish lawyers.’

Lazarus Phillips and Philip Vineberg are perhaps the best examples of this suc-
cessful combination. Both began their careers in Samuel Jacobs’s firm. Phillips had
been one of Jacobs’s prot6gds, and by 1923 he had become a full partner in the firm.”7
As chief legal advisor to the Bronfman family empire, Phillips also became a very
prominent and wealthy member of Canadian society:

For most of three decades, Lazarus Phillips served as the Bronfman’s visible
face and public voice. He was their chief go-between. He had the manners and
the contacts, the social acceptability and political prestige to which the brothers
could only aspire. With his brains and their money, he achieved a degree of po-
litical, legal, and corporate clout unique among Canadian lawyers.”‘

During his prestigious career, Phillips was bestowed the honour of Queen’s
Counsel, appointed to the Senate, and awarded the Order of the British Empire. He
was considered to be the most influential Canadian Jew of his generation. After Phil-
lips, his nephew Philip Vineberg-an Elizabeth Torrance gold medalist at McGill’s
Faculty of Law-inherited the mantle of chief legal advisor to the Bronfmans. Built
on these ethnic community associations, the Phillips and Vineberg firm went on to
become one of the most successful modem law firms in Montreal and all of Canada. 9

1″ Supra note 83.

.. Bliss, supra note 8 at 400:

It was no accident that the Bronfmans and many of their associates in the liquor busi-
ness were Jews. The poor emigrants from Central Europe who began arriving in Can-
ada in the 1880s soon … formed a community of high-achievers whose upward mobil-
ity, from the bottom rungs of society, began to be obvious by the 1920s. In the ghettos
of Montreal and Winnipeg there were thousands of Jewish-operated businesses: gro-
ceries, butcher shops, jewelry stores, every kind of garment trade, real estate offices,
cinemas, car dealerships, hotels, whatever.

… P.C. Newman, Bronfinan Dynasty: The Rothschilds of the New World (Toronto: McClelland &

Stewart, 1978) at 56.

” Ibid.
“.. On March 6, 1995, the firm merged with the Toronto firm of Goodman & Goodman, and cur-

rently operates under the name of Goodman, Phillips & Vineberg.

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C. Jewish Lawyers and Community Activism

The activism of Jewish lawyers within their community increased their degree of
visibility and created opportunities for business from ethnic clients.’ In short, com-
mitment to the development of strong Jewish community institutions was important
for many Jewish lawyers as the success of their ethnic group became strongly linked
to that of their own practices.

In the early years of the century, the Jewish lawyer was the champion of the “un-
derdog”. Not only did he defend new immigrants from unscrupulous landlords and
sweat-shop foremen, he functioned as a lobbyist for the rights of established Jews and
new immigrants-both individually and collectively. Bernard Rose, whose practice
spanned almost five decades, used his connections with the Conservative party to aid
both individual clients and the community in general. His efforts included assisting
clients and members of the community to find employment,'”‘ and lobbying the Dep-
uty Minister of the Interior, W.W. Cory, and the Minister of Justice, C.J. Doherty, with
respect to the individual immigration cases of his clients. In 1912, he represented a
delegation from the Canadian Waterproof Clothing Workers Union at a meeting with
the Minister of Finance on imposing importation quotas to protect the industry.’2 Rose

“‘ Alan Gold, supra note 24, discusses how being involved in the community and being active at
community meetings, being responsible for activities, and speaking out for the community helped de-
velop connections to the Jewish community and increase business.

“‘ There are many letters in this collection which illustrate Rose’s efforts to find a position for a
certain Joseph Goodman of Toronto, described in a letter as a man of forty years, fluent in Russian,
Polish, English, German, and Yiddish. Furthermore, Goodman’s son was an active member of the
Hebrew Conservative Club at the University of Toronto. In his letters, Rose reveals his frustration
with the process, as he wrote to his friend Louis Gurofsky on February 5, 1912:

It would seem that individuals who have done very little for the party are receiving the
preference. As far as I am personally concerned, I get along very well with the powers
that be, and when I have occasion to ask for little things I have no difficulty in getting
them. It is unfortunate that Goodman has not been living in Montreal for some time, as,
if he had, he would have been placed with the Government some time ago (courtesy
National Archives of Canada).

In another letter to a Mr. N. Ashkilooney of St. James Street, Montreal, regarding a placement in a
garment factory, he wrote:

When you met me a few weeks ago and spoke to me about Union Clothing Co., I lost
no time but went up with you and asked that you be given a position. You made a good
impression, and that[,] added to what I said about you, would have given you a chance
to get into a steady position that you could keep as long as you liked. Upon several oc-
casions that I called, Mr. Godinsky told me that he had you in mind (courtesy National
Archives of Canada).

,2 His letter to his M.P., H.B. Ames, requested the meeting: “On account of increased quantities of
goods that are being imported into this country, the members of the organization and others employed
in this industry are of the opinion that they will suffer from scarcity of employment and reduced
wages” (courtesy National Archives of Canada).

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M. NIGRO AND C. MAURO – JEWISH IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE

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was also asked by the Minister of Justice to comment on certain proposed reforms to
the Immigration Act.'”

Samuel Jacobs was one of the most prominent examples of successful Jewish
lawyers known for his significant efforts on behalf of the community. As a Member of
Parliament for the Cartier riding in Montreal from 1917 to 1935, Jacobs enjoyed con-
siderable public presence in his community, which in turn provided advantages for his
legal practice. 2’ As the son of Lithuanian immigrants belonging to a slightly older
generation of pre-Migration, non-Anglo Jews, Jacobs graduated from McGill Univer-
sity’s Faculty of Law in 1893 at the age of twenty-two, obtaining a B.C.L. degree with
first class honours.'” To improve his French, he went on to complete a Masters degree
in law, graduating magna curn laude a year later from Universit6 Laval. In 1894,
Jacobs was admitted to the Bar and joined the practice of a former school-mate, Percy
C. Ryan, who was at that time “a well-known jurist ” ‘2

Both as a lawyer and a Member of Parliament, Jacobs advocated the rights of
Jews and other minorities. He took a leading part in the activities of the Young Men’s
Hebrew Benevolent Society-later known as the Baron de Hirsch Institute-which
assisted Jewish immigrants arriving to Canada. He was a passionate defender of the
democratic rights of all citizens. In 1904, after claiming that approximately one thou-
sand Jewish citizens had been disenfranchised through the omission of their names
from the voters’ lists, he launched an investigation resulting in the dismissal of a clerk
at Montreal City Hall.’27 He was also responsible-in conjunction with Lyon Cohen-
for the publication of the first Jewish newspaper in Canada, The Jewish Tmes, which
provided a Jewish perspective on social and political issues. Later in his career, after
becoming a Member of Parliament, he attacked the restrictive immigration policy of
Robert Borden’s Conservative government. He firmly believed in the labour move-
ment and collective bargaining, and was a staunch supporter of women’s rights.

As a lawyer, Jacobs’s role was primarily as a defender of his own community’s
equality interests. He played a critical role in a number of important cases before the
courts in matters affecting Jewish citizens and their rights under Quebec law. Jacobs
was also instrumental in the passing of various legislative acts in Quebec protecting

‘z. S.C. 1910, c. 27. On January 27, 1912, Rose wrote to Gurofsky:

While I did not go to Ottawa with the specific purpose of making suggestions con-
cerning the Immigration Law, it was in connection with the case of a client whose sis-
ter-in-law wished to come into this country, and while there, owing to the number of
cases increasing, I decided it would be advisable to have the Order in Council, exclud-
ing all those who do not come direct to this country, somewhat modified. I discussed
the legal aspects with the Minister of Justice and then I made certain recommendations
(courtesy National Archives of Canada).

24 Vineberg, supra note 43 at 10. Sam Jacobs is considered the founder of the firm now known as

Goodman, Phillips & Vineberg.

‘ Sam Jacobs, supra note 63 at 2-3.
12,Ibid. at 19,81-90.

Ibid. at 3.

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the rights of Jewish community members, including the Lord’s Day Act, the Marriage
Licence Act, and the School Act.'”

There were three legal cases that distinguished Jacob’s career as an advocate of
the Jewish community. The first case was Louis Hart’s suit against the City of Trois
Rivires for the expropriation of his family’s cemetery. The Jewish community de-
nounced the City’s actions as a sacrilege because the graves had been disinterred
without the supervision of a rabbi to ensure adherence to Jewish ritual.'” Jacobs
played a significant role in representing the community’s interests and in ensuring that
the remains were properly preserved and relocated to a cemetery in Montreal.

There was also Pinsler v. Protestant Board of School Commissioners,”‘ where
Jacobs defended the rights of a youth who had been denied a scholarship by the Prot-
estant School Board. According to the arrangement between the Protestant school
administrators and the Jewish community, the only members of the community who
were entitled to any rights in Protestant schools were Jewish property owners who
paid taxes to the school board.” The Board alleged that the boy’s father was a “tenant
and not a proprietor,” and for that reason it was deemed that the younger Pinsler was
not entitled to the scholarship. Jacobs viewed the Board’s position as “contrary to
British justice”–particularly since the legislature had passed a law in 1831 that
granted Jews all the rights and privileges of the other royal subjects in the province of
Quebec. He argued that Jewish children ought to possess the same rights as Protestant
children regardless of whether their fathers owned property.’ 2 Although his petition
was dismissed, the case was viewed as a moral victory for Jacobs, since the judge ac-
knowledged, in obiter, that there was a pressing need for the National Assembly to
consider an amendment to the school charter for Jewish students.’ This case ulti-
mately resulted in a new agreement between the Board and the Jewish community,
and a subsequent amendment of the legislation in 1903 which deemed Jewish chil-
dren to be “Protestants for school purposes.” This amendment allowed Jewish stu-
dents to have equal rights in Protestant schools, provided that Jewish proprietors con-
tinucd to pay taxes to the Protestant School Board.”

Perhaps Jacobs’ greatest success as a lawyer, however, came in Ortenberg v.
Plamiondon,”‘ where he represented two Jewish businessmen in Quebec City in a suit
against a local journalist. The two sought damages against Plamondon, whose lecture

,’ “Samuel William Jacobs, K.C., M.P.-‘The Defender of His People’ Passes Away” The Cana-

dian Jewish Chronicle (26 August 1938) 10.

‘ B.G. Sack, Canadian Jews Early in this Century (Montreal: National Archives, Canadian Jewish

Congress, 1975) at 4-5.

” (1903), 23 C.S. 365 [hereinafter Pinsler].
.. Sam Jacobs, supra note 63 at 22.
… Sack, supra note 129 at 11.
‘ Sam Jacobs, supra note 63 at 22.
” Sack, supra note 129 at 16.
“(1914), 24 B.R. 69 [hereinafter Plamondon].

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had incited Anti-Semitic behaviour and abuse against Jews in Quebec City.” From
1910 to 1915, Jacobs argued the case before the Superior Court and Court of Appeal
of Quebec. The case gained attention because the defendant had claimed that the
Jewish faith called on its adherents to commit horrifying crimes against Christians.
Jacobs stressed that this type of slander could lead to serious assaults against the Jew-
ish community-similar to the pogroms of Eastern Europe-and that this type of be-
haviour should not be tolerated in a free and just society. He argued:

inhere are only two cities in the whole world where ritual murder accusations
still figure in the litigation lists. These are Kiev, and Quebec. One is located in
backward Russia, and the other in free Canada. The difference here is that in
Kiev it is impossible to bring the case to court, because the prosecution deems
it not in their interest. But in Quebec, a British city with British courts of jus-
tice, the lawyers for both sides decided three or four weeks ago to begin this
trial, which is now over. This is the difference between the British system of
Justice and the Russian.3 7

Despite his convincing arguments, the trial judge agreed with defense counsel that
no damages could be claimed against the defendants because their accusations were
not directed at the plaintiffs, nor at individual Jews, but rather at the Jewish people as
a whole. On appeal, however, Jacobs was victorious. The Court of Appeal unani-
mously reversed the decision of the trial judge, citing that “even though damages
could not be claimed by an individual arising out of incitement against an entire peo-
ple, race, or religion,” in this case the target was specifically the Jewish community of
the city and province of Quebec, of which the plaintiffs were a part.

Jacobs’ belief in equal rights for oppressed groups manifested itself throughout
his career-and in this respect he did not limit himself to the Jewish community. He
was a particularly strong advocate in favour of admitting women to the legal profes-
sion. In 1914, he represented Annie Macdonald Langstaff, who had been denied her
application to write the Bar examinations on the grounds that she was a woman.”‘ The
petition was denied on the grounds that it would be against public order for a woman
to appear in court and a “manifest violation of the law of good morals and public de-
cency?” 3′ The court rejected Jacobs’ argument that because the Bar Act” did not ex-

3′ Sack, supra note 129 at 83ff.
117 Ibid. at 85.
,3, Sam Jacobs, supra note 63 at 37:

[I]he tendency of the age the world over … and particularly in new countries being to-
day towards a large measure of liberty for all classes and for both sexes, it would be
contrary to the spirit of the Canadian system of law, and particularly that of the Prov-
ince of Quebec, to permit said tendency to be controlled and hampered by antiquated
rules and usages which, when it comes to a question of permitting women to engage in
a profession in which they are quite as capable as those of the other sex, would lead to
an unfair discrimination and even to a positive injustice.

‘3’ Ibid. at 38.
” R.S.Q. c. B-I.

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pressly exclude women, it was not the intention of the legislature to do so. Jacobs ap-
pealed the decision, but the Court of Appeal upheld the lower court’s result. Although
the Bar Act was not amended until 1941, Jacobs’ efforts clearly helped to expedite the
admission of women to the profession.

Another area where Jacobs attempted to advance the interests of Jews in the legal
profession was by providing opportunities in his own practice to promising Jewish
law students.”‘ One such prot6g6 was Louis Fitch-who later became a partner in the
firm in 1916. Fitch was born in Austria in 1889. Two years later his family immi-
grated to Canada and settled in Quebec City.’ Fitch graduated from McGill Univer-
sity’s Faculty of Law in 1911 at the top of his class, and was awarded the Elizabeth
Torrance Gold Medal.”‘ Fitch remained “indentured” to Jacobs for three years, during
which time he assisted Jacobs in many of his prominent cases, including Plamondon.

Fitch was a brilliant litigator and had a prominent career in both civil and criminal
law. He was also elected to the Legislative Assembly on November 2, 1938 as a
member of the Union Nationale Party for the riding of St. Louis. He continuously de-
fended the rights of Jews in the Assembly–especially against the growing anti-
Semitism of the late 1930s. At the opening of the first session of the Assembly fol-
lowing his election, Fitch seconded the speech to the Throne, traced the history of the
civil rights of Jews in the Province of Quebec, and made a strong plea for the respect
of all minority rights.” Louis Fitch’s advocacy for the Jewish community in the pro-
vincial legislature followed the example set by his predecessor, Peter Bercovitch-a
Jewish lawyer who represented the Liberal party from 1919 to 1936 in the St. Louis
riding, Bercovitch once rose to speak in opposition against a budget speech because
of its attack against Jews.”‘ During the April 1939 session of the Assembly, Fitch

“‘ See “He Hung Up His Hat and He Went to Work” The Globe and Mail (21 May 1998) C3 at C3
where it describes the first experience of Lazarus Phillips with Samuel Jacobs: “When young lawyer
Lazarus Phillips went seeking advice after the First World War, the late S.W. Jacobs … gave it to
him-and quickly, You talk too much. Hang up your hat and get to work.”

12 Letter from David Rome to Dr. Wigoder (26 December 1973), outlining a brief biography of

Louis Fitch (courtesy Canadian Jewish Archives).

“‘ Louis Fitch, supra note 63 at 10, 11. He was also awarded the Sir William Macdonald Traveling

Scholarship, which supported one year of study at the University of Paris and the Sorbonne.

‘” See “The Conscience of A Government May Be Measured by the Treatment of its Minorities”
The Canadian Jewish Chronicle (20 January 1939) 3, excerpts from the address made by Louis Fitch,
K.C., M.L.A. when he seconded the motion that the Speech from the Throne be adopted.

“‘ Peter Bercovitch was responding to the following statement included in the budget speech: “Are
we not greatly inferior economically to the other races? Unfortunately, yes. The Americans and the
Jews hold the greater part of the natural resources of the province” (H. St. Pierre, “Budget Voted, As-
sembly In Committee of Supply” The Montreal Star (23 October 1936) 7). Bercovitch also declared
himself being against accepting the provincial treasurer position if offered by his party on the grounds
that in Quebec and Canada, positions for government were being offered on the grounds of race and
language, not ability. He would not accept a position offered on the grounds of race or language (“M.
Bercovitch n’accepterait pas” Le Devoir (30 October 1931) 5). Bercovitch, in conjunction with Jo-
seph Cohen, also presented a bill to the Quebec Assembly denouncing the anti-semitism in the Que-

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made a motion denouncing Fascist and Nazi activities in the Province.’ His efforts in
the Assembly ultimately led to the closing of the German Club in Montreal and the
seizure of Nazi films.

Fitch’s greatest contribution to the Jewish community, however, was as their ad-
vocate in the “Jewish School Question” (a case brought against the Protestant School
Board), which Fitch argued all the way up to the Privy Council. The relationship be-
tween the Jewish community and the Protestant School Board remained strained after
the compromise of 1903. Over the next two decades, the Jewish community became
increasingly dissatisfied with its treatment in the Protestant school system. The Board
refused to hire Jewish teachers, and in 1916 it rejected an application by the Jewish
community to appoint one Jewish member to the Board. Finally, the Board issued an
order to segregate Jewish children in the classrooms.”‘ This provoked the Jewish
community to increase pressure on the government to reform the Education Act” and
create a separate school system for Jews.

The separate school issue highlighted the tensions between the older commu-
nity-who wanted to maintain a close association with the Anglo-Protestant social
network-and the more recent immigrants-who favoured the creation of a com-
pletely separate school system that would provide greater protection for their culture
and religious practices.” Fitch recognized that each group was responding to mutu-
ally exclusive tendencies of the Jewish community-the former to the community’s
desire for assimilation, and the latter to its proclivity for self-preservation.”‘ He felt
strongly, however, that it did not serve the interests of the community to continue to
expose its children to the continued humiliation, discrimination, and segregation at the
hands of the Protestant school system.'”‘ Thus, for Fitch, the issue was above all one of
equality and freedom from discrimination for his community.

bec press (“MM. Bercovith, Cohen, le bill Bercovitch et M. Stockwell” Le Devoir (17 February 1932)
4).
‘146 See “Nazis in Limelight-St. Louis M.L.A. Asks Curb on Activities Here’ The Montreal Star

(27 April 1939) 1.

‘4 Louis Fitch, supra note 63 at 2-3.
,’ S.Q. 1899, c. 28.
“9 G. Tulchinsky, “The Contours of Canadian Jewish History” in The Jews in Canada, R.J. Brym,

W. Shaffir, & Morton Weinfeld, eds. (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1993) 5 at 7:

The fact that most of those participating in the dispute came from conflicting economic
and social groups tended to exacerbate the already sensitive relations between working-
class “downtown” Montreal Jewry and the patricians and clothing-factory owners of
the west end. Seeking social acceptance by the Anglophone elite, the latter segment of
Montreal Jewry wanted their children to attend the Protestant schools, while the
downtowners-who were usually more recent immigrants-tended to favour the pro-
tection which a completely separate system would provide.

“‘Louis Fitch, supra note 63 at 7.

Ibid. at 1.

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Fitch and his associate Michael Garber-another prominent Jewish lawyer-ar-
gued the case before the Superior Court of Quebec. The issue was whether the taxes
paid by the Jewish community ought to pay for separate schools for Jewish children.
They lost at trial and again at the Court of Appeal,’ 2 which ruled that the legislature
had no right to impose the education of Jewish children on either the Catholic or Prot-
estant Board. The Court of Appeal also ruled that these groups should not be obliged
to hire Jewish teachers, or to appoint members of the Jewish community to serve on
their school boards. Additionally, the Court of Appeal held that the legislature did not
have the right to create a separate schools for Jews.’53 This decision was upheld at the
Supreme Court of Canada,'” so Fitch and Garber appealed the case to the Privy Coun-
cil.'” The Privy Council agreed with the Court of Appeal on the first ground, that the
religious school boards could not be compelled to accept Jewish students. However, it
accepted the second submission, holding that the legislature was empowered to estab-
lish a separate school system for non-Catholics and non-Protestants.”‘

In every area of community activity, Jewish lawyers like Jacobs, Fitch, and Gar-
ber found that their knowledge and energy were in demand for the aid and develop-
ment of the Jewish community.”‘ Nowhere were the services of lawyers more in de-
mand in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s than in requests for legal aid with respect to
immigration. As political oppression of Jews in Europe increased, the Jewish com-
munity was eager to bring its members to Canada. As greater restrictions were placed
upon Jewish refugees, Jewish lawyers became more and more indispensable to the
community. Vineberg recounted how Samuel Jacobs’s office was flooded with the re-
quests of individuals seeking to get their family members out of Europe:

In the office, hordes of people would be there, every non-Parliamentary day.
These people, whatever lands they came from, trapped down to the Jacobs and
Philips office in the Power Building on Craig Street pleading for admission of a
wife in Bialystock, a daughter in Kovno, an uncle in Minsk. Whatever it might
be, Sam Jacobs had to help. Day after day in the hundreds, and in the thou-
sands, there were demands for immigration.” ‘

”

I Hirsch v. Protestant Board School Comnmissioners of Montreal (1925), 31 R. de Jur. 440 (Qc.

K.B.).

“Louis Fitch, supra note 63 at 7.
‘”Reference Re Educational System in Island of Montreal, [1926] S.C.R. 246, (sub non Hirsch v.

Protestant Boatd School Conmissioners of Montreal) [1926] 2 D.L.R. 8.

Reference Re Educational System in Island of Montreal, [1928] A.C. 200, [1928] 1 D.L.R. 1041.
15 Louis Fitch, supra note 63 at 8. It is interesting to note that Greenshields J., who delivered the
judgment of the Court of Appeal, had acted as counsel for the Protestant School Board in Pinsler, su-
pra note 130, opposite Samuel Jacobs.

“‘ See generally supra note 63. For example, Jacobs was one of the founders of The Jewish 7mes
as well as being one of the first vice-presidents of the Canadian Jewish Congress. He went on to later
become President. Jacobs was also extensively involved in the campaign to establish a Jewish Hospi-
tal in Montreal. Figler also writes extensively about Fitch’s community involvement.

‘ Supra note 43 at 11.

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Jewish lawyers were also actively involved in the Jewish Immigrant Aid Society,
which offered community legal-aid services. They also represented both the Jewish
Immigrant Aid Society and the National Refugee Committee of the Canadian Jewish
Congress in matters of Canadian immigration regulations and legislation.’9 Jewish
lawyers attempted to do whatever was bureaucratically, legally, or politically possible
to enable Jews to enter Canada under restricted immigration policies.”w This commit-
ment among Montreal lawyers is confirmed by the confidential minutes of the Eastern
Division Refugee Committee of the Canadian Jewish Congress on November 20,
1938. In attendance were a variety of local lawyers including Benjamin Robinson,
Michael Garber, Lazarus Phillips, and Louis Fitch. The extent of the commitment to
help fellow Jewish immigrants to Canada is further exemplified in the comments of
Benjamin Robinson, Chair of the Refugee Committee:

The Chairman informed those present that the Jewish Immigrant Aid Society
has in the past guaranteed and is still guarantor for every immigrant who ar-
rives in Canada that he will not become a public charge. He stated that even to-
day the hospital bills of two immigrants who are confined to hospital, are being
paid by the Jewish Immigrant Aid Society.”‘

They were also involved in helping Jewish refugees because it was their own family
members’ lives that were in jeopardy:

For them, the newer immigrant sections of the Jewish community, the refugees
in question were not distant Jews, but family and friends. For those who had
themselves so recently emigrated, it was impossible to deny the appeals from
terrified kin in Austria or from those in Eastern Europe who, reading the hand-
writing on the wall, begged for escape.” 2

See generally S.M. Lesser, The Jewish Immigrant Aid Society of Canada: A Study of its Organi-
zation and Activities with Specific Reference to the Montreal Office, during the Years 1920-1948, in-
clusive (Masters Degree, Montreal School of Social Work, 1950) at 40 [unpublished]. Lesser points
out that from the beginning, lawyers were actively involved on the Executive of the Jewish Immigrant
Aid Society when it was founded in 1920. See also the Confidential Minutes of the National Refugee
Committee of the Canadian Jewish Congress (11 September 1938) in the Canadian Jewish Congress
files of Benajmin Robinson. The meeting was chaired by Benajmin Robinson and also included vari-
ous other lawyers. The result of the meeting: “Following discussion, it was decided to organise a non-
sectarian delegation of 15 to 18 members, to interview the government during the week of October
3rd, 1938, in an endeavour to secure cabinet approval to the proposal that a numbeer of refugees be
permitted entry to Canada”

‘ Belkin, supra note 23, describes the work of various lawyers-including Samuel Jacobs, Lazarus

Phillips, Saul Hayes, and Louis Fitch-in helping Jewish immigrants come to Canada.

1 Minutes of the Meeting of the Refugee Committee of the Canadian Jewish Congress (20 No-
vember 1938) in the Canadian Jewish Congress files of Benjamin Robinson. See also the Minutes of
the Meeting of the Eastern Division of the United Jewish Refugee and War Relief Agencies (4 July
1940) in the Canadian Jewish Congress files of Benjamin Robinson.

“2 I. Abella & H. Trooper, None is Too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe, 1933-1948 (To-
ronto: Lester & Orpen Denys, 1982) at 23. Given the necessity of the refugee issue during the Inter-
war years, the generally small size of the Jewish population, and the fact that a majority of the popu-
lation was immigrant born, most Jewish lawyers would have been confronted to provide help by fam-

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Some Jewish lawyers who had professional connections to government officials were
able to use those networks to help their families overcome the restrictions. In 1938,
Carl Goldenberg was a young Montreal lawyer who worked for the Royal Commis-
sion on Municipal Finances. He used his connections to the Minister responsible for
the Immigration Branch to help his family, stranded in Vienna, to come to Canada:

Although … Blair (director of the Immigration Branch) had just hermetically
sealed Canada from refugees, an Order-in-Council was soon drawn up for
Goldenberg’s relatives; the family’s departure awaited only final Cabinet ap-
proval and routine immigration processing.’

What makes Goldenberg’s success so impressive is that even before Cabinet approval
of the Order in Council, his family was given approval to come to Canada.

Other Jewish lawyers used their positions in Jewish community organizations to
influence government officials and policy in favour of increasing the number of Jew-
ish refugees. In 1928, Benjamin Robinson was elected President of the Jewish Immi-
grant Aid Society-a position he held until 1942. He was also involved in the Cana-
dian Jewish Congress as President of the Eastern Division in 1938, and Honorary
Vice-President in 1939. Saul Hayes, the full-time executive director of the refugee
programme of the Canadian Jewish Congress was extremely successful in developing
refugee programmes that were responsible for rescuing many lives.”‘ Jacobs, Fitch,
and Lazarus Phillips were also lawyers actively involved in the Canadian Jewish Con-
gress during the 1930s and 1940s. One of the main goals of the Congress during that
time-according to Hayes-was to use every means possible to bring Jewish refugees
to Canada. Legal knowledge was instrumental for that purpose.”

Jewish lawyers volunteering with the Canadian Jewish Congress were also in-
volved in promoting human rights. Irwin Cotler has noted that the Canadian Jewish
Congress was the first party to be granted intervenor status in a Canadian court case,
the 1945 case of Re Drurmnond Wren.”‘ Manuel Shacter has emphasized that Jewish
lawyers have always been at the forefront of advancing fundamental rights, and that

ily, friends or community members in bringing refugees to Canada. Benjamin Robinson described the
influence of his family in developing his commitment to helping Jews immigrate:

[M]y interest in the plight of immigrants was due to my parents who seemed to devote
endless days helping their oppressed relatvies and friends migrate from Russia to settle
in Portland. Our home was a miniature immigrant aid society and impressed me
greatly. It was natural for me, therefore, to take an active interest in the work of the
Jewish Immigrant Aid Society of Canada (courtesy Archives of the Canadian Jewish
Congress).

‘”1 Abella & Trooper, ibid. at 34.
“‘Ibid. at 57.
166 See S. Hayes ‘The Canadian Jewish Congress” in C. Spilberg & Y. Zipper, eds., Canadian Jew-

ish Anthology (Montreal: Canadian Jewish Congress, 1982) 15 at 21.

” [I 945] O.R. 778, [194514 D.L.R. 674 (H.C.). See also Kallen, supra note 36.

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this reflects the Jewish belief that “if civil rights are not respected everywhere it will
come back to hurt Jews.”‘ 1

It is important to emphasize the business cost of the volunteer commitment by
Jewish lawyers. Gold explained that Jewish lawyers in Montreal accepted many cases
without charging fees “because it was part of the job to do so.”” In his experience as
an articling clerk and junior partner with Marcus Sperber, Gold witnessed Sperber’s
commitment to the Jewish community:

He was a well-known and respected man in the Jewish community; the honor-
ary counsel (honorary means you are not paid) for many Jewish institutions …
We did work for all these institutions for nothing. The tradition was that you
did it as part of the service to the community.’ 9

Gold also committed his own time to aid newly arrived immigrants:

A lot of the refugees who managed to get into Canada needed help of one kind
or another. The people who had legal questions were referred to our office.
Again it was free legal aid every day but especially on Saturdays. … I used to be
there all day Saturday, as a matter of policy, to receive people who needed legal
advice and could not afford to pay. … For the very religious ones who could not
travel on Saturday I would stay after sundown or come in on Sunday.9

Yoine Goldstein describes how the volunteer commitment was apportioned in small
firms:

Before Legal Aid, we were responsible for committing 10% of our time to pro
bono work. Of course, this was an aggregate of 10%, not 10% each, so that the
senior lawyers in the firm did less than 10% but the junior lawyers more than
made up the difference.’

According to Philip Vineberg, the office of Jacobs and Phillips did refugee and immi-
gration work for free, covering expenses including telephone, long-distance calls,
wires, and stenography.’72 The volume of no-cost legal work that Jewish lawyers did
for members of their community was substantial. One Montreal lawyer suggests that
he was not getting paid for half of the work that he did. That lawyer did consider his
volunteer work enjoyable, but he was pressured to accept it from community mem-

167 Supra note 83.

“Lawyers and Judges”, supra note 51 at 66.

“‘ Ibid.

‘0 Ibid. at 67.
,” Interview with Yoine Goldstein at the offices of Goldstein Flanz & Fishman, Montreal (22 Janu-

ary 1999).

‘7 Supra note 43 at 11:

No immigrant was ever charged a penny for fees, or disbursements or services of any
kind; no community organization was ever charged a cent and no community cam-
paign was ever conducted to defray the expense. It was Sam Jacobs and Laz Phillips
who were paying the bills for services which they were rendering.

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bers like the rabbi who would remind him that “after all, you are the lawyer of the
synagogue'””

In other circumstances, Jewish lawyers sought out and carried cases at no charge

to their clients. For example, in 1932, Joseph Cohen-a prominent Jewish litigator-
defended a Jewish merchant in Lachine who had lost his business as a result of anti-
Semitic statements published in Le Goglu, Le Miroir, and Le Chameau under the
editorship of Adrien Arcand, a well-known fascist. Those statements encouraged at-
tacks on Jewish businessmen and boycotts of their products under the slogan: “/’achat
chez notts”.” Cohen obtained $1,000 in damages plus costs against the owner of the
newspapers, Joseph M6nard. However, he lost the criminal case on appeal.

Jewish lawyers often felt committed to their community because, as Gold stated,
it was their duty to serve.”‘ Goldstein considered this involvement as a social and re-
ligious obligation for a Jew to serve: “It represents a basic commandment of Jewish
faith to pursue justice for those who need help?”‘ Vineberg describes this relationship
of the Jacobs and Phillips firm to its community in terms of the “natural concern” that
its lawyers had “with all the troubles of the entire Jewish community as it then was.”1”
In return for this commitment, they were able to meet others who were involved with
this work, and make connections that ultimately helped to advance their legal practice.

IV. Jewish Lawyers: 1950 to the Present

The post-war period brought dramatic changes to the Jewish community in Can-
ada. The international community and Canadian Jews successfully pressured the fed-
eral government to accept greater numbers of Jewish refugees from Europe. In addi-
tion, in the 1950s, the Canadian government began to change its policies in order to
encourage immigration. Such changes were connected to the post-war economic
boom, the needs of the labour market, the will to reunite relatives, and general hu-

Occupational Selection, supra note 42 at 1.

“7 Rome, supra note 66 at 71.
“‘”Lawyers and Judges”, supra note 51 at 67.
7 Goldstein, supra note 171. Goldstein’s conception of this social and religious obligation for Jew-

ish lawyers is further explained in the following:

The Jewish Philosopher, Kaplan, in the late 1930s started the Reconstructionism
movement of Judaism. He said being Jewish in the twentieth century was defined more
by belonging than believing. The religious element of Judaism was not as important as
belonging. Therefore, Jewish lawyers involved in a secular profession defined their Ju-
daism by being involved in the community, it doesn’t mean that they were not involved
in the religious dimension, just that the focus became on belonging manifested through
commitment to the community.

‘”Supia note 43 at 10. Casper Bloom, supra note 49, also reflected on the natural concern for the
community by noting that: “A recurring theme of the Jewish Community has been to take care of our
own, to protect ourselves from others, to rely on ourselves, support each other, and especially those in
need.”

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M. NIGRO AND C. MAURO – JEWISH IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE

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manitarian concerns.7’ Establishment of more favourable refugee and immigration
policies provided for the demographic expansion of the Jewish community in Can-
ada.”‘ With a growing ethnic community, Jewish lawyers became better positioned to
take advantage of the strong post-war economy.

Post-war economic expansion brought a transformation in the character of Cana-
dian legal practice. An increase in the number of practising lawyers represented one
characteristic of this transformation. Lawyers in Canada increased in number between
1951 and 1986 by 373%, from 9,038 to 42,710.'” Between 1951 and 1986, the num-
ber of lawyers in Quebec increased by 300% from 2,669 to 10,780.’ Jewish lawyers
doubled their number from 6.6% of the total number of lawyers in Canada in 1961, to
13% in 19712″ The Jews of Montreal remained highly represented in 1981, and ac-
counted for 13% of all Montreal lawyers.”‘ According to the 1991 census, the high
representation of Jews in the profession continues to this day.”

Another major change in legal practice in the post-war period was a decrease in
self-employment. The self-employed lawyer had traditionally been the predominant
model of legal practice, but by 1986, Statistics Canada found that lawyers were evenly
divided between those who were self-employed and those who received salaries, most
often as public- or private-sector employees.’

The decrease in self-employment was also related to an increase in law firm size.
Increases in the number of practising lawyers also corresponded with an increase in
the size of law firms.”‘ Ronald Daniels has reported that since 1960, Canadian law
firms have grown exponentially: “Of the 50 largest Canadian firms, none of the firms
had more than 100 lawyers in 1960 or 1970-and in 1980, one firm had 100 lawyers
but by .1990, 19 firms had more than 100″ ” 8 The eleven largest law firms in Montreal
had a total of only 132 lawyers in 1962, whereas in 1989 those same firms had a total

“‘ J. Kage, “Able and Willing to Work: Jewish Immigration and Occupational Patterns in Canada”

in Porter, supra note 91 at 42-43.

,’ See generally J. Torczyner & S. Brotman “The Jews of Canada: A Profile from the Census” in D.
Singer, ed., American Jewish Year Book 1995 vol. 96 (New York: The American Jewish Committee,
1995) 227.

“0 D. Stager, Lawyers in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press & Statistics Canada, 1990)

at 144.

181 Ibid. at 145.
82 Ibid. at 154. The identification of “Jewish” as an ethnic category was not present in the 1981 cen-

sus.
‘ Ibid. at 156.
1
$Ibid. at 236.
“s See C. McKie, “The Law: A Changing Profession” (1986) 1 Can. Soc. Trends 28 at 30: “It is ap-
parent that the ratio of salaried to self-employed lawyers is increasing steadily. The number of self-
employed lawyers dropped from 68% of the total in 1961 to 51% in 1981.’

1′ R. Daniels, “Growing Pains: The How and Why of Law Firm Expansion” (1993) 43 U.T.L.J. 147
at 156.7R. Daniels, “The Law Firm as an Efficient Community” (1992) 37 McGill L.J. 801 at 829.

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of 817 lawyers.'” The number of Quebec lawyers who practised as sole practitioners
declined from 23% to 12% between 1967 and 1987, while those in larger firms (i.e.,
twenty lawyers or more) increased from 6% to 23% over the same time period. In
1982, over 25% of the lawyers working in Montreal were employed in large law
firms. The increase in the size of law firms has resulted in a few firms being responsi-
ble for a large portion of the total fees collected by lawyers, while a large number of
small firms get a disproportionally smaller share of the total fees for legal services.”‘

An analysis of the impact that changes in law firm size had on Jewish lawyers
must centre on their struggles to enter larger firms in the 1960s and 1970s. A 1968 so-
cio-economic study commissioned by the Quebec Bar found that ethnic identity in-
fluenced the size of the firm in which one was employed.’ ” The average lawyer to of-
fice ratio was only 4:1 for Jewish lawyers, 5:4 for Francophone lawyers, and 10:2 for
Anglophone lawyers.”‘ The large average office size ratio for Anglophone lawyers
can be explained by the concentration of Quebec’s English community in Montreal,
where the larger law offices predominate. The lower average office size ratio for
French-speaking lawyers reflects the fact that, outside of Montreal, French-speaking
lawyers predominate in smaller Quebec towns and cities. However, given that the
Jewish community was found to be almost exclusively concentrated in the greater
Montreal area (95% of the community), the average firm size ratio of Jewish lawyers
is extremely low in comparison to that of Anglophone firms-especially when one
considers their high representation in the legal profession. “‘ Lower average firm size
for Jewish lawyers was also found in a 1971 study of the Toronto legal profession
where data showed that Jewish lawyers were twice as likely as the overall sample to
engage in a sole practice.”‘ The 1971 Toronto study found that 69% of Jewish lawyers
practised in law firms with less than five practitioners, while only 20% practised in
firms with over six practitioners.

A 1960 Osgoode Hall graduating class study found results similar to those in
Montreal: “[T]here are statistically very few Jews in the medium-sized and large firms
‘ The results of the 1960 Osgoode Hall study were con-
as compared to Protestants.”‘
firmed by the 1971 Toronto study of the legal profession which found that even
though 40% of Jews had grades in the top 10% of their class, only 8% of Jews worked

“B McKie, supra note 185 at 156.
,83Torczyner & Brotman, supra note 179 at 6, 171-72.

Blanger, Chabot, Nobert, Angeers et associ6s Inc., Les Avocats Du Quebec: Etude socio-

iconontique (Montr6al: Cadres Professionals Inc., 1968) at 45.

‘ Ibid,
92 Ibid. at 135.
‘ H. Arthurs, J. Willms & L. Tamen, “The Toronto Legal Profession: An Exploratory Study”

(1971) 21 U.T.L.J. 498 at 517-18.

“‘ Study of 1960 Osgoode Hall Graduates in the Ciy of Toronto, Interim Report (Toronto: Osgoode
Hall Law School, 1967) at 4 [hereinafter Study of 1960 Osgoode Hall Graduates], quoted in Arthurs,
Willms & Tamen, ibid. at 518.

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in the large law firms.’93 In contrast, Protestants represented 27.3% of those with
grades in the top 10%, but over 30% of those who worked in large law firms.’96 The
1960 Osgoode Hall study concluded that 25% of Jewish respondents felt they had
been refused jobs for religious reasons, and that Jews avoided Protestant firms
“largely because they feel efforts to gain employment there would be futile” 9′ Yoine
Goldstein, in his personal experience, reinforced these findings:

I was one of the top three in my class with a doctorate and still was not even
considered by larger firms when I started to look for employment in 1961. In
the early 1960s, the large firms were not hospitable to Jewish lawyers. You had
no hope in firms like Ogilvy Renault and McMaster Meighen. It just simply
didn’t happen.'”

The reason for the lower representation of Jews in larger law firms is related to the
continuing effects of discrimination encountered by Jews.'”

Exclusion from larger law firms denied Jews access to the larger fees that come
from business opportunities available in larger firms. The result was lower wages for
Jewish lawyers. In 1968, Jewish lawyers in Quebec averaged an income of $16,020 a
year while Anglophone lawyers averaged $18,260 and Francophone lawyers averaged
only $14,750 a year.2″ The lower salaries of Jewish lawyers vis-i-vis Anglophones are
magnified when one considers that most Jews in Quebec worked in the city of Mont-
real where the average lawyer’s salary was $21,250. One impact of lower wages was
the inability to afford office supplies and machines. Jewish lawyers in Quebec were
less likely to have calculating, accounting, or photocopying machines than their An-
glophone counterparts.”0′

Another effect of Jewish under-representation in larger firms was their inability to
gain access to corporate directorships and managerial opportunities that arose from
connections between corporations and larger firms. Only 2% of Jewish lawyers in
Quebec were directors of a bank or financial institution in 1968.”0 Only 1% of Jewish
lawyers in Quebec were directors of any company valued at over five million dollars.
Jews were under-represented in every category of directorship. In 1975, five Jewish
lawyers entered the economic elite through the legal profession-three of whom
worked for the .firm of Phillips & Vineberg in Montreal-thus accounting for only

1’ Arthurs, Willms & Tamen, ibid at 521.

196 Ibid.

Study of 1960 Osgoode Hall Graduates, supra note 194 at 5, quoted in Arthurs, Willms &

Tamen, supra note 193 at 518.

ity among Toronto lawyers” (1988) 22 L. & Soc. Rev. 9 at 34-36.

‘” 0Supra note 171.
‘” See J. Hagan, M. Huxter & P. Parker, “Class Structure and Legal Practice: Inequality and Mobil-
2’B 61anger, Chabot, Nobert, Angeers et associ6s Inc., supra note 190 at 167.
2o” Ibid. at 162.
’02Ibid. at 151.

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four prominent directorships.”3 Even where Jewish lawyers were directors of corpo-
rations, Wallace Clement has observed that many of these corporations were them-
selves owned by Jews.”‘

Although Jews were more likely than lawyers from other ethnic groups to be
members of the elite, they were not an integral part of it. Rather, according to Clem-
ent, the Jewish elite “are more correctly understood as an elite of the Jewish commu-
nity, separate yet interlocking in a peripheral way with the Anglo-dominated elite.”‘ ”
The non-participation of Jewish lawyers in Quebec’s non-ethnic economic associa-
tions in 1968 is evinced by the fact that only 1.9% of Jewish lawyers were active in
Chamber of Commerce activities, compared with 7.3% of Anglophone lawyers and
13.6% of Francophone lawyers.”

Even though Jewish lawyers were under-represented in the corporate elite-ac-
cording to a 1968 Quebec Bar study of the legal profession-they were considerably
involved in corporate legal business and in their own enterprises.”
In 1968, Jewish
lawyers in Quebec were more likely than Francophone or Anglophone lawyers to
have been owners of small businesses valued at less than $100,000. They were also
more likely to have been owners of property. In addition, Jewish lawyers were pre-
paring considerably more contracts than Francophone or Anglophone lawyers. They
were three times as likely to have been involved in preparing contracts as Fran-
cophone lawyers, and almost 50% more likely than Anglophone lawyers. Jewish law-
yers were also as likely as Anglophone lawyers, and more likely than Francophone
lawyers, to have had experience with economic transactions that totalled more than
$25,000. A similar trend was evident in the results of a Toronto study that found Jew-
ish lawyers under-represented in the corporate-commercial class, but over-represented
in the managerial bourgeoisie, and as small employers.”

Morton Weinfeld has suggested that the ethnic sub-economy may help explain
how Jewish lawyers were able to be active in corporate legal work even though they
were under-represented in involvement with large corporate clients.’ Weinfeld’s re-
search found that 35% of Montreal Jews indicated that “all or most” of their associ-
ates-i.e., employers, employees, clients-were Jewish. Given that at the time only
4% of Montreal’s population was Jewish, Weinfeld concluded that a concentration of
business exists within the ethnic sub-economy. Even more important is Weinfeld’s
finding that 51.4% of those whose occupation was considered “high” (including law-

“‘ W. Clement, The Canadian Corporate Elite (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Limited, 1975) at
155,180,237-38.

Ibid.
204
“”Ibid. at 238.
, B61anger, Chabot, Nobert, Angeers et associds Inc., supra note 190 at 153.
207 Ibid. at 151.
..3 Hagan, Huxter & Parker, supra note 199 at 36.
‘” M. Weinfeld, The Ethnic Sub-Econony: Explication and Analysis in a Case Study of the Jews in

Montreal (Montreal: McGill University, 1979).

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yers), and 52.5% of those whose income was over $20,000 had all or most of their
clients as Jews. Weinfeld’s findings suggest that Jewish lawyers were involved in the
expanding ethnic sub-economy and benefitting from Jewish business clients.

The involvement of Jewish lawyers with their ethnic group was not only apparent
in business activities, but also extended to political and community endeavours. Jew-
ish lawyers in Quebec were found by a 1968 Quebec Bar study of the legal profession
to be more active than Francophone or Anglophone lawyers i, politics and commu-
nity affairs. In 1968, 24.3% of Quebec Jewish lawyers reported that they were in-
volved in a national or ethnic association. Such a finding is rather high when one con-
siders that only 2.7% of Anglophone and 6.7% of Francophone lawyers were in-
volved with similar organizations.

Jewish lawyers also had the highest involvement in religious associations.”‘ Those
findings indicate the continuing importance of the connection between Jewish lawyers
and their ethnic and religious community. The establishment of a Jewish state, and the
large number of Holocaust survivors living in Canada–especially Montreal-pro-
vided new ethnic-group identifiers that continued to reinforce the bond between Jew-
ish lawyers and their community.2″ In addition, Jewish lawyers expressed greater in-
terest than their peers in Canada’s national question, as well as in international mat-
ters.2’ The concentration of lawyers in the leadership of the Canadian Jewish Con-
gress visibly demonstrates their interest in representing the Jewish community in the
national and international arena.2″‘ Jewish lawyers in Quebec are also more likely to
provide free services and time for charities and volunteer organizations, and to con-
tribute their time to legal aid activities. In fact, a larger percentage of Jewish law-
yers-55%-volunteer their legal knowledge to fellow ethnic-group lawyers than ei-
ther Francophone-36%–or Anglophone-25%-lawyers in Quebec.”‘

During the 1980s and 1990s, Jewish lawyers have been successful in reversing
many of the negative effects of anti-Semitism that excluded them from participation in
economic opportunities provided by changes in legal practice. One indication of that
success is the increase of Jewish lawyers entering large law firms:

210 B61anger, Chabot, Nobert, Angeers et associ6s Inc., supra note 190 at 154.
2″ For more information on the particular impact of Holocaust survivors on community develop-
ment see M. Giberovitch, ‘The Contributions of Holocaust Survivors to Montreal Jewish Communal
Life” (1994) 26 Can. Ethnic Stud. 74.

“‘ B61anger, Chabot, Nobert, Angeers et associ6s Inc., supra note 190 at 155.
211 S. Rosenberg, The Jewish Community of Canada: In the Midst of Freedom, vol.. 2 (Toronto:
McClelland & Stewart Limited, 1971) at 49. Rosenberg discusses the leadership of Michael Garber,
Q.C., Monroe Abbey, Q.C., and Saul Hayes, Q.C., in the running of the Congress.

21 B61anger Chabot, Nobert, Angeers et associ6s Inc., supra note 190 at 136, 138.

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It is only within the last two and a half decades that the large firms have opened
for Jewish lawyers. The mobility of Jewish lawyers within these firms has been
dramatic and an encouraging example of the profession’s willingness to
6
change.”

A study of the Toronto legal profession found that an equal proportion of Jewish and
Protestant lawyers hired in the 1980s worked for large-33.4% and 33.5%–and
elite-15.7% and 18.9%–firms.2 ‘ A corollary of the higher numbers of Jewish law-
yers in larger firms has been their greater participation in the economic and corporate
elite.”‘

The success of the Montreal Jewish lawyer’s employment in large law firm prac-
tice is a result of changes that occurred beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
According to Yoine Goldstein, the first sign of change occurred when Ogilvy Renault
hired Charles Gavsie, a former Deputy Minister of Finance, to head its tax department
in the late 1960s.”‘ In 1967, Ogilvy Renault also hired Casper Bloom as an articling
student.”‘ This represented the first time that a Jewish articling student was hired by a
large Montreal firm.2’ According to Bloom, these changes in hiring practices reflected
the firm’s adaptation to the surrounding societal changes that were engulfing it:

21 j. Hagan, “Transitions in the Legal Profession” (1993) 32 L. Soc. Gaz. 91 at 99.
216 Hagan, Huxter & Parker, supra note 199 at 9. Reported for the first time is systematic evidence
that Jews and Protestants have entered the large and elite law firms at comparable rates (ibid. at 52),
but note also that even with these new successes, Jews still only represent one-seventh of the capitalist
class (ibid. at 45). Jews are still catching up for discrimination encountered in the past (ibid at 45).

‘ ,See B. Ogmundsen & J. McLaughlin, “Trends in the Ethnic Origins of Canadian Elites: The De-
cline of the BRITS?” (1992) 29:2 Can. Rev. Sociology & Anthropology 227. Note that there still ex-
ists a controversy among sociologists as to the extent of improvement in the participation of ethnic
minorities in the economic and corporate elite.

“‘Supra note 17 1.
“,’ Supra note 49. Bloom dscribes how his hiring helped create opportunities for Jewish lawyers that

followed him:

While here at Ogilvy’s I have helped to create new opportunities for Jewish lawyers.
My presence has broken the ice and made it easier for other Jewish lawyers. At
Ogilvy’s I became the consultant on Jewish matters. I feel that my presence and suc-
cess here at Ogilvy has helped to make it possible for other Jewish lawyers to follow
the opportunities in larger Montreal firms. *

.. In Bloom’s opinion, his hiring was considerably controverisal for the firm. Even with the advent
of opportunities for Jewish law students at large law firms, Bloom noted that it was still difficult to get
a permanent position and that most were let go once their articling period was over.

In the late 1960s, there were very few Jews who did what I did, it took a while longer
even after I got my position before Jews began to join larger firms. It wasn’t until ten
years after my hiring that Jewish lawyers really started to be considered by larger
Montreal law firms. I didn’t experience Jewish hirings until at least ten years after my
own hiring (ibid.).

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In the 1970s, changes in attitudes began to open the doors to larger law firms
not only for Jews but also for Francophones. The changes in attitude can be
partly related to the Quiet Revolution that took place in Quebec during the late
1960s. Law firms couldn’t avoid being affected. The Francophone influence on
traditionally Anglophone law firms began to grow considerably. The Fran-
cophone influence became strongly felt. Once the Anglophones adapted to the
new Francophone influence it became easier to adapt to other ethnic groups
like the Jews. Anglophone firms were forced to open their doors to those who
were different from them, whether Francophone or Jews. 2″

However, Bloom notes that the opportunities for Jewish lawyers were easier if

they had no physical or cultural characteristics distinguishing them as Jewish:
It was even more difficult if you were an Orthodox Jew. I know that it would
have been harder for me if I was Orthodox. Being Orthodox, one’s cultural
background is different from the mainstream culture, one’s way of life is differ-
ent, one has physical distinctions that are visible. For me, my lifestyle was not
that different from the majority group, and no physical distinction could be
physically made, but if I was Orthodox it would have been difficult if not im-
possible to get hired. However, things have changed dramatically when one
considers that Greg Borden, an Orthodox Jew who was a gold medallist from
McGill University in 1988, was hired by Ogilvy Renault. He was the first Or-
thodox Jew hired. It took some adjusting for many lawyers in the office but he
is perfectly accepted.22

Yoine Goldstein attributes the increased hiring of Jewish lawyers by large law

firms to the growing presence of Jewish businesses and corporations:

You had influential Jewish business clients beginning to utilize non-Jewish law
firms. Therefore, some firms believed that it was good public relations as well as
goodwill to have Jewish lawyers at the firm because they had Jewish clients. 23

However, Bloom emphasizes that even when Jews began to be hired by non-Jewish law
firms, they had to work harder to succeed because their Jewish identity was an obstacle:

I feel that I had to work harder in my first job in law because I was a Jew in or-
der to prove myself, in order for people to accept me. I had to work harder to
earn my way because I was a Jew. There was an objective evaluation on my
part, that I had to do it, that I had to work harder, but I had to do it to succeed. 224

Even with the success of Jewish lawyers entering the large firms, it is important to
emphasize that they still encountered episodes of anti-Semitism. ”

221 Ibid.
222 Ibid.
223 Supra note 171.
224 Supra note 49.
223 Goldstein, supra note 171, recalls an example of anti-Semitism from his own personal experi-

ence:

In the late 1960s and 1970s, anti-Semitism and discrimination against Jews was on the
wane, but there were still episodes. I remember in the early 1980s a case I pleaded

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The success of Jewish lawyers, however, has paralleled that of the Jewish com-
munity. The Montreal Jewish community, in particular, has developed into one that is
internationally famous for providing the best social and community services per cap-
ita of any Jewish community in the world. “‘ The connection between Jewish lawyers
and their community still remains strong to this day. Jewish lawyers regularly partici-
pate in the provision of volunteer services as honorary executives on boards of Jewish
associations and organizations.”‘ They are also involved as donors and fundraisers for
Jewish organizations.”‘

Irwin Cotler has written that one of the areas of direct involvement and leadership
by Jewish lawyers is in the area of promoting human rights causes, especially those
related to Jewish issues:

The nature of the Jewish agenda requires Jewish lawyering. Over the last
twenty years the agenda has included bringing Nazi war criminals to justice,
providing input in the development of anti-hate legislation and defending its
constitutionality in the courts, and combating Holocaust denial. It has also in-
cluded combating the teaching of Christian religious education in public
schools, and using the courts to defend public funding for Jewish education.’

Other examples of Jewish lawyers’ defence of human rights causes include the court
battles of Manuel Shacter during the 1970s that eventually eliminated the drastic ob-
scenity laws in Canada.”” Yoine Goldstein was also actively involved in the successful
court battles against the Charter of the French Language,”‘ which attempted to reduce
the language rights of English-speaking Quebecers in the judicial system.”‘

where one of the lawyers made an anti-Semitic remark to another lawyer before I got
there in the morning. The other lawyer was so incensed he told me. When I heard the
remark I told the lawyer who had made it that I was going to tell the Judge what he had
said. The Judge hearing the case was Jewish. We settled shortly afterwards on very
good terms for my client. I later received a phone call from the Senior Partner at the
firm where this individual worked who informed me that if I wanted to file a complaint
with the Barreau about the remark, he would support me.

“‘ See E. Paris, Jews: An Account of their Experiences in Canada (Toronto: Macmillan of Canada,
1980) at 98. See also S. Rosenberg & J. Jedwab, “Institutional Completeness, Ethnic Organizational
Style and the Role of the State: The Jewish, Italian and Greek Communities of Montreal” (1992) 29:3
Can. Rev. Sociology & Anthropology 266.

“.. Kallen, supra note 36.
“‘. See generally D. Elazar & H. Waller, Maintaining Consensus: The Canadian Jewish Polity in the

Postwar Period (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1990) at 132.

“. Kallen, supra note 36 at 44.
” See “Shacter to take reins of Quebec Congress” The Canadian Jewish News (30 April 1992) 6.
Shacter explains the struggle in attacking Canada’s obscenity laws. The result of his Supreme Court
victory with Frank Scott was that for the first time, banned literature like D.H. Lawrence’s Lady
Chatterley’s Lover and Playboy were allowed in Canada (supra note 83).

“‘ R.S.Q. c. C- 1l.
‘”See “Attorney Yoine Goldstein awaits ruling on Bill 101″ The Canadian Jewish News (24 Febru-

ary 1978) 2.

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Jewish lawyers are also engaged through Jewish community organizations, like
the Canadian Jewish Congress, in advancing human rights. For example, as President
of the Quebec Region of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Manuel Shacter was often
outspoken in protecting the interests of all minority groups. He defended Quebec’s
minority groups against racism, governmental discrimination, and has promoted the
dismantling of barriers that adversely affected their equal participation in society.”

The Jewish identity continues to be expressed and reinforced through member-
ship and involvement in Jewish lawyers’ associations. These associations include the
Lord Reading Society, the International Jewish Lawyers’ Association, the Canadian
Chapter of the International Jewish Lawyers’ Association, and the Canadian Jewish
Law Students’ Association. Cotler considers these associations as instruments of
positive Jewish affirmation. They provide a framework for Jewish self-expression and
identification. Cotler also believes that these associations are important because they
help to strengthen the bonds to the Jewish community at a time when the corporate
law firm culture is decreasing the time that Jewish lawyers are able to commit to
communal activities. The Lord Reading Society has responded to the need to posi-
tively affirm the Jewish identity by inaugurating a Human Rights Lecture and a Lec-
ture in Jewish Legal Studies.

What has changed in the relationship between Jewish lawyers and their commu-
nity is the character of involvement of lawyers as administrators and managers of
Jewish organizations. Jewish lawyers traditionally participated in the direct admini-
stration of Jewish organizations in combination with their legal practice. However,
with the increased involvement of Jewish lawyers in larger law firms-where control
over their practice and time is limited, and commitments to the hierarchical structure
of those organizations is essential for advancement-the ability to directly participate
in the administration of community organizations has diminished.’
In addition, as
those community organizations have expanded and become more complex in struc-
ture, they have necessarily required a greater commitment, and have had to employ
full-time professional staff to manage their activities. Jewish lawyers, in turn, are
sometimes hired as managers of these organizations. The result has been the estab-
lishment of a new form of bureaucratic elite within the Jewish community that is re-
sponsible for administering the affairs of the community. These new forms of em-
ployment afford a considerable amount of independent authority in establishing pri-

2. The following examples provide an illustration of the role that Jewish lawyers like Manuel
Shacter played in advancing minority group interests through their participation in agencies like the
Canadian Jewish Congress: Shacter defended Quebec’s minority groups against negative comments
made by Quebec’s charg3 de mission. See “Fire Diplomat for ethnic remarks: CJC” The [Montreal]
Gazette (30 November 1994) A5. He strongly attacked racism in the press. For example, he de-
nounced the July 31, 1992 edition of Plwoto-Police entitled “Les Blanes en ont assez des Noirs!”: see
Canadian Jewish News (13 August 1992) 8.

23″ For more information, see F.M. Kay & J. Hagan, “Changing Opportunities for Partnership for
Men and Women Lawyers During the Transformation of the Modem Law Firm” (1994) 32 Osgoode
Hall L.J. 414.

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orities for the Jewish community. These positions effectively represent a new domain
for legal professionals within the Jewish community.

Conclusion

In the nineteenth century, the bars of Upper and Lower Canada were congrega-
tions of predominantly Anglo-Protestant families that encouraged dynastic affilia-
tions. As the profession developed and responded to the economic and technological
advances of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, these dynastic tenden-
cies remained. However, the role previously played by the bars in promoting the ho-
mogeneous character of the profession was appropriated by corporate law firms. By
excluding immigrants who came to Canada during the great wave of ethnic migration,
the Anglo-Protestant elite attempted to control entrance to the legal profession in or-
der to preserve this homogeneous character.

Even those ethnic lawyers who attained entrance to the legal profession were ex-
cluded from professional associations, and their legal business opportunities were
limited. Canadian Jews have historically struggled to take advantage of developing
opportunities in the legal profession, partially due to the anti-Semitic attitudes and be-
haviour that they encountered. They were highly represented in the legal profession,
but were excluded from new economic and professional opportunities available as a
result of the expanding industrial economy. Jewish lawyers in Montreal responded by
committing themselves to the protection and development of their ethnic community.
They relied on ethnic networks and connections to find legal business. Jewish lawyers
also sought legal business in areas that were undervalued. They also developed their
own business interests at the same time.

Jewish lawyers helped promote their community’s perception that the legal pro-
fession was a vehicle, and not a barrier, for attaining justice. They served as role mod-
els for younger members of their community who sought to enter the profession, and
also ensured that the interests of their community were protected at the legislative and
executive levels of government. The volunteer commitment demonstrated by Jewish
lawyers to their community has been under-appreciated in academic literature and
clearly represents an important dimension of legal practice that merits further study.

Historical analysis of the legal profession has tended to underestimate the influ-
ence of characteristics such as ethnic identity on the character and practice of law. In
the case of the Jewish community in Canada, it is evident that Jewish identity dra-
matically affected how Jewish lawyers practised law. This analysis of Montreal Jewish
lawyers has also demonstrated how the practice of law was tied to important extra-
professional ethnic group responsibilities and values. Understanding those responsi-
bilities and values is essential if we are to appreciate the influences that have affected
legal practice for a Jewish lawyer in Canada.