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| (From left) Stephen Victor, Lawrence Soloway, Abe Feinstein, Leonard Shore and Sol Shinder discuss the history of Jewish lawyers in Ottawa, October 24, at a panel discussion presented by the Ottawa Jewish Historical Society’s Shirley Berman Lecture Series. (Ian Sadinsky) |
By
Michael Regenstreif
Editor
‘What
was it like to be a young Jewish lawyer in Ottawa in the 1960s? What was the
legal landscape at the time? Who preceded them? Who where their teachers, their
mentors, their heroes? And what were some of their highlights?”
Moderator Ross Baylin posed those questions as he introduced a panel of
distinguished Jewish lawyers – Abe Feinstein, Sol Shinder, Leonard Shore,
Lawrence Soloway and Stephen Victor – to discuss “The Jewish Legal Experience
in Ottawa: History, Highlights and Heroes,” in a presentation of the Ottawa
Jewish Historical Society’s Shirley Berman Lecture Series presented in
conjunction with the Soloway Jewish Community Centre (SJCC).
The event, attended by more than 160 people, took place October 24 at
the SJCC and each of the participants talked about what it meant or means to be
a Jewish lawyer, about their own careers, and about some of the legendary
Jewish lawyers who inspired them.
Sol Shinder
Sol Shinder began the presentations by describing “the landscape that
faced aspiring young Jewish lawyers and law students in the first 70 years of
the 20th century.”
As Shinder explained, “Virtually all of the ‘white shoe’ law firms were
predominately made up of ‘WASPs,’ and up until the early 1970s they rarely
employed Jews, women and other minorities as lawyers.”
Of the 206 lawyers who graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in
Shinder’s 1960 class, “the three medalists were brilliant, Jewish and none of
them got a job with any prominent non-Jewish law firm. They did however go on
to have very successful and distinguished careers in the law, federal
government public service, business, academia and the judiciary.”
Such discrimination in those years was not limited to law firms in
Ottawa, Shinder added, “It was also prevalent in Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg
and other major cities in Canada and the United States. It also prevailed at
business men’s clubs like the Rideau Club, and at major golf clubs like the
Royal Ottawa and the Hunt.”
As the major law firms would not hire Jews, it was common for Jewish
lawyers to form their own firms. As a young lawyer, Shinder first worked at
Greenberg, Wright and Gorsky, before joining with Arnell Goldberg and Sol
Shmelzer to form the firm of Goldberg, Shmelzer and Shinder.
“Although we were a predominately Jewish law firm, our clients were from
a cross section of the wider community. In fact, our first client … was a
French Canadian from Embrun. A law firm like ours could not exist on a strictly
Jewish clientele,” he said.
Shinder also paid tribute to Abraham H. Lieff, who graduated from
Osgoode Hall Law School in 1929 and practiced in Ottawa for many years. In
1963, Lieff – who served as president of the Jewish Community Council of
Ottawa/Vaad Ha’Ir (now the Jewish Federation of Ottawa) from 1953 to 1956 –
became the first Jew appointed a justice of the Supreme Court of Ontario.
Stephen
Victor
Stephen Victor began his presentation by paying tribute to Sam Berger,
“one of the leading and accomplished lawyers in Ottawa from the 1920s, and for
decades thereafter.”
Berger was born in Ottawa in 1900, the son of a rabbi, and grew up to
have “many careers: journalist, lawyer, Air Force officer, real estate
developer, city controller, and sports franchise owner. He even ran
unsuccessfully for mayor against Charlotte Whitten in 1960 and 1962. All of
these accomplishments made him a seminal figure in the growth of Ottawa,”
Victor said.
Berger co-founded Berger, Greenberg – later Berger, Greenberg and
Soloway – which “became the leading Jewish firm in Ottawa, and employed many
prominent Jewish lawyers who got their start at his firm,” said Victor. He made
many contributions to the city – including serving as president of the Vaad –
but became best known as owner of the Ottawa Roughriders football team which
played in seven Grey Cup games during his tenure, winning four, before selling
the team in 1969 and donating his share of the profits to charity. He later
owned the Montreal Alouettes and served as president of the Canadian Football
League.
Victor also noted that the Jewish lawyers who preceded his generation
made important contributions to the Jewish community of Ottawa, to Israel, and
to the City of Ottawa generally, which inspired him to work in those areas.
“So, I became involved in Jewish community affairs locally, nationally,
and in connection with the State of Israel [serving as] director of Camp B’nai
Brith, president of the Jewish Community Centre, UJA chair, president of the
Vaad, national chair of the Canada-Israel Committee, national president of
Canadian Friends of Hebrew University, and, chair of the University of Ottawa
Heart Institute Foundation. It is so important, especially today, for all of us
to be so involved,” Victor said.
Victor said that while the antisemitism that kept Jewish lawyers out of
non-Jewish law firms from the 1920s through the ‘50s has largely been
eliminated, “the scourge of antisemitism still exists today and has re-emerged
in a different, more dangerous and frightening form. We, as Jews, must fight
this antisemitism. And, to do so, we must choose to be in the arena, to be
involved in Jewish community affairs and in connection with the State of
Israel, to play some role in supporting and safeguarding the State of Israel
and the Jewish people.”
Lawrence
Soloway
Lawrence Soloway devoted his presentation to discussing his father, Hy
Soloway, who came to Canada from Ukraine at age 10 in 1923, and about Soloway
Wright, the Ottawa law firm he founded.
“Although he didn’t speak a word of English when he arrived, he quickly
caught up with his classmates, became valedictorian of his class at Glebe High
School and went to Queen’s for undergraduate studies. After disappointing his
Jewish mother, who sent him off to Queen’s with the gift of a stethoscope, and
had fervently hoped that he would become a doctor, he graduated Osgoode Hall
Law School in 1939,” Lawrence Soloway said.
Hy Soloway began his legal career at Berger, Greenberg before serving in
the Army during the Second World War. After the war, he teamed with brothers
Jack and Mervin Mirsky to form Mirsky, Soloway and Mirsky.
Lawrence Soloway explained that Mervin Mirsky left the firm early on to
join his family’s beverage business and Jack Mirsky died in 1962. Maurice
Wright then joined the firm in 1963 as a name partner.
“The firm would have many different names over the following years but
the first two were always Soloway and Wright,” he said.
In 1965, after Sam Berger had moved to Montreal and Mike Greenberg
became ill, their firm merged with Soloway and Wright.
“The firm grew steadily through the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s,” explained
Lawrence Soloway. “In those years, a number of Jewish lawyers came and went –
including such well-known individuals as Stephen Victor, Ken Radnoff, Henry
Molot, Murray Citron, Fred Cogan, Bernie Pearl and Herbie Pearl.”
Lawrence Soloway joined the firm as a young lawyer in 1976 and notes his
father kept working until October 31, 2003. Hy Soloway passed away the
following summer at age 90.
Abe
Feinstein
Abe Feinstein began his presentation by paying tribute to Sam Lepofsky,
who “joined the Ottawa legal fraternity in 1922. His importance to the Ottawa
legal community and the Ottawa Jewish community is summarized in the memorial
tributes to him after he passed away in 1956.
“John Mirsky, on behalf of the members of the Ottawa bar, described Mr.
Lepofsky as ‘a gentleman in the true sense of the word. His integrity, honesty
and enthusiasm for his cause were inspiring.’
“Hy Soloway, [then] president of the Jewish Community Council, said;
“For 25 years, Mr. Lepofsky had taken an extremely active interest in the work
of the Jewish Community Council of which he was vice-president. His dedication
in bringing about a betterment of conditions for all concerned has been
unsurpassed. His loss to us and the city as a whole is truly a heavy one.”
Feinstein also noted that Lepofsky’s daughter, Constance Glube, became
the first woman appointed a justice of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia and
“made history again when she was the first woman to be appointed chief justice
of a Canadian Court.”
“I was called to the bar in 1965,” said Feinstein. “It was my good luck
that there was a merger of two large Ottawa law firms, the Soloway firm and the
Greenberg firm. There was a need to hire lawyers and I was hired as a real
estate junior.
“At that time, Soloway Wright had three of the most competent solicitors
in Canada: Hyman Soloway, Irving Greenberg and Murray Citron. They were great
mentors to me. Hyman Soloway’s competence is widely known to all and in need of
no discussion. Irving Greenberg did the first mortgage of air rights in Ottawa
on the building over the Central Library. He was also retained by the
Government of Canada to advise them on the development of the Rideau Centre.
Murray Citron [arranged] the first high-rise condominium in Ontario and the first
condominium conversion in Ottawa – and perhaps the first in Ontario,” said
Feinstein.
Feinstein described some of the highlights of his career in real estate
law, noting his service as president of the County of Carleton Law Association
(CCLA), the association of Ottawa lawyers.
In 1975, “I became a founding director of Centretown Citizens of Ottawa
Non-Profit Housing Corporation. We started with $500 in the bank. Today,
Centretown Citizens Non-Profit Housing Corporation owns more than 50 properties
and 1600 units,” Feinstein said.
“In 1982, I became a member of the Committee of Adjustment of the City
of Ottawa and eventually became chair... The Committee of Adjustment made
hundreds of planning decisions that affected the real estate development of
Ottawa.”
In 1991, Feinstein was elected to be a director of the Ontario Law
Society. “I remained on the board as an elected director for 16 years and as
life director for another 10 years,” he said. “The Law Society acts in the
public interest, licenses lawyers and ensures that they are ethical and
competent.”
He was also elected to the board of the Federation of Law Societies of
Canada, the national organization of Canadian law societies that regulate
Canada’s 120,000 lawyers and was elected president of the federation in 1999.
“With luck, mentoring, teamwork and the support of the partners,
associates and staff of Soloway Wright and my family, I have had and am still
having an interesting legal career,” Feinstein said.
Leonard
Shore
Leonard Shore began by speaking of his hero, Uncle Michael (Michael
Greenberg), his accomplishments in the legal and building fields as well as to
his contributions to Ottawa and its Jewish community. He also spoke of his
family and what it was like growing up in the Billings Bridge neighbourhood in
the 1940s and finished with some amusing anecdotal criminal law stories.
“Mike [Greenberg] and Hy [Soloway] were the two giants of my youth in
the legal, Jewish and general communities who inspired me with their commitment
to family, profession and Jewish values. Their sons, my cousins, Steve
[Greenberg] and Lawrence [Soloway] are my present day giants with their
philanthropic instincts, largely unheralded, who would make their fathers
proud,” said Shore.
Family members of the late Shirley Berman, a longtime supporter of the
Ottawa Jewish Historical Society and founder of the Ottawa Jewish Archives, for
whom the lecture series was names, attended the event.
“My father, Shier, sitting in the audience with us, was deeply moved and
impressed by the event. I know I speak for both he and my siblings, all of whom
have attended the memorial lectures, when I express how delighted we were by
how the Ottawa Jewish Historical Society has found a way for my mother to
continue to inspire and strengthen our community. We look forward to even
greater attendance next year,” said David Berman.
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