Personal Reflection. The heroic advocate

• Author: The Honourable Eleanore A. Cronk
• Pages: 273-282

273

R PERSONAL REFLECTION | SPRING 2009

e eric acae

THE HONOURABLE ELEANORE A. CRONK

I’ve chosen to discuss the topic of the heroic advocate, for three rea-

sons. First, because in these times there is a great need for heroic advo-

cates. Second, because an examination of the lives of heroic lawyers

may remind us why we went to law school in the rst place. Margaret

Ross, a past president of The Advocates’ Society, said in a recent speech,

“For most of us, it was to serve the public … through the pursuit of jus-

tice.”1 The demands of contemporary legal practice may result in this

being easily forgotten. Third, because the occasion for this discussion is

the Society’s annual evening of celebration. It marks the notional com-

pletion of another busy court year, when advocates gather in fellowship,

to toast the joys and diculties of life at the bar. On this special occasion,

it is tting to speak in praise of advocates, to honour that which is best

in the barrister.

I approach this topic with some trepidation. I well recall Theodore

Roosevelt’s disparaging comment about Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., when

Holmes, who was Roosevelt’s rst appointment to the United States

Supreme Court, dissented from a majority Supreme Court decision that

enforced Roosevelt’s antitrust legislation of 1890. Roosevelt reportedly

1 Margaret A. Ross, “Challenges to the Standards of Professionalism in the Legal

Profession,” a speech presented to the Chief Justice of Ontario’s Advisory Commit-

tee on Professionalism: 10th Colloquium on the Legal Profession, Ottawa, March

28, 2008, online at .