Lawyer presented with lifetime achievement award

Written By JOSHUA SANTOS

L. Murray Eades was named recipient of the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Peel Law Association.

“I never even thought about myself in that way,” said Eades. “I did not know about it until about a week or so before the presentation.  I was flabbergasted, because it was something I never even contemplated,” said Eades.

Eades began his practice in Toronto, where he worked in two firms before establishing his own practice and then moved to Mississauga. After 60 years as a lawyer, Eades retired as of Dec. 31 2018.

 “I have practiced since 1959,” said Eades. “Most of that time I was practicing as a sole practitioner. I had a pretty interesting career for a single lawyer.”

Eades became an authority on transportation law as part of his extensive corporate and commercial practice, and represented United Van Lines since 1962. 

“Fairly early on in my practice, United Van Lines needed to change counsel and they spoke with the accounting firm that dealt with them at the time, and the accountants gave them my name as someone who was young and enthusiastic,” said Eades.

“At that time, United Van Lines was quite small. It had been incorporated only in the late ‘50s. They weren't in a position to be looking for a big law firm. Now of course, they're number one in their industry.”

The retired lawyer said he had a very broad-based practice that took him back and forth across Canada, the United States, Europe and China.

He highlights his association with United Van Lines, his status within the transport law area and representation of families for over three-generations as milestones in his career.

“A lot of the individual families that I represented were small business people,” said Eades. “In corporate and commercial law, it fit in within their business needs. I did not practice in the area of family law, but in the other needs of the family, if they were buying or selling property or doing wills or, when someone died, working on their estate. Most of my clients were in some kind of business.”

Eades was nominated for the award by his colleagues at Lawrences, the Brampton law firm where Murray moved his law practice before retiring.  Among other things, they state that he distinguished himself as a preeminent counsel and contributed significantly to the Peel community, including serving on the Board of Directors of the Mississauga Hospital from 1965 to 1979, and as Chair of that Board from 1972 to 1974. 

In nominating Murray, Ed Upenieks and Michael Luchenski, two of the Partner at Lawrences, note Murray's ability to recount legal cases in great detail, while providing humorous anecdotes.

 “It is difficult to fathom how active Murray continues to be,” they said in a joint statement. He is an ageless wonder, the Energizer Bunny, of his generation. Yet he remains, in all that he does, the perfect gentleman, the trusted advisor to his longstanding clients and their children and grandchildren, and forever a proud Canadian.”

“Our firm was fortunate to have Murray join our firm in 2017 as our senior counsel. From the way he interacted with our lawyers, clerks, staff and summer students, we witnessed first-hand Murray's love of the law and pride in being a member of the legal profession. He is a lawyer who considers law to be a profession and not a business.”

Eades spent much of his life in Peel Region, specifically in the Belfountain area. Eades closed his own office in July 2017. 

“I realized that I had passed my best before date,” said Eades.

He then moved out to Lawrences in Brampton serving as counsel.  He encourages his former clients to reach out to Michael Luchenski, Co-Managing Partner at Lawrences, for ongoing legal services.  “I was there to provide advice and support to lawyers and clients,” said Eades. “My own clients would be served in the context of a larger firm.”

“I selected Lawrences simply because they have been one of the most prominent firms in Peel since 1924,” said Eades. “They have been around as long as I have been practicing. I had dealt with them from time to time and the lawyers I had dealt with, had similar approaches to the practice as I had, which would mean my clients would be well served.”

Eades was born and raised in Toronto completing Grade 13 at Port Credit High School. He attained his Bachelor of Arts in 1954, his Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1957, and his Bachelor of Laws in 1959, all from the University of Toronto. He received his call to the Ontario Bar in 1959.