Members of the New Brunswick legal community are paying tribute to Wendell Maxwell, a longtime Moncton lawyer, known for his thundering style of oratory and ardent defence of “the ordinary person.”
Maxwell died Jan. 5 at the age of 84. A celebration of life was held Thursday evening at the Fairhaven Funeral Home.
Former friend and colleague Brian Murphy said Maxwell was the very first lawyer he ever saw in action in court. As a high school student observing the proceedings, it left a lasting impression.
Only later, when Murphy became a lawyer, did he get to know Maxwell and learn why he chose to bellow his arguments.
“Because the client is expecting you stand up and even if it’s an unpopular case or an unwinnable case make your presence known. And he sure did.”
Maxwell adhered to the old sayings: If you don’t have the facts, argue the law and if you don’t have the law, argue the facts, said Murphy.
“He was sort of our Rumpole of the Bailey,” said Murphy, referring to the British television and book series about a London barrister who champions underdogs to uphold the principle of innocence until proven guilty.
“You don’t have to believe that your client is lily white … but you have to believe that they’re owed a defence. And boy, did he ever live that.”
End of an era
With law and politics becoming increasingly adversarial, Murphy sees Maxwell’s death as marking an end of an era.
Maxwell bridged generations, areas of law and opposing sides of the courtroom, said Murphy, who learned a lot from him as a young lawyer, both in court and while hanging out at the Beausejour Hotel Coffee shop across from the courthouse during breaks in proceedings.
“He commanded respect from all sides” and “worked hard for it.”
Maxwell’s obituary noted that he had fans who would attend court “just to watch the show.”
And though he retired in 2019, he had loyal supporters to his dying days.
The lineup to see him after he entered hospice in November was “like opening day at Costco,” said Jim Letcher, a close friend and fellow criminal lawyer.
“His fan base stretched from the bottom of the social hierarchy to the top,” Letcher said.
Letcher and Maxwell graduated together from UNB Law in 1968.
What few people know, he said, is that both men flunked their criminal law class at university. They certainly caught up on the subject, each making a 50-year career in the field.
Maxwell was a “remarkable lawyer,” said Letcher.
Known for DUI cases
By the end of his career, Maxwell exclusively handled impaired driving cases.
He took several cases to the Supreme Court of Canada, noted Murphy, including at least one that he worked free of charge because the client couldn’t afford to pay.
Maxwell helped set precedents related to the “nitty gritty” of how impaired driving charges are administered in relation to the rights of the accused, said Murphy, and he helped iron out discrepancies in the way things are done across jurisdictions.
One of his most notable cases involved a personal matter, that was also indirectly related to impaired driving.
Maxwell had vanity licence plates that said “DUI DR,” which at one point were deemed inappropriate by the provincial government and seized.
With the assistance of another lawyer friend, Scott Fowler, he successfully fought to get the plates back, winning both in lower court and when the province tried to appeal.
His argument was that rejecting the plates was tantamount to saying anyone charged with impaired driving doesn’t deserve legal representation, said Murphy.
Others knew Maxwell for his time served on city council or his involvement in the local boxing community.
Ernest Drapeau, a former New Brunswick chief justice, was another old chum
He has fond memories of road trips taken with Maxwell prior to his appointment to the Court of Appeal.
“Great and profound roadway wisdom was shared with those who chose to listen,” wrote Drapeau in an emailed statement.
A golf club that “slipped” out of Maxwell’s hands after “a rare miss-hit” may still be up a “majestic pine tree,” he said, reminiscing.
“Rest in peace, old warrior for the ordinary person,” Drapeau wrote.
Information Morning – Moncton11:06Remembering Moncton criminal lawyer Wendell Maxwell
Brian Murphy is a Moncton lawyer and was a friend and colleague of Wendell Maxwell.
#Wellknown #Moncton #lawyer #left #lasting #impression
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