Montreal-born lawyer remembered as a team player and a kind mentor
Neil Finkelstein Born: Sept. 5, 1951 Died: June 12, 2018
Over the course of a career spanning four decades, whenever lawyer Neil Finkelstein donned a barrister’s robe and argued a case in front of a judge, there was one constant.
Underneath the black sleeves of his robe, the Montreal-born Finkelstein always wore cufflinks engraved with his grandfather’s initials. Arthur Crelinsten, who died when Finkelstein was a student, had dreamed of becoming a lawyer but never had the chance. His death served as a wake-up call of sorts; Finkelstein rededicated himself to his studies and graduated from McGill University ’s Faculty of Law, earning six prizes and two scholarships.
Success would follow Finkelstein from the classroom to the courtroom, where the cufflinks engraved with “AC” became a permanent fixture on his attire. Finkelstein went on to complete a master’s degree at Harvard University and clerked for Bora Laskin, a former Supreme Court of Canada judge. He also served as a policy adviser to the attorney general of Ontario and as a constitutional adviser to the premier of Newfoundland on the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords.
By the time he retired last year, Finkelstein had accumulated an incredible body of work: 30 appeals before the Supreme Court of Canada, 58 appeals in nine courts of appeal, 102 trials and hearings in eight provinces, two commissions of inquiry and two international arbitrations.
Finkelstein also carved out a small place in Canadian history. In 2005, as co-counsel on the Gomery Commission investigating the Liberal government’s sponsorship scandal, he questioned then-prime minister Paul Martin. It marked only the second time in Canadian history that a sitting prime minister had ever been cross-examined in a public inquiry.
Despite such a storied and accomplished legal career, Finkelstein is remembered by colleagues as a mentor and teammate.
“His impact on the development of the law and on generations of litigators will endure for many, many years to come,” said Dave Leonard, CEO of the McCarthy Tétrault law firm. “He will be missed.”
Adam Goldenberg worked with Finkelstein during the final years of his career, and he experienced Finkelstein’s mentorship firsthand everyday.
“He was unfailingly warm and generous with his time, and keen to share his experience and insight,” Goldenberg said. “He was extremely encouraging of young lawyers who wanted to not necessarily follow in his footsteps, but learn from his example.”
Goldenberg was far from the only one to benefit from Finkelstein’s guidance.
“You will find lawyers who are quite advanced in their own careers who owe their view of advocacy, their view of the profession and their view of themselves as lawyers, as parents, as members of the community to Neil and to the power of his example,” Goldenberg said.
Part of Finkelstein’s secret was his charm and charisma.
“He was funny; he was gregarious,” Goldenberg said. “When you were his friend, when you were his mentee, you were like family (…) which both tells you how closely he treated the people around him, and how his family was on an even higher plane.”
Beyond his legal career, Finkelstein was dedicated to his family. He met his wife, Marie, at McGill, and they raised five kids together. At McCarthy Tétrault, his desk was deliberately turned to face the walls where he had hung artwork painted by Marie.
“He was an incredibly devoted father and husband, and they were always his first priority,” Goldenberg said.
Whether they were friends or family, Finkelstein treated everyone as if they were the most important person in the room, regardless of their stature. It was one of many things that will be missed about him.
“I remember the first time I ever introduced him to my boyfriend,” Goldenberg said.
“It was at a friend’s wedding, and Neil took an immediate interest in this person who is so important to me, and befriended him and spent a good chunk of the evening with him in a room full of people whose connections were, professionally, more important to Neil. For him to get to know my partner and understand who he was, that investment in him and in me had a really significant effect on me as a very junior lawyer.”