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International Law a
Passport to the World
David Fenwick - Class of 1981
Shakespeare said it with characteristic eloquence, “There is a
tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to
fortune.” Today’s version is more succinct: timing is everything.
In a legal career spanning 30 years, David Fenwick’s
timing appears to have caught the crests of
international economic waves, taking him around
the globe on the swells of opportunity that have
intersected his path.
Born and raised in Flin Flon, Fenwick’s fondest
memories of childhood involve family camping
trips during the summer and hiking around the
bush country “that was quite literally just outside
my back door.”
But a university education was always part of
Fenwick’s plan, and so he headed south to the
University of Manitoba for higher studies. But after a
couple years of economics, he became frustrated at
the lack of any clear answers. “Although I knew not
a single lawyer or what being a lawyer involved, law
school seemed like a good alternative.”
“Perhaps as a precursor of things to come, I opted
to take international law. Although treaties and
international agreements have simplified many of
the complex private international law issues, I still
find myself going back to some of the first principles I
learned at Robson Hall whenever issues of forum and
governing law arise.”
Fenwick’s first legal experience occurred during the
years of Alberta’s oil boom in the 1980s. Fenwick was
scouting the legal landscape for an articling position
during a short trip to Calgary. “ The scientific method
involved in distinguishing between firms consisted
of looking them up in the Yellow Pages; anyone with
a bold advertisement and a list of more than a half
dozen lawyers was worthy of a call.” The method
bore fruit, however, and Fenwick secured an articling
position at Parlee Irving, Henning, Mustard & Rodney
(presently Parlee McLaws). Packing the sum of his
worldly possessions into a few suitcases, Fenwick
moved to Calgary.
“I had been enticed to Alberta by the oil boom, but
by the time I arrived in 1981, the combination
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