Donald Affleck, a founding partner of Affleck Greene McMurtry LLP, has died.
Affleck, who had a long career specializing in competition law that spanned more than 50 years, died last week at the age of 77.
After growing up in the Ottawa Valley, Affleck graduated from the University of Toronto’s Law School in 1964 and started his law career at Fasken Calvin MacKenzie Williston & Swackhamer.
He later went on to co-found Kelly Affleck Greene with other partners that left Fasken together in 1992, and later formed Affleck Greene McMurtry in 2003.
Peter Greene, a fellow founding partner and friend of Affleck, described him as a deliberate and thorough lawyer who would dive into the details of a case even in his later years as a senior partner. He would sift through boxes of documents and make notes when others might have left such tasks to paralegals or more junior lawyers.
Greene says this made Affleck a great mentor for younger lawyers.
“Don would dig into the documents, get the facts and he’d know them. He was a teacher from that perspective for our younger people,” he says.
Greene says he would warn younger lawyers who worked with Affleck on cases to know their facts.
Greene met Affleck at Fasken in the late 1970s and says the firm taught them to make sure to know the facts of a case above all else.
“It was ingrained in us that facts win cases. Law doesn’t,” he says.
While clients might demand an opinion on their case immediately, Greene says Affleck was extremely analytical and would often take a few days to give his opinion on a case if it was going to lead to litigation.
Affleck appeared before trial and appellate courts and was an arbitrator on the softwood lumber anti-dumping case under the North American Free Trade Agreement.
He also was counsel to the standing committee of the House of Commons on Finance, Trade and Economic Affairs when the federal government was considering amendments to competition and banking legislation in the 1970s, and later served as chief counsel to the Royal Commission on Newspapers from 1980 to 1982.
He co-wrote Canadian Competition Law — a widely referred to resource in the area — with Wayne McCracken.
Greene says Affleck was a “class act” that would rarely use profanity.
“I don’t think anybody could dislike him. He just got along with people,” he says. “He was just a likeable guy.”
The Church of the Redeemer will hold a memorial service for Affleck at 162 Bloor Street West in Toronto on Saturday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
