Sadly ILCO announces the passing of Sylvia Morris on August 3, 2019, a key pioneer in the historic development of ILCO, who as past president of ILCO, brainstormed and initiated the first ILCO conference in 1991 that promotes the education, development and networking of law clerks Canada-wide. Below are tributes in her honor.
Tribute by Ken Fone, former colleague, ILCO Board member, Director of Education, and Conference Committee member:
“I have had the privilege and pleasure to have known Sylvia over the past 33 years or so when I joined the Real Estate Department of Tory, Tory, DesLauriers & Binnington (now Torys LLP) and realized that here was a person who was generous with her time and knowledge and was someone you could turn to if you needed a second opinion or advice. Over the years I like to think that we became good friends and had interests somewhat the same, live theatre, dining and generally enjoying each other’s company. One of those interests was in our membership of ILCO and the support of which we both took up enthusiastically. Sylvia's involvement was by far the most influential. Having attended a conference in Buffalo for NALA (The National Association of Legal Assistants in the U.S. that promotes excellence within the paralegal profession), it was the kernel of an idea that blossomed into the first Annual Conference for ILCO which was spearheaded by Sylvia for a number of years. In addition, Sylvia led ILCO forward for many years as President of ILCO. I would say that without Sylvia's leadership ILCO might not be where it is now. It is not an exaggeration to say that Sylvia advanced ILCO and the status of its members with her vibrant leadership.
On a personal note, over the years I've enjoyed and had my horizons widened by my friendship with Sylvia. I will cherish many memories of our discussions and interests both professionally and personally. Even when I moved out to Prince Edward Island Sylvia was someone who continued to keep in touch and we would regularly call one another or e-mail. I will miss Sylvia's friendship terribly.”
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Tribute by Dianne Ryan, former colleague, Chair Southwestern Region branch of ILCO (SWRB) London, ON and ILCO Conference Committee member:
“Sylvia Morris was not only a colleague, mentor and good friend but also a pioneer with the Institute of Law Clerks. I first met Sylvia almost 30 years ago when she was the founding Chair of the first national conference for Law Clerks. It was her dream to reach out to Law Clerks across the country and to expand the role and recognition of all Law Clerks. Under Sylvia's guidance, the Law Clerk conference attracted prominent speakers which helped it to grow from a local conference in Toronto to the current one that travels around the country. As well, not only was Sylvia a past President of ILCO but she also played a large role in developing the Southwestern Region branch of ILCO (SWRB) based out of London, Ontario. Sylvia was very youthful and full of energy; she was an inspiration to many people both within the legal community and her large circle of friends. She will be greatly missed.”
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Tribute by Lara Morris, daughter of Sylvia, lawyer, coach, facilitator and 2007 ILCO Conference speaker:
“Many people have reached out to me since my Mom passed away, describing what she meant to them and how she impacted their lives. People have described my Mom as a pioneer, a trailblazer, and a visionary. She was all of these things and more for ILCO.
I remember talking to my Mom about the importance of law clerks being respected for their contributions to the legal profession, and she really saw a healthy and active ILCO as vital to fostering this respect.
My Mom brought this vision to the creation of the annual conferences, seeking to inspire her law clerk colleagues and support their professional development. She would get so excited when the committee would confirm a great speaker or important event sponsor!
In addition to hearing about her work with ILCO over the years, I had the joy of joining my Mom for part of a conference in Halifax. I felt so proud to be her daughter as I watched my Mom in action — fully in her element and committed to making the experience meaningful for the other volunteers as well as the participants.”
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Tribute by Lisa Matchim, former colleague, ILCO President and Chair Certification:
“I have kept in touch with Sylvia over the years and have many fond memories of her. During my time as President of ILCO, she often called me to see how things were doing at ILCO. She remained involved in ILCO even through her retirement and continued to provide ideas on improvements to services to members and promoting ILCO to others.”
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Tribute by Sue Kavanagh, former colleague and Chair ILCO Conference:
“Sylvia Morris had such vision and dedication for ILCO. It was Sylvia’s drive for the success of our profession that the ILCO conferences began.
My first vivid memory of Sylvia Morris is when I met her in London in 1992 for the second ILCO Conference. She was so vibrant and engaging. It was back in ’92 that she asked if Betsy Spencer and I would be interested in helping out on the conference committee for 1994 to be held in Ottawa. It was definitely because of Sylvia that I became involved with ILCO sitting on many conference committees and the board. We sat on many conference committees together and I always enjoyed our planning sessions and the comradery we developed over the years.”
I will always be grateful for Sylvia’s drive and passion for law clerks in Ontario that helped shape our profession today. We all owe her a great deal of gratitude.”
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Tribute by Anna Traer, former colleague, ILCO Board member, Conference Committee member and Chair Newsletter:
I had the privilege of knowing Sylvia as a colleague and neighbourhood friend. In the early years, we traveled to work together and had lively discussions on the future of law clerks. She had a clear vision of developing and promoting law clerks in their chosen profession. She was inspired to organize the first ILCO conference in 1990 immediately after attending a paralegal conference in the U.S. “Why can’t ILCO put on a conference?” Sure enough, ILCO’s first conference was held at Osgoode Hall in 1991 at which time co-hosted by ILCO and The Law Society of Upper Canada. Sylvia had close ties with LSUC that equally had an interest to promote the education of law clerks. Sylvia’s intent was to hold conferences in Toronto every second year, alternating with other cities in Ontario and eventually nation-wide.
For the 10th annual conference in 2000, ILCO became independent of LSUC as co-host. Osgoode Hall could no longer accommodate the large volume of attendees, and no longer would ILCO wait for law students to vacate their classrooms and dorms in Toronto, London, Ottawa and Kingston. ILCO needed larger facilities.
Starting in 2000, conferences were held in cities with conference facilities. Sylvia was proud of ILCO’s development of the conferences that has seen law clerks travel to London, ON (1992, 1996, 2005, 2012), Ottawa (1994, 2003, 2011, 2018), Kingston (1998), Niagara-on-the-Lake (2000, 2008), Kempenfelt, Barrie (2001), Deerhurst, Hunstville (2002), Blue Mountain, Collingwood (2006, 2013), Halifax, NS (2007, 2017), Markham (2009), Quebec City, QC (2010, 2019), Niagara Falls (2015), Montreal, QC (2016) and Toronto (1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2004).
I owe Sylvia much gratitude. It is because of Sylvia and her encouragement for me to become a member of ILCO and join the Conference Committee in 1991, that I have been enriched by many friendships through ILCO while having served as a member of the Board, Conference Committee, and Newsletter Committee. I am only one of many for whom Sylvia left a lasting mark that impacted careers and friendships.
Throughout her life Sylvia maintained many friendships with colleagues, legal assistants and lawyers. In particular, she had a good relationship with John Tory who she engaged to be the opening keynote speaker at ILCO Conference 2004 while he was Treasurer of the LSUC and partner at Torys LLP where Sylvia worked most of her career. A true testament of their unique friendship occurred in September at Sylvia’s Celebration of Life when John Tory, now Mayor of Toronto took time out of his busy schedule and paid his respects.
Yes, Sylvia is missed but if ‘The acts of this life are the destiny of the next’ (Eastern proverb), Sylvia has only begun to fulfill her dreams. Until we meet again, dear friend.