Faculty of Forestry alumnus Garry Mancell, BSF 1974, has successfully combined his studies and experience in forestry and the law to create a successful career over several decades.
Garry joined Davis & Company in 1988 as an associate, and became a partner in 1992. “It was good timing,” he says. “Davis was setting up practice groups, and they had a number of forestry clients. I had a network in various forest industries, and people began contacting me almost immediately.” (Davis merged with DLA Piper in 2015.)
Garry’s clients include timber developers, contractors, tenure holders, First Nations, trade associations, and contractors. His work focuses on timber and business acquisitions, joint ventures, fibre supply agreements, regulatory compliance and service agreements.
Born and raised in Vancouver, Garry was exposed to the forest industry early, spending time in the shingle mill where his father was a foreman. When it came time to apply to university, UBC seemed a logical choice.
“When I went to UBC you had to do 1 year of general sciences before entering many other faculties,” he says. “I was thinking about medicine, but it turns out I don’t deal very well with the sight of blood. I chose forestry because of my dad,and it was the best choice I could have made.”
In 1974 Garry graduated at the top of his class with a BSF in Forest Engineering. That same year he met a student named Ann who was in the Faculty of Education, and they began a relationship that led to marriage in 1980 and eventually to a daughter and 2 sons.
After graduation, Garry went to work on a BC Forest Products logging crew. He then moved to a forest engineering position, working along the coast of British Columbia. In 1976 he received his RPF designation.
When Garry felt the itch to go back to school, he left work and spent a year travelling and thinking about his future. On the advice of his brother, he applied to law school at UBC and University of Victoria. Accepted at both, he chose Victoria because “the school was new, interesting and exciting,” he says.
As a mature student, Garry initially had difficulty fitting in with his younger colleagues, many of whom had limited work experience and very different undergraduate backgrounds. “I was going to leave after 2 weeks,” he says. “Ann convinced me to persist, and eventually things got smoother.”
After being called to the bar in 1982 and a brief stint in civil and criminal litigation, he joined Crown Forest Industries as in-house counsel. When Crown merged with BC Forest Products the resulting company had more lawyers than it needed and Garry was laid off. “It was a bit traumatic at the time because I had a young family, but it compelled me to get out and knock on doors,” he says. That’s when he joined Davis.
In 1989 Garry began teaching a course in Forest Law at the UBC Faculty of Law (now the Allard School of Law) and is today the longest-serving adjunct professor in the faculty. He also i sa regular guest lecturer in the Faculty of Forestry.
Garry is also a member of Coquitlam Search and Rescue,a volunteer position he has held for the past 20 years. SAR members train for hundreds of hours each year so they are prepared for any possible rescue situation.
“I have noticed in my practice that foresters are particularly well-equipped to deal with land use conflict issues,” Garry says. “Our profession is the first that really had to grapple with multiple stakeholders in the context of a publicly owned resource. This is a real asset in helping not only forest industries but mining companies, First Nations, environmental management organizations, and many others.”