SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Don Cooper came to the North 35 years ago for the same reasons many young lawyers come today - to earn a living and to take on an array of cases that a young lawyer might not otherwise see.

After 35 years as a lawyer, public servant and judge, Don Cooper is enjoying time with his family in Yellowknife after resigning from the Supreme Court earlier this year for health reasons. - Terrence McEachern/NNSL photo

"I hardly knew when to stand up, what to say" in a courtroom, said Cooper, born in Montreal in 1947, of his beginnings in law. "The case was yours. Whether it was a murder case or a traffic ticket, you took it. For someone who wanted to get a really good experience on really different cases, it was a godsend."

After graduating from law school at Queens University in 1973, he went to Toronto to practise, which was considered the ultimate goal - however, in 1975 Cooper set his compass North after realizing a young lawyer in the big city could wait up to five years before getting a "decent case of your own."

He's worked in the North ever since, and climbed his way, case-by-case and job-by-job, up the legal ladder to the coveted and respected position of Supreme Court judge, which he has resigned from this year due to health reasons.

For his first 19 years in the North, Cooper worked in private practice, mainly as a defence lawyer and in family law.

In 1994 he decided to leave behind the "very rewarding" but also "extremely stressful" life of private practice and accepted a position with the GNWT as director of legal services. Two years later, he was appointed the justice department's deputy minister.

During this time as a public servant, Cooper said he's been proud of the department's accomplishments, especially the implementation of the Protection Against Family Violence Act in 2005 and the construction of the North Slave adult and young offenders correctional facilities in 2003. A major disappointment for Cooper, however, was the inability for the GNWT to build a new, "stand-alone" courthouse.

"It signals the importance an independent justice system to everybody," he said. "Unfortunately, I came close, but didn't achieve that goal."

One issue Cooper said still bothers him was in 2004 when he was "under a microscope" for six months over allegations that he interfered with a series of liquor board cases, including one against the Top Knight bar.

The allegation arose after David Connelly, then a member of NWT Liquor Licensing Board, spotted Cooper and part-owner Gordon Wray - now deceased - of the Black Knight pub talking in the pub shortly after the justice department dropped a charge against the bar. Ethics counsellor Ted Hughes cleared Cooper of any wrongdoing and then-finance minister Floyd Roland fired Connelly.

"The allegations went to the heart of my integrity; and that's something I always value first and foremost in people is whether they have integrity. That was not a very happy experience, but we got through it," he said.

Four years later, Cooper left the GNWT and accepted a judicial appointment to the Supreme Court of the NWT on June 19, 2008, which he describes as the "ultimate reward and recognition" for a lawyer. "It's one of those jobs that looked a lot easier than it was, and I wasn't disappointed," he said with a laugh.

He said one of the main adjustments with the position was becoming comfortable with being exalted, or elevated in status with a judicial appointment and the desire to be "known as we've always been known." But beyond that, there was the responsibility of keeping up on case law and the weight of responsibility to the parties involved, including the accused and the victim, when deciding the outcome of a case.

"It was an intellectual exercise that I'm very glad, very happy that I had the opportunity to engage in," he said. That made it all the more difficult when he had to leave.

His abrupt resignation for health reasons from the Supreme Court was announced on Jan. 14 by Justice John Vertes before the start of a regular session of court. Cooper didn't want to elaborate on his health condition, but he said, softly, the decision to resign "is, and has been very difficult, and those that know me know I wouldn't do it lightly."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.