When two university students strolled down to the South Saskatchewan River to float a cooler of beer over to a sandbar and do a little skinny-dipping - and were subsequently charged with public nudity after a police officer and his daughter came upon them - it was a young Brian Beresh, QC who was assigned to defend their case.
Then a second-year law student at the University of Saskatchewan, working at Legal Aid, the inexperienced Beresh managed to lose the trial. But when he angrily told his supervising lawyer that someone should do the appeal, he remembers her saying, " 'Yeah, someone will do the appeal - you will.' "
With trepidation, Beresh went to the courthouse, briefcase in hand, and prepared to argue the summary conviction appeal.
The prosecutor in the case, his senior in age and experience, turned to Beresh in a private moment and suggested he abandon his position and avoid a blow to his reputation. When a white-haired judge came in, the young student's heart sank, as he thought he didn't stand a chance.
Beresh saw two choices: he could go down to that same river and end his misery, or he could abandon the appeal. But neither happened. He stood his ground and fought. In fact, the recorded case, R vs Benolkin, is still cited as an authority in Martin's Criminal Code.
"Because of my experience with mooting and the lesson it had taught me about being courageous and continuing in the face of all odds, I decided no, I would continue with [the appeal]," he said.
While Beresh describes his own university mooting experiences as "rudimentary," he is a big supporter of experiential education and wants to give more aspiring lawyers the opportunity to participate. Having lectured as a sessional instructor at the University of Alberta's Faculty of Law for some 30 years, teaching Advanced Criminal Law for more than 15, and most recently developing and teaching a course focused on wrongful convictions for senior law students, Beresh believes it is imperative to improve the quality of graduating lawyers in this province, both in terms of their writing abilities and in their courtroom advocacy skills.
With this goal in mind, his decision to sponsor the University of Alberta's Gale Cup Moot Team with a gift of $25,000 over the next five years should come as no surprise.
Beresh tells this story in his temporary quarters on the 12th floor of Bell Tower, overlooking the action that is Edmonton's Ice District. Four decades into a noteworthy career practising criminal defence and human/civil rights law, Beresh is now called upon to defend those accused of the most serious crimes, men like Travis Vader and Larry Fisher, and has served in some of the longest and most debated trials in the province's history. He has appeared on numerous occasions before the Supreme Court of Canada and worked with clients such as Greenpeace. He's also a published author who enjoys probing legal history, and a celebrated speaker.
Just lately he has added a new trajectory to his career: creating Beresh Law, a boutique firm Beresh says will allow him to leave behind the administrative duties he had at Liberty Law (the firm he co-founded when he came to Edmonton in the early 1980s) and focus on cases and clients.
Throughout his career, Beresh has been driven by a desire to always improve.
"I hope we never stop learning. That's one of my philosophies," he says.
To that end, Beresh would like to see the Faculty of Law continue to build on its relationship with the greater legal community, especially alumni. "If you see the law school only as a place you went to obtain a law degree, as opposed to being part of your continuing legal education, that's too bad."
Beresh might be in the middle of a first-degree murder trial this week, but that doesn't mean he won't be pulling a fire truck full of water this weekend in support of a hospital's burn unit, organizing a spin-a-thon for the YMCA or heading down to CKUA Radio to make a pledge. An avid hockey player and mountain climber, he admits that he's attracted to causes that also allow him get a little exercise, but giving back to his community and his profession is simply an integral part of his life.
"I love what I do. I have no plans to retire. I love my work. I love being creative. I love giving back to the community."