i In the Hurley family Aci o <c/ ^y&J. : ? ' ! / ^ / S - 7 " ' ' | i *^^ law is a trademark By Tom Gavey The Intelligencer Pat Hurley saw growing up how much his father enjoyed law and that made the decision to be- come a lawyer an easy one. His father is Justice Ben Hur- ley of the Ontario Court (General Division). Sister Joanne practises in Picton and another sister, Mary Jane, is a court reporter in Toronto. The 31-year- old Belleville na- tive returned here last week to join the firm of Butler and Graydon. "Looking at Pat Hurley how much my father enjoyed the law and having that kind of expe- rience growing up made the deci- sion easy. I had always hoped I could come back to Belleville to practise,11 he says. Hurley graduated from Nichol- son Catholic College in 1979 and then earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in 1982. He graduated from the University of Toronto Law School in 1987 and was called to the On- tario Bar in 1987. He started with the firm Campbell, Godfrey and Lewtas in Toronto and remained when the firm merged in November, 1989 to become one of the largest firms in the province. "I was involved mainly in la- bor and employment law there as well as some commercial litiga- tion. Things are becoming so spe- cialized in Toronto there are some lawyers who just do air- plane leasing," says Hurley. That wasn't what he wanted, and April 2 Hurley joined the city firm. He says he will assist Rob- ert Graydon with his criminal practice and work in civil litiga- tion. "It was good to get the experi- ence in Toronto. But here 111 get a chance to really help people. In Toronto it seemed you were al- ways dealing with a bunch of peo- ple in blue suits," says Hurley. Graydon says his firm, which is litigation based, will be able to use Hurley's experience in civil and criminal litigation. "He's coming from a distin- guished Toronto firm and that ex- perience should serve him well. It also continues our tradition here of litigators with a local back- ground," says Graydon. Hurley says for his part he's looking forward to coming from a firm where there were 270 law- yers to one where he will have a greater impact on the work being done. "The problems here won't just be about accounting. And, it's an opportunity to work with Bob (Graydon) in criminal litigation," he says. i