Sarah MacKenzie, BA, B.Ed, LL.B '73

Sarah MacWalker MacKenzie, a 1973 graduate of Dalhousie Law School has served for 10 years as a staff lawyer at Dalhousie Legal Aid Service.  She was born Sarah MacWalker, in Kingsboro, P.E.I., and spent her childhood on the South Shore in Cape Breton and in Annapolis County of Nova Scotia.  She graduated from Acadia University with a BA in 1940 and a Bed in 1941.  In 1942, Sarah MacWalker married Stanley MacKenzie and spent the next few years in their home with the couple’s three children, Kenneth, Sheilah and Roderick.  From 1952, until her admission to the Faculty of Law in 1971, Mrs. MacKenzie had a successful career as a junior and senior high school history and geography teacher.

Following her graduation and articles with Charles W. MacIntosh, QC, Mrs. MacKenzie was called to the bar of Nova Scotia in 1974 and joined the then fledgling Dalhousie Legal Aid Service.  She has since practiced and taught in this clinical setting, working mainly in the area of family law, in dedicated service to her low income clients and nascent barristers.  The clinic has depended on Mrs. MacKenzie through its many, perhaps daily, challenges and crises for the last decade.  She has provided an outstanding example of eager and dedicated lawyering to hundreds of fortunate students.  She has never wavered in her commitment to the ideals of Dalhousie Legal Aid of offering high quality legal services to individuals and community groups, providing third year student with further practical and academic training in a unique setting, and engaging in law reform and public legal education.

Mrs. MacKenzie has also been active in helping young people through her church.  She has been a member of the boards of the Acadia Alumni Association, the One-Parent Family association and the Matrimonial Counseling Association.  She is currently a member of the North British Society, the Nova Scotia Historical Society and the board of the Coverdale Trust, which provides support services for women in conflict with the law.

Mrs. MacKenzie has served her clients and students in a manner that exemplifies the best traditions and aspirations of the bar and the law school.  Her distinction by this award is a small recognition of her dedication and sacrifice.