M. Lee Cohen, B.Ed., LL.B. '80, Q.C.

Immigration lawyer Lee Cohen: "Lee did not fit comfortably in a traditional legal practice." (CBC's Life & Times)

Marven Lee Cohen was born, and received his early education, in Saint John, New Brunswick. He graduated from the University of New Brunswick in 1977 with a Bachelor of Education degree, and, in 1980, received his Bachelor of Laws degree from Dalhousie University.     

While at the Law School Lee showed early leadership qualities. He was elected President of the Dalhousie Law Students’ Society. At the same time, Lee frequently questioned whether he was cut from the right cloth to pursue a legal career. He did not take easily to traditional law school training. “I learn best by experience as opposed to explanation,” he says.  However, in his third year, Lee opted to take the Dalhousie Legal Aid Clinic. The clinic gave him a broad perspective into the problems of the disadvantaged. It also provided him with the opportunity to fight for causes that seemed to fit his own ambitions. 

Lee was admitted to the Nova Scotia Bar in 1981. He joined a large firm and worked his way to a partnership. He practiced mainly family and criminal law. He started his own law firm in 1986. However, Lee did not fit comfortably into a traditional legal practice. In particular, he did not feel temperamentally suited to the business side of law.

However, in 1987 Lee stumbled into an unforeseeable set of circumstances that was to change his life. In that year, 174 Sikh refugee claimants arrived unannounced on the shores of Nova Scotia. The World Sikh Organization needed local representation from a member of the Nova Scotia bar. Lee offered his services and was soon catapulted full time into the area of immigration and refugee law. Lee represented all 174 claimants. He knew immediately that this was the area where he wished to direct his energies. He hasn’t looked back since.

As a result of the Sikh experience Lee has gained an introduction into the history of immigration law. Personally, he has found it to be filled with a litany of heartless decisions and policies, and silly rules, which destroy lives, separate families and shatter dreams. He is passionate when he speaks of a bureaucracy that is enormous, unwieldy and often administratively out of control. He is moved by the realization that so many immigrants and refugees are powerless, and their lives seem to be lacking in social value.    

To Lee it was essential that those seeking admission to Canada be given the best quality of representation possible. In June 2000 he founded the Halifax Refugee Clinic, a non-profit organization providing pro bono representation for eligible refugees. The clinic has filled a much needed void, far exceeding its founder’s expectations. When the Immigration and Refugee Board comes to Halifax the Clinic represents approximately 85 per cent of the refugee claimants appearing before it.

Lee has enabled the clinic to be a vehicle to train law students interested in immigration work. Law students, working under Lee’s supervision, handle about one-half the cases which are heard by the board. Lee spends about 40 per cent of his time on clinic matters, with other immigration and human rights matters occupying the bulk of his private practice. While it is far less lucrative than other areas of concentration he is emphatic in stressing the satisfaction he finds in his work. He says, “My clients have no idea how much I am indebted to them. There is a mutuality of learning that has been continually rewarding over the years.”

Lee Cohen is very much a public servant in the broadest sense. He is a frequent guest speaker at universities, schools and community organizations.He has served as a president, chair or member on numerous boards, associations and committees.He is a frequent commentator in the local, national and international media.  

Lee received a Queen’s Counsel appointment in 2002. In 2003 he received the Nova Scotia Human Rights Award, and the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Commemorative Medal. In 2004 Life and Times, CBC TV’s premiere biography series, profiled “Cohen’s War: The Life and Times of Lee Cohen” in a one-hour documentary.

For his passionate and outspoken dedication to the area of human rights and immigration and refugee matters, and his generous contributions to the community in the broadest sense, the Dalhousie Law Alumni Association is proud to honour Lee Cohen with the 2005 Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service.