Pioneer Period
The historical roots of the firm run deep. Eli Harrison II was born in Missouri. In 1852, his father, Eli I, started his family on the long trek across the Mississippi River, over the endless prairies and the snowy passes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains to San Francisco, and then up to Victoria.
Eli Harrison II was a British Columbia Legislature acting Registrar General of Titles, Solicitor in the Attorney General’s Department, Crown Prosecutor, Bencher of the Law Society, County Court Judge and Local Judge of the Supreme Court, and a charter member of The Union Club.
The second oldest son of Eli Harrison II was Victor, born 1884. He was called to the Bar in 1908. From 1909 to 1912 he served as a Stipendiary Magistrate in Ladysmith and then alderman, police commissioner and mayor of Nanaimo. He was the founder of Harrison, MacIsaac & Company.
His most famous case was the successful civil action against Brother XII who was the subject matter of hundreds of articles, a number of books and two movies. Victor Harrison was Grand Chief Factor of the Native Sons and presided at the unveiling of the Captain Cook Memorial at Nootka.
Contemporary Period
In 1949, Victor Harrison changed the name of the firm from Harrison and Co. to Harrison, MacIsaac & Co. Ronald MacIsaac, who in 1948 graduated from the University of Saskatchewan Law School, joined him then.
In the early 1980’s, Daniel MacIsaac moved from the downtown Vancouver firm of McCarthy Tetrault to practice law with his father. Their legal practices evolved into the present law firm of MacIsaac and MacIsaac.
During the mid-1980’s, they were joined by Deanna Lane, who had articled with them. More recently, Michael Brcic became an associate.
After an illustrious career, Ron MacIsaac, partner emeritus, retired from the practice of law on October 31, 2014 at the age of 89. He had been a prominent trial lawyer for 65 years. Ron passed away in his 97th year.
MacIsaac and MacIsaac continues to expand its client base and to pursue new legal challenges.