Our dear friend and cherished colleague, the incomparable Judith Wahl has died, on May 15, 2024.

Judy was one of my early mentors and I didn’t have many.

Few of such significance.

When I began doing CCB work in 1995, there were only a handful of lawyers with any real knowledge of the area of the law.

Judith was among those very few and boy was she knowledgeable. She was always generous with her time with me.

She taught me so much about working with older adults but her expertise went beyond that to generalized matters of health law and in particular consent and capacity.

She built that legal aid clinic from scratch – the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly and under her leadership, as Executive Director, it became a world-renowned centre of knowledge and excellence.

She was under-appreciated by the profession and underrated generally. She deserved endless accolades.

She was brilliant both as a lawyer and a person. She was one of the best public speakers I know.

It feels really weird to talk about her in the past tense, I’ll pause to add here.

She was a fighter. She fought with Legal Aid for resources. She fought with the government for her clients’ rights. She fought with us when we did stupid things or if anyone did, and lots of people did, because lots of people are stupid and definitely dumber than she was.

She didn’t suffer fools readily. She had endless compassion for vulnerable individuals and seemingly boundless energy to advocate for them.

Funny thing, the thing I most remember about people, myself, when they die, is their laugh.

Judy had this huge and infectious laugh – a very loud giggle almost.

I will really miss her.

The profession has lost a legend.

Here is The Advocacy Centre for the Elderly’s (ACE’s) Tribute to Judith, in Memoriam.

May her memory be a blessing.