Elizabeth Harrison knew no female lawyers when she was growing up in rural Alberta in the 1960s.
She was a prolific reader who was inspired by novels such as To Kill A Mockingbird and was fascinated by the concept of being a lawyer.
When a family friend encouraged her, she realized that her dream of becoming a lawyer could be reality.
Now one of the more influential lawyers in Vancouver, Harrison has impressed countless legal clients through the years with her strong legal knowledge and ability to solve problems.
Influence also stems from her eight-year stint as chair of British Columbia Ferry Services Inc. – a role that showed younger women that it is possible to have a busy and successful career while also taking on significant responsibilities outside work and family.
For that she merits being Business in Vancouver's 2012 Influential Women in Business Lifetime Achievement Award winner.
"She is both influential and persuasive," said MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) CFO Anil Wirasekara, who has known Harrison since the 1990s and worked with her on MDA's two IPOs and multiple acquisitions.
Securities regulators required MDA to provide three years of financial statements to complete its IPO in 2000. That requirement would have been a huge headache because MDA had bought a division of another company for which there were no audited financial statements.
Harrison not only managed to get an interview with senior securities commission executives, she was able to convince them that the requirement was unduly burdensome, Wirasekara said.
He added that her influence not only came from her powers of persuasion; it also came from the fact that she is respected as someone who rarely asks for such a favour.
Harrison did much of her grade school in rural Alberta but moved to Calgary for Grade 12 because she thought the calibre of teaching would be better.
After getting a bachelor of arts in economics and political science at the University of Alberta, Harrison earned her law degree at that institution in 1972. She was hired as an articling student at Farris, Vaughan, Wills and Murphy LLP.
Before her year-long articling stint was completed, she had fallen in love with another Farris articling student and the two married.
The B.C. government brought in a new Companies Act in 1973 and Harrison was the point-person at Farris who helped clients ensure that their books were in compliance with new regulations.
A partner since 1978, Harrison has worked on some major mergers and acquisitions. One of those was the complex takeover battle between Inland Natural Gas and Trans Mountain Pipeline Co. in the early 1980s.
Another was the merger of BC Telephone Co. and Telus Corp. in the late 1990s.
Harrison then helped further mergers at Telus, such as its $6.6 billion acquisition of Clearnet in 2000, which put the telecom on track to be B.C.'s largest company.
Those who are well- acquainted with Harrison say she is one of the hardest-working people they know.
Her daughter, Jennifer Harrison, said her mother took six months off after giving birth to Jennifer's older brother, Geoffrey, but only took the weekend off after giving birth to Jennifer.
"Her secretary was taking dictation in the hospital," Jennifer said.
Harrison laughed at the anecdote and said that she has learned to value balance between her family and her work.
She loves that she is now a grandmother even though she doesn't like to use what she calls "the 'g' word" because it makes her sound old.
"I always tried to take holidays over spring breaks with the kids so they could learn about different countries and how privileged they were," she said. "While we were [away], I was far enough away that no one at the office would bother trying to get a hold of me."
Board involvements have included the St. Paul's Hospital Foundation and Vancouver Opera. She currently sits on the boards of directors at the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and BC Ferries.
Mixing with directors on those boards helped her acquire influence.
So has extracurricular work such as her past role as executive director of the Wise Persons Committee, which reviewed the structure of securities regulation in Canada and recommended, in 2003, that there be a single regulator.
"I've learned aspects of business as well as the practice of law," Harrison said. "I've been able to apply that knowledge and try to be of assistance to clients in a way that is not pure legal but provides solutions that fit a business requirement."Â •
