Mr. Grant Weaver is Partner, Business Law, at Bull Housser & Tupper LLP, where he has been practicing since he joined the firm in 1977. He is also a member of the Terminal City Club’s Board of Directors and is currently the Vice President of the Board.
After completing his BA in English literature with honours from UBC, Mr. Weaver left to travel Europe. Nine months later, he found himself in Paris. “I was sitting at a park the first day I arrived and I thought, ‘I need to find a job; I’ve run out of money,'” he remembers. “So I bought a paper and I saw an ad that said, ‘looking for English speaking young man to work in good working conditions; we pay well.’ So I went over to the policeman standing nearby and asked where the address was. It was right next door, so I walked in and I got this job at the American Embassy.” It was a simple twist of fate.
Mr. Weaver’s intention to stay only long enough to buy a plane ticket home turned into three years. During that time, he abandoned his original plan to continue in academia to explore a career in law. “It was around the time UBC first adopted the LSAT,” he says. “So I wrote the exam in Paris with no preparation; I had no idea what it was. I thought I would show up for an hour or so. Turns out it was several hours – I was very hungry.” But Mr. Weaver passed the LSAT and returned to UBC to study law. “After that, I came downtown looking for a job, and I got one at a very good firm, Bull Housser & Tupper.”
Mr. Weaver has been with Bull Housser for almost four decades now. “The philosophy of the firm is to have the highest degree of ethics and professionalism and focus on quality, but essentially allow partners a lot of autonomy to move their practices where they find themselves most interested. It’s a magical blend between autonomy and expectations,” Mr. Weaver explains. And during his tenure at Bull Housser, Mr. Weaver has continually broadened his practice, working in a myriad of industries, including mining, shipping, gambling regulation, licensing, technology, intellectual property, real estate, and succession planning.
Mr. Weaver joined the Club in 1979. “My firm wanted me to be a little more connected with the business community, so they bought me and another colleague a membership,” he says. “We would come down to the Club with clients for lunches, and we just started enjoying the feeling of being here, the camaraderie, and the networking opportunities. I’ve made some wonderful friends here and I cannot believe that I didn’t exploit it more in early years. The Club is an awesome place to socialize. Come down on a Wednesday or Friday night and Cuvée is full. I’ve made lots of friends through the Fitness Centre upstairs. You need to exercise, so you can combine a few different things in one place.”
In 2010, Mr. Weaver joined the Board of Directors, in part to expand his knowledge and contacts. “It’s an opportunity to learn, as well as to contribute to an organization that I really believe in. And, it’s an opportunity for me to use some of my talents, if possible, to make it better,” he says.
When asked about what Mr. Weaver would like to change in the Club he had some thoughts. Our Board has plenty of exciting ideas in the works. “I’m a big believer of a strong sense of arrival-it should be impactful – so in time, perhaps we can make our lobby area a bit more exciting for members and other guests, so we can make a bolder statement about how great we are. I love 1892 and come in for lunch a couple times per week. Our Board is working on ways that we can make this space more vibrant. Those are just two ideas the Board is working on – they both cost money, so we’ll have to see what we can fit in with the budgets we provide management to work with. We also have our TCC Foundation, which supports youth in need and local schools. I’d like us to see if we can have more outreach into the community and be more supportive.” This holiday season, our goal is to raise $5,000 by December 15 to provide all 120 Admiral Seymour Elementary School students with a traditional Christmas lunch; members can donate by contacting Member Services.
Looking forward into the next chapter of his life, being an active and supporting member of his community is a new priority for Mr. Weaver. “Success has to be reviewed and measured every day of your life,” he says. “So to some extent, whatever success I may have achieved isn’t of that much interest to me because it is what it is. Now, I need to figure out how I’m going to be successful for the rest of my life. I think it’s got something to do with a wide support network and circle of people who contribute to your life and you can contribute to theirs. Everybody has challenges; everybody could use a friend and some support. I would like to be there now to support my friends, my family, my colleagues, my law firm and my clubs. In terms of how you measure all that, I just think, if you’re getting good feedback from your relationships and you feel good, it’s probably good enough.”
