Pair Of Indo-Canadian Women Lawyers Elected To The Benchers Of The Law Society Of BC

VANCOUVER – A pair of the Indo-Canadian women lawyers have beenelected to an significant post of the LawSociety of BC.Jeevyn Dhaliwal (Vancouver County) andPinder Cheema, Q.C. (Victoria County)have been elected to the Benchers of theLaw Society of British Columbia.Dhaliwal and Cheema are the first SouthAsians elected to these prestigious positionsand will serve for a two-year termbeginning January 1, 2014 and endingDecember 31, 2015.Cheema’s parents arrived in Victoria, BCin July 1952 seeking to make a better life.The young couple had three daughters,and there was some pressure to send allof them back to the village to be raised inIndia. Cheema’s mother refused the suggestionand promised to provide herdaughters the opportunity for a Canadianeducation. She graduated with a Bachelorof Arts and eventually a Law Degreefrom the University of Victoria in 1983.She practiced law as a sole practitioner inVictoria serving clients in French andPunjabi, until she joined the Ministry ofthe Attorney General in 1989.Cheema has broken many barriers andset records as the first female Sikh lawgraduate at UVic and Queen’s Counseldesignation (2002).Dhaliwal was born and raised inKamloops, BC to an early pioneer family.She obtained her law degree from theUniversity of British Columbia in 1997and was called to the Bar in BritishColumbia in 1998. She has long beenactive in the legal community, includinghaving served on the Law Society’s Ruleof Law and Lawyer IndependenceAdvisory Committee for 2013.She is a Board member and pastPresident of SABABC. As a testamentto her skills as a lawyer, she was selectedby her peers for inclusion in the 2014 editionof Best Lawyers Canada.Her community involvement extends tosinging at charitable and sporting eventsand she has, over the years, been a frequentguest anthem singer for theVancouver Canucks NHL hockey team.