Frank Manning Covert: Fifty Years in the Practice of Law (review)

Frank Manning Covert, one of Canada's leading twentieth-century corporate lawyers, had as his motto 'Forget yesterday; Work today; Plan tomorrow' (1). Despite the message that the past is unimportant, Covert wrote an autobiography that forms the centrepiece of this volume. Although Covert never intended to publish his reflections, Barry Cahill has edited and published the autobiography, which should interest historians of Nova Scotia and of Canadian business and law.

Covert was born in the small community of Canning, Nova Scotia in 1908. After receiving his ba and llb from Dalhousie University, Covert practised law in Nova Scotia, where he became a highly sought after corporate counsel. Covert worked tirelessly. He led his Halifax firm from 1963 to 1978, and stayed active until leukaemia ended his life in 1987. His legal expertise, and the connections he made through his practice, led him to serve as a director or executive for numerous companies, including Bowater Mersey Paper, Montreal Trust, Royal Bank, National Sea, and Sun Life Assurance. An ardent Liberal, Covert never sought political office himself, but was an active party fundraiser.

Cahill bookends Covert's autobiography with a short foreword and an epilogue, in which he describes how Covert prepared the autobiography, summarizes Covert's life and career, and distills the essence of Covert's character and reasons for success. Cahill, for example, concludes that Covert was an 'obsessive-compulsive hyperachiever both at work and at play' who 'had no intellectual or spiritual life' (xiii). He was 'instinctively hostile to anything that might interfere with his work,' while being 'enamoured of anyone who was, or who could be converted into a client' (xiii). It thus seems fitting that Covert says that he initially intended to dedicate the book to his wife and his four children, 'all of whom I neglected in pursuit of the law,' but that since he had devoted so much time to his firm, 'I decided I owed it to the firm to dedicate the book to them' (xvii).

For the general reader looking for an interesting story of a lawyer's challenges and victories, Covert's autobiography will hold some interest. The book is written in accessible prose and is generally free of legal jargon, but Covert's deep entwinement in his practice and corporate work means that he describes many of his legal manoeuvres and business decisions with a level of detail that will likely tire those not delving into the volume for non-academic reasons.

The book is valuable to historians seeking to use Covert's autobiography as a primary source, although of course one must be wary that some of Covert's reflections are made with the benefit of hindsight. The early chapters provide wonderful insights into growing up in small-town Nova Scotia, and a chapter on Covert's time with the rcaf during the Second World War is a fascinating account of the challenges of training to be an aircraft navigator. His reflections on his legal practice and business ventures are the strongest parts of the book for historians, however. Covert benefited from his willingness to continuously re-educate himself in emerging areas of the law. Upon returning from active service in the Second World War, for example, he threw himself into the study of labour law, and then developed a lucrative business in labour relations. Most importantly, Covert describes how twentieth-century lawyers could develop expertise in corporate law, labour law, and tax law to assist clients and to be called upon to serve as a corporate director and executive. As Cahill rightly suggests, the autobiography sheds 'considerable light on how corporation lawyers came both to epitomize the legal élite and to dominate the business élite in post-war Canada' (vii).

Barry Cahill's additions to the autobiography are also valuable. Well-versed in the legal profession of twentieth-century Nova Scotia from his biography of Covert's mentor, James...