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ABOUT BRISSET BISHOP |
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In a case whose name is now forgotten, Mr. Atwater appeared in the Superior Court of Montreal before a former partner who had become a judge, Edouard Fabre-Surveyer. The point of law involved has also long been forgotten but Judge Surveyer’s remarks have not. He said "Mr. Atwater, when we were practicing together you told me many times what you thought the law was on this subject. I must say that I never agreed with you and I have not changed my mind." |
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The firm now known as Brisset Bishop dates from 1885, when Albert William Atwater took on Alexander George Cross as a partner. The firm of Atwater and Cross began practice in June of 1885 at 151 St James Street, Montreal. The senior partner in the firm was Albert William Atwater who received his Bachelor of Civil Law degree in 1880 from McGill University. Together with the junior partner, Alexander George Cross, they laid the foundation of the prestigious firm which would eventually become Brisset Bishop. |
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With Montreal’s location and role as an important port city already well-established, maritime law became the focus of the new firm’s practice, even though the initial impact of the sea on Mr. Atwater’s life had been grim. Three months before he was born, his father was lost on the "Unlucky Collins Line" steamer "Pacific" which disappeared without a trace on a voyage from Liverpool to New York in 1856. |
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In March 1901, the firm name was changed to Atwater, Duclos and Chauvin with admission to the partnership of Henry Noel Chauvin. |
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In 1892, Mr Atwater was appointed a Crown Prosecutor for Montreal, and three years later was offered a judgeship. The principal activity of Mr Atwater, however, and that which was to have an enduring effect on his firm, was the practice of admiralty law. Mr Atwater remained head of the firm until just before his death in 1929. |
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In January 1884, Albert W. Atwater established an office in downtown Montreal as a sole practitioner. Mr. Atwater’s great-uncle, Edwin Atwater, had been a member of the Montreal Board of Trade and ex-officio member of the Harbour Commission in the mid-1800s but is better known as the Chairman of the City of Montreal’s Aqueduct Commission, involved in extensive renovations to the City’s water system and the person after whom Atwater Avenue was named in 1871. The nearby market and metro station indirectly take their name from him. |
