Saskatoon lawyer Morris Bodnar remembered as kind man with brilliant legal mind
CBC
Prominent Saskatoon defence lawyer and former Member of Parliament Morris Bodnar is being remembered as a legal icon by friends and former colleagues.
Bodnar died Friday in Saskatoon at the age of 77.
“I don’t think there was a better lawyer for doing jury trials in Saskatchewan history,” said Michael Nolin, senior partner at Bree Clements Nolin Law.
“He had such a sharp mind and he grasped things so quickly.”
Nolin first encountered Bodnar, already a prominent and respected lawyer in the Saskatoon community, during a trial advocacy course.
Bodnar was a panelist for the course and took Nolin under his wing, inviting him into a coffee group and mentoring the younger lawyer.
“He was approachable. He would talk to people on the street. He was gregarious, affable — and he had a mind for remembering names and faces. If he represented you 20 years ago, he remembered you and could talk to you like it was just yesterday,” Nolin said.
Nolin joined Bodnar’s law firm and worked with him briefly before moving on to his own firm.
One of their most prominent cases was representing Greg Fertuck, who was ultimately found guilty of killing his wife Sheree at a gravel pit near Kenaston, about 80 kilometres south of Saskatoon, and disposing of her body.
Bodnar and Nolin stepped down from the case before Fertuck’s guilty verdict, after they discovered Fertuck had filed complaints about them with the Law Society of Saskatchewan questioning their “competence and professional integrity."
The Fertuck case was Bodnar’s last before retiring in 2021.
Saskatoon defence lawyer Mark Brayford met Bodnar about 50 years ago and described him as an “icon in the legal community.”
“He was not the least bit pretentious. He was down to earth. He could talk to anyone and really had one of those solid reputations as not just a great lawyer, but as a really great person. “
Brayford said his most cherished memories of Bodnar are sitting around grabbing a coffee and talking about legal cases.
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