Kamloops lawyer who died in skydiving accident remembered as dedicated, hard-working

Campbell practiced law in the city for more than 30 years — heavily involved in duty counsel and legal aid.

“I met Don when I was called to the bar as a lawyer 15 years ago,” lawyer Graham Kay says. “Don was very helpful. Not only to me but to other young lawyers who are getting their feet wet into criminal law.”

Kay and Campbell both sat on the board of directors of the Association of Legal Aid Lawyers (ALL).

Years ago, lawyers were taking job action and stopped providing some services in Kamloops.

“Don did not participate. And it was a decision that he publicly came out to say ‘I regret that I did not support my colleagues’, and that the cause for improved funding for legal aid really demanded taking the action that he did,” Kay says. “He went on from that opinion to being extremely active in promoting better income for lawyers who do legal aid services, and overall improved funding for legal aid. And to me that was quite something — that he was able to humble himself in public (like that).”

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Campbell spent most of his days in the Kamloops Law Courts — often double-booking himself which would lead to several announcements over the PA system calling for Campbell to different courtrooms.

“Don was very committed to all of his clients, and went the distance for all of them,” Kay says. “He was deeply involved in trying to find appropriate treatment programs for many of his clients, he was very active in promoting more mental health services and addiction services — not just for his clients, but for all people that we are dealing with.”

Although Campbell was a pillar in the legal community, he was high-profile in the local skydiving community, completing jumps across the world. He took pride in his skydiving, showing anyone who would be willing photos of his latest dives and group formations.

“Don had a zest for life,” Kay says. “He took everything very seriously but he also wanted to get out there and enjoy everything that life had to offer. And certainly, that’s going to be something that sticks with me. He always went out, and whatever he engaged in, either professionally or personally, there was no holding back, it was all in.”

Campbell was involved in many high profile criminal cases in Kamloops. He defended Damien Taylor, who killed his pregnant 16-year-old girlfriend C.J. Fowler, James Bond, who was acquitted of manslaughter in the death of Sean Dunn, and Travis Johnny who was one of two men who killed Archie LePretre in 2011.

Colleague Jay Michi, who practices out of the same building as Campbell, first met Campbell in 2012.

“I met Don then, and Don is a very likable guy. Very few people would have a different impression. He was a very funny guy. Extremely busy practice, but he had a great sense of humour. A good sense of gallows humour, as we put it, which is something that you need to survive in criminal law for a long time.”

Michi says Campbell had endless patience for his clients, many of whom struggle with addiction, homelessness and mental illness.

“He would put up with an awful lot of stressors in order to serve those people, and he served them well,” Michi says. “You can’t please everybody in criminal law, but Don really tried. He also was someone who was very giving of his time to young lawyers. He loved to tell his ‘war stories’ of the past, and he had a lot of them.”

Michi and Kay both say tomorrow will be difficult — as lawyers head into court knowing Campbell won’t be there.

“I think we’ll be telling stories about Don Campbell for many years to come,” Michi says. “I’ll miss the Don stories for sure. I’ll probably just have to take over telling them.”

Campbell was dedicated to his practice, but prided himself on having a healthy work-life balance, spending much of his spare time outdoors.

“He would come back from his weekends with sunburns, and bugs in his hair. And these other lawyers would say ‘where were you? We were working on this big file all weekend, we all put in 40 hours’, and Don would just say ‘That’s terrible for you guys’,” Michi says. “I think he made up his mind really early on that that was not the way he was going to operate. He started Don Campbell Law the next year, and he kept that business going for more than three decades.”

by Ashley Legassic / Dylana Kneeshaw

Kamloops lawyer who died in skydiving accident remembered as dedicated, hard-working

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