Gravel et Associés : Founded in 1801 by Sir James Stuart, this law firm was the oldest in Canada. Originally specializing in maritime law, the firm later diversified its activities to include civil and then criminal law.
Stuart, J. (James), 1780-1853 : Sir James Stuart was born in 1780 in Fort Hunter, New York and came in Canada in 1781 with his family; he died at Quebec on 14 July 1853. He was the third son of the Rev. John Stuart and Jane Okill. He completed his apprenticeship in the study of law and was called to the Bar of Quebec in 1801. That same year, he founded a law firm which became, more than a century later, Gravel et Associés.
He was appointed as Solicitor General for Lower Canada in 1805 and was later dismissed by the governor, James Craig in May 1809. A supporter of the Canadian Party, he was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in Lower Canada for Montreal East, 1808-1820; Buckingham, 1814; and for William Henry, 1825-1827. He was appointed to the post of Attorney General on 31 January 1825 but was suspended from it by Lord Aylmer in November 1832.
Stuart was appointed a member of the Executive Council on 6 July 1827 and remained in that post until the Act of Union took effect on 10 February 1841. Appointed a member of the Special Council on 2 April 1838 and called again to the Special Council on 11 November 1839, he was a member and later President of this body until the Act of Union. On 22 October 1838 he was appointed as the Chief Justice of Lower Canada, retaining this position until his death.
Gravel, Joseph-Pierre-Augustin, 1883-1971 : In 1906, Joseph Pierre Augustin Gravel (1883-1971) became a member of the law firm of Sir Adolphe Caron, which was known as "Caron, Pentland, Stuart and Brodie". Following the deaths of the other members of the law firm, Gravel became the senior partner of "Gravel, Thomson and Hearn" and later, "Gravel and Associates".
From 1920, Gravel was a professor of commercial law and maritime law in the Law Faculty of Laval University. He was a tenured professor and a Doctor of Laws Honoris causa in 1922. He was the Secretary of the Faculty from 1945 to 1953 and Professor Emeritus in 1953. In total, Gravel held the Faculty chair for a period of 33 years. He married Lucie Gosselin (1890-1918) in 1916 and was remarried in 1920 to Blanche de Billy.
Gravel, François de Billy, 1924-1981 : François de Billy Gravel was born in Quebec City in 1924 and died there in 1981. A son of Joseph Pierre Augustin Gravel, François was called to the Bar in 1949, after completion of his studies in the Séminaire de Québec, 1946; and at Laval University, where he acquired his LL.L. in 1949. He succeeded his father, J.P.A. Gravel, as senior partner of "Gravel, Fréchette & Germain", which became subsequently, "Gravel and Associates", and finally, "Gravel and Maranda".
Gravel became interested in capital cases. During his legal career, he appealed the convictions of four men for the capital crime of murder, taking the appeals to the Supreme Court of Canada. The most well known case was his appeal of the murder conviction against Wilbert Coffin.
