Editing Louis St. Laurent (section)

== Legal career (1905–1942)==
[[File:Louis St. Laurent portrait 1936.jpg|thumb|left|150px|St. Laurent as a lawyer, 1936]]
St. Laurent worked as a lawyer from 1905 to 1942. He also became a professor of law at Université Laval in 1914. St. Laurent practised [[corporate law|corporate]], [[Commercial law|commercial]] and [[constitutional law]] in Quebec and became one of the country's most respected counsel. St. Laurent served as president of the [[Canadian Bar Association]] from 1930 to 1932.<ref name="cba">{{cite web| url = https://www.cba.org/Who-We-Are/Governance/President-Executive/Past-CBA-Presidents| title = Canadian Bar Association: Past CBA Presidents}}</ref>

In 1907, St. Laurent gained some attention in Quebec after he made a move that was viewed unusual at the time: he put a priest and nuns on the witness stand and [[Cross-examination|cross-examined]] them. This occurred during his engagement in a case contesting the will of a woman who had left everything she owned to her parish priest.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wilson-Smith |first1=Anthony |title=How Louis St-Laurent's visionary leadership was shaped by his Townships roots |url=https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/how-louis-st-laurents-eastern-townships-roots-shaped-canada |website=Montreal Gazette |access-date=9 December 2021 |date=5 June 2021}}</ref> In 1912, St. Laurent won a case against [[Canadian Pacific Railway|Canadian Pacific]]. In 1913, he was one of the defending counsel for [[Harry Kendall Thaw]], who was seeking to avoid extradition from Quebec.<ref name="Thaw">{{cite news |title=Dupus blocks release of Thaw |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/313027533/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=29 May 2019 |work=The Buffalo Commercial |page=1 |date=28 August 1913 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
In 1923, St. Laurent opened his own law office.<ref>{{cite web |title=The jurist - Louis S. St-Laurent National Historic Site |url=https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/qc/stlaurent/culture/histoire-history/personnages-people/natcul1c |website=Government of Canada |access-date=7 December 2021}}</ref> In 1926, in a test case before the [[Supreme Court of Canada|Supreme Court]], St. Laurent argued for religious minority (non-[[Christianity in Canada|Christian]]) rights. He was in favour of [[Judaism in Canada|Jewish]] demand for representation on Montreal’s Protestant Board of School Commissioners and he also supported a separate Jewish system of schools. Though St. Laurent's bid to have Jewish representation in the school board was unsuccessful, the province of Quebec recognized the right to establish separate schools for non-Christians.<ref name="LouisBio" />

Though an ardent Liberal, Louis remained aloof from active politics for much of his life, focusing instead on his legal career and family. He became one of Quebec's leading lawyers and was so highly regarded that he was twice offered a seat as a justice on the Supreme Court of Canada, offers he declined.