Hjálmar Á Bergmann

Vesturfarar

Hjálmar Ágúst Eiríksson walked the path of education, both of his grandfathers were involved in the church. Pétur Hallgrímsson Thorlacius was provost at Hrafnagil and Eiríkur Þorleifsson was a priest at Þóroddsstaðir. He was 19 when he graduated from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa in the spring of 1900 and graduated from the University of North Dakota Law School in 1903. He settled in Winnipeg in 1905 and lived there after that. He continued to study law and graduated with a law degree from the University of Manitoba in 1908 and had studied law for the three years with Western Icelanders Thomas H. Johnson and his partner Rothwell. Hjálmar caught their attention and together with him they founded the litigation company Rothwell, Johnson & Bergmann when Hjálmar had finished his studies. They did not hesitate to entrust him with difficult cases, as early as 1909 he brought his first case before the Supreme Court of Canada, which was considered unique for such a young man. Hjálmar soon became a well-known and popular lawyer. In 1929 he was elected president of the Manitoba Law Society, elected co-director of the Manitoba Law Society in 1931, and president of the same society in 1942. He sailed to England twice, first in 1924 and then again in 1930 to plead before the British Supreme Court. He took a seat as a Regent of the University of Manitoba in 1933 and later became its president. He was elected doctor honoris causa in law at the University of Manitoba in 1947. Finally, it should be mentioned that he always worked a lot in Icelandic society and was for 25 years the president of the publishing company Columbia Press in Winnipeg.