Longtime Winnipeg lawyer Robert Tapper is, after more than a half-century in the profession, taking his first cautious steps into retirement, and has left the downtown firm that bears his name.

He still has an email address with the word “lawyer” in it.

“I’m never not going to be a lawyer… it’s all I know,” he told the Free Press . “It’s all I know how do do.”

Tapper said he made the decision to step away last winter after representing a corporate client in a months-long $60-million civil trial against the City of Winnipeg.

“I’m 75 1/2 years old, for crying out loud,” he said. “I looked in the mirror and said, “You know, you’re a moron.’ I have not had a holiday in six years… because I work every day. Really, I’ve got to do something.”

Lawyer Brett Williams, a partner at Tapper Cudd

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