Defeated B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal says he still has a hunger for justice-reform work, but no longer an appetite for politics after a judicial recount knocked him out of the B.C. legislature by 32 votes.

Oppal said Tuesday he sees himself involved in criminal law reform or other justice-related work in the near future. Running for politics again likely isn't in the cards, said the former judge.

"I was an accidental politician," Oppal said. "When I was on the (B.C.) Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, this was the furthest thing from my mind, but the premier called me and I got interested."

Oppal easily won in 2005, but just before last month's election he voluntarily switched ridings after consulting with Premier Gordon Campbell.

Elections BC said a judicial recount found Oppal lost the suburban Vancouver riding of Delta South by 32 votes to Independent Vicki Huntington, a former municipal councillor with deep Conservative roots.

"In retrospect, when you look back at it, you can say that maybe I shouldn't have done that, but having said that, really, you have to sort of look at the decision at the time that it was made," said Oppal. "It was, I thought, the right thing to do at that time."

Oppal's decision allowed Campbell's Liberals to run former police chief Kash Heed in Oppal's former Vancouver-Fraserview riding. Heed won and is being touted for a cabinet post.

Campbell said Oppal's loss is a disappointment, but he wasn't second-guessing the decision to allow him to run in the volatile Delta South riding where residents were upset with local issues.

"We knew, and I think he knew when he decided to move there, that it would be a challenge and it turned out to be a real challenge," Campbell said.

Oppal said he has fielded calls from well-wishers who said they believe he'll be doing some form of legal work shortly.

Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson was one of the callers, he said.

"Any number of things could happen, but it's early yet," said Oppal.

He said he is proud of his four years in B.C. politics.

"The establishment of a community court, the first of its type in Canada. The programs that we put in with respect to violence against women," he said, listing accomplishments while he was attorney general. "The forums that were held in the Asian communities. We brought the issue out into the open."

Oppal said efforts to lobby the federal government to toughen crime laws regarding sentencing and surveillance were rewarding as were his efforts to prosecute polygamists in the southeast B.C. community of Bountiful.

"It was an issue that I was told over and over again to stay away from it , but I guess maybe it was my persistence or my bull-headedness," he said.

Polygamist leader Winston Blackmore, who faces charges or having up to 20 wives, accused Oppal of religious persecution and a pre-election stunt after he and accused polygamist James Oler were arrested last January.

The polygamist case against Blackmore and Oler remains before the courts.

Oppal was declared the winner in the Delta South riding by two votes on election night May 12 but his victory was short-lived.

The narrow margin prompted an automatic recount that saw Huntington eventually declared the winner.