Canada

Although Crown Counsel Regrets Closing Crime Rhyme, Verse Used as Hammer Put Defendant in Slammer

Presenting his closing argument in rhymed couplets must have seemed like a good idea at the time to John Ramsay. But the Canadian prosecutor apologized today for doing so, saying that he didn’t mean to detract from the solemnity and dignity of the drunk driving case he was trying in…

Sep 22, 2011 11:46 PM CDT

Judge’s Holiday-Weekend Civility Class is Cancelled, But Attorney Manners Remain a Contentious Topic

A Delaware Superior Court judge’s plan to hold a holiday-weekend civility course on Sept. 4 for warring counsel in asbestos litigation was canceled by President Judge James T. Vaughn Jr., who reassigned the case to himself, according to the Wilmington News Journal. However, the issue of appropriate attorney manners clearly…

Sep 9, 2011 12:16 AM CDT

Paroled in Manslaughter Case, Law Student Will Resume Legal Education This Fall

Corrected: Convicted of manslaughter after stabbing a friend to death five years ago, a law student at the University of British Columbia had to interrupt his legal education after completing his second year to serve two years in jail. But Sasan Ansari, 32, will return to school at the UBC…

Aug 31, 2011 10:06 PM CDT

Former Teen Sex Worker Who Won Admission to Prestigious Law School Found Dead at 32

As a child escaping from what she described as an abusive home situation, Wendy Babcock turned to prostitution at 15 to support herself. She quit in 2003, after a colleague was murdered by a client. Smart, personable and interested in fighting for the rights of sex workers and others, she’d…

Aug 11, 2011 8:39 PM CDT

Blawg Review #314: LawLawpalooza 2011

We at ABAJournal.com are honored to be asked to host Blawg Review—“a blog carnival for everyone interested in law”— in conjunction with the 2011 ABA Annual Meeting in Toronto. We are not actually blawgging from Canada—as usual, we are in Chicago taking the el train into the office over the…

Aug 8, 2011 7:00 PM CDT

The ABA and Canadian Bar Put Their Special Relationship into Writing

The U.S. and Canada share perhaps the longest unguarded border of any two countries in the world, running from the Atlantic Ocean across the North American continent. There is an arch spanning one of the many border crossings in sight of the Pacific Ocean south of Vancouver. A message is…

Aug 7, 2011 2:08 AM CDT

Judge Frees Prisoners Due to Prosecutor’s Extended Break, Then is Himself Late for PM Court Session

A Canadian judge yesterday freed a number of prisoners, including a disbarred lawyer charged with fraud, because a prosecutor was late returning from a break. But then the judge was himself late returning to the afternoon session of Ontario Court, an unidentified source tells the Toronto Star, noting “There’s a…

Jul 22, 2011 12:59 PM CDT

Canadian Law Society Ordered to Pay $100K for Bias Against Lawyer Who Admitted Depression

The Law Society of British Columbia has been ordered to pay $100,000 to a Canadian lawyer who says the group discriminated against him for admitting he had been treated for depression. Peter Mokua Gichuru of British Columbia received the award in a decision (PDF) by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal,…

Jul 20, 2011 11:31 AM CDT

Canadian Law Firms Sturdier Than US Firms During Recession

Law firms in Canada appear to have weathered the Great Recession without suffering the damage experienced by their counterparts in the United States. Canadian firms may have felt some pain, but the threat of collapse didn’t enter the equation, Lawyers Weekly reports in part two of a series on the…

Jul 5, 2011 6:54 PM CDT

Retired BigLaw CEO to Serve as New Law School Dean for University of Western Ontario

A former chairman and CEO of one of Canada’s biggest law firms says he had no idea when he retired at the beginning of the year that his next gig would be as a law school dean. But Iain Scott, 59, says the unusual appointment will make use of a…

Jun 22, 2011 9:01 PM CDT

BigLaw Partner Scores Win in Retirement Fight; He’s an Employee, for Discrimination Law Purposes

A Vancouver partner in one of Canada’s biggest law firms has scored another victory in his fight to avoid retiring at age 65. In an opinion released today, the British Columbia Supreme Court upheld a ruling last year by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal that Mitch McCormick, 66, would be…

Jun 2, 2011 10:57 PM CDT

Ogilvy Jumps Gun on Tomorrow’s Merger with Norton Rose, Erases Name on Law Firm’s Doors

As of tomorrow, Canada’s Ogilvy Renault will officially merge with London-based Norton Rose. But, at its Montreal headquarters, the firm jumped the gun and had a new sign installed several days ago, reports the Globe and Mail. Other offices plan a similar makeover tonight, and partners in Toronto plan to…

Jun 1, 2011 12:20 AM CDT

Legal Hiring Continues to Improve in Some Areas; One Dallas Firm Seeks Up to 30 Lawyers

Updated: Are more signs emerging of a thaw in legal hiring? Earlier this week there was news that the Securities and Exchange Commission has so many lawyer openings that it has hired a headhunter. Now the Am Law Daily reports of increased hiring in a couple legal markets, but only…

May 26, 2011 11:26 AM CDT

Reports: Fake Law Firm Site Targeting Lawyers in Real Estate Scam Uses Actual Law Firm Info, Photos

A photo of the founding partner of “Wagner Elliot” and written material about him and the attorneys in his purported Toronto law partnership appears polished and professional on the firm’s website. That’s because the fake Wagner Elliot firm—which the Law Society of British Columbia has warned lawyers to beware of—plagiarized…

May 5, 2011 5:06 PM CDT

Partner, 66, Balks at BigLaw Retirement, May Be an Employee Under Civil Rights Statute

A 66-year-old partner in one of Canada’s biggest corporate law firms is fighting a policy that ordinarily would have forced him to retire at 65. Mitch McCormick won a key preliminary victory late last year in his age-discrimination case against Fasken Martineau DuMoulin, when a British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal…

Apr 27, 2011 12:08 AM CDT