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This Week's Issue

OPSEU accuses province of contempt

Marg. Bruineman - Monday, June 17, 2013

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union is taking the province to court over its failure to abide by a ruling involving court interpreters as the government gets set to create a new body that would oversee their work as independent contractors.
The new process will create a division between salaried court reporters overseeing the recording of trials and independent contractors performing the resulting transcription work.

The move, according to OPSEU, flies in the face of a recent Grievance Settlement Board decision. In response, the union, which represents 650 court reporters, has filed an application with the Superior Court asking to have the Ministry of the Attorney General found in contempt.

Under the new scheme, court reporters working for the government will oversee in-court digital recor...

Focus: Aboriginals battling family law changes

Monday, 17 June 2013 00:00 | Written by Judy Van Rhijn

The federal government’s latest attempt to bring western family law principles to native reserves is once again attracting controversy.

That's History: Critique of SCC judges’ patriation interventions a house of cards

Monday, 17 June 2013 00:00 | Written by Philip Girard

Frédéric Bastien’s book La Bataille de Londres has been causing a stir since its recent release with its allegations of back-channel contacts between former Supreme Court chief justice Bora Laskin and justice Willard Estey and the federal and British governments while the court was deliberating over its opinion in the patriation reference.

Editorial: Embracing reform

Monday, 17 June 2013 00:00 | Written by Glenn Kauth

Given the slow pace of change to the structure of the legal profession so far, it was good to see the Canadian Bar Association take the issue on with the release of a discussion paper as part of its CBA Legal Futures Initiative last week.

Paper touts ‘no jail’ option in exchange for reduced Charter protection

Monday, 17 June 2013 00:00 | Written by Shannon Kari

A discussion paper issued by the federal Department of Justice is suggesting that for certain offences, the assurance of lower penalties or no time in jail in exchange for reduced protection under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms could lead to a more efficient criminal justice system.

Man suing lawyers fights vexatious litigant ruling

Monday, 17 June 2013 00:00 | Written by Yamri Taddese

In the last two decades, William Malamas has sued dozens of parties, many of them lawyers, in numerous actions.

Other News

Editorial Cartoon - June 17, 2013

Inside Story

Monday, June 17, 2013

JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS ANNOUNCED

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has appointed two lawyers to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice bench.

Wendy Matheson, a lawyer with Torys LLP and a bencher at the Law Society of Upper Canada, is replacing Justice Frank Marrocco, who becomes associate chief justice of the Superior Court. Matheson was also an adjunct professor and lead instructor in intellectual property law at Osgoode Hall Law School.

Ronald Laliberté is also joining the bench in Cornwall, Ont., as Justice D.R. Aston leaves his post to become a supernumerary judge. Laliberté, who served as a Crown attorney, joined the bar in 1988.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Stephen Harper also announced the appointment of Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Alexandra Hoy as associate chief justice of the court.

Hoy joined the Court of Appeal in 2011 after serving as a Superior Court judge since 2002. She replaces justice Dennis O’Connor following his resignation last year.

FILION WAKELY OPENS HAMILTON OFFICE

Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti LLP has opened a new office in...

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