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Are judges appointed for political ties?

Kenneth Jackson - Monday, January 23, 2012
When Prime Minister Stephen Harper made appointments to the Senate recently, critics decried them as examples of more government patronage.

But what about appointments to the Ontario Superior Court bench?

In fact, there have been several cases in recent months that have raised the notion of appointments of political allies, including those who were campaign workers or volunteers or who ran for office for the governing party or its provincial cousins only to lose and shortly thereafter find themselves receiving jobs as a Superior Court judge.

Justice Clayton Conlan in Owen Sound, Ont., joined the Superior Court bench last month after serving as campaign manager for the successful Tory...
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M&A lawyers cautiously optimistic

Monday, January 23, 2012 | Written by Kendyl Sebesta

Bay Street lawyers who earn their bread and butter on multimillion-dollar mergers and acquisitions are keeping a sharp eye on the European debt crisis and the slow economic recovery in the United States, hoping with cautious optimism for generous deals in the new year despite the uncertainty.

LAO not living up to boycott bargain, lawyers say

Monday, January 23, 2012 | Written by Kendyl Sebesta

As B.C. lawyers start their own legal aid boycott nearly two years after a last-minute deal netted additional funding for Legal Aid Ontario in response to similar actions in this province, the organization is facing tough criticism from criminal defence counsel here who say it hasn’t been living up to its end of the bargain.

Editorial: Privacy ruling long overdue

Monday, January 23, 2012 | Written by Glenn Kauth

In many ways, last week’s Jones v. Tsige ruling on the tort of invasion of privacy was long overdue.

Speaker's Corner: Prosecutors acting as demagogues in riot trials

Monday, January 23, 2012 | Written by Shane O'Herlihy

It was chilling to hear that the criminal justice branch of the Ministry of the Attorney General of British Columbia intends to film the trials of more than 700 mainly first-time offenders for a rash of comparatively trivial public mischief offences that took place in downtown Vancouver on June 15, 2011.

Lawyers face higher standard over privacy

Monday, January 23, 2012 | Written by Michael McKiernan

Lawyers and law firms face a higher standard in dealing with personal information, according to the counsel for an insurance defence firm rebuked by a Federal Court judge for breaching the privacy of an opposing litigant on a web site posting.

Other News

Editorial Cartoon - January 23, 2012

Inside Story

Monday, January 23, 2012

DISBARRED LAWYER’S APPEAL DISMISSED
The Law Society of Upper Canada has dismissed an appeal by disbarred lawyer Dunstan Dan Senjule after it found medical evidence used to support his adjournment request was “piecemeal” and “vague.”

Senjule had appealed an earlier ruling based on the hearing panel’s refusal to grant an adjournment request without conditions that would prevent him from continuing his practice.

From April 2009 to January 2012, Senjule asked for adjournments of several hearings. Each time, he said he was ill.

But in its decision, the appeal panel found the medical evidence Senjule provided to prove he was suffering from ischemic heart disease was faulty.

“The ‘evidence’ provided by the appellant was hearsay, piecemeal, vague, conclusory, and arguably lacking in candour,” wrote panel chairwoman Linda Rothstein.

“The hearing panel was entitled to conclude that it was inadequate to support an adjournment of the hearing without conditions.”

A law society disciplinary panel had previously found Senjule to...

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