DISBARRED LAWYER FAILED TO CO-OPERATE
The Law Society of Upper Canada has disbarred Toronto lawyer Sudeesh Shivarattan after a hearing panel found him guilty of misconduct.
According to the LSUC, Shivarattan failed to co-operate with its investigation by violating an earlier order that he complete an investigatory interview.
The law society had moved to suspend him on an interlocutory basis, but he repeatedly requested adjournments of the hearing and resisted a request to undertake to not practise real estate law. The ruling gave Shivarattan 30 days to pay the law society costs of $6,500.
YOUTH PROCEEDINGS TAKING LONGER: STATSCAN
Canadian youth courts processed almost 60,000 cases involving nearly 200,000 charges in 2008-09, according to new data from Statistics Canada
Sixty per cent of convicted offenders received probationary sentences. The statistics also show the median time for proceedings has increased by a month since the introduction of the new Youth Criminal Justice Act, taking 119 days compared to 81 days under the old young offenders act.
In the adult criminal courts, meanwhile, more than 390,000 cases passed through the system, with the median time standing at 124 days. That’s a four-day improvement over last year but still almost a month slower than in 2000-01.
ONE WEEK LEFT TO COMMENT ON SLAPPS
The public has until the end of the week to make its feelings known on strategic litigation against public participation (SLAPP) lawsuits.
Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General has set this Friday as the deadline for public submissions to its anti-SLAPP advisory panel.
The panel, chaired by Mayo Moran, dean of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, is due to report to the attorney general by Sept. 30. It has the task of devising a test for the quick identification of SLAPP suits and appropriate remedies for them.
The ministry also wants to hear about how to prevent abuse of any future anti-SLAPP legislation. Brian MacLeod Rogers, a media lawyer in Toronto, and Peter Downard, a partner at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, are the other members of the panel.
BLG LAWYERS CLIMB MOUNTAIN FOR A CAUSE
A group of lawyers from Borden Ladner Gervais LLP has returned to flat land after spending part of last month scaling one of the tallest mountains in the world.
The five-person team from BLG climbed Mount Kilimanjaro as part of their efforts to raise $176,000 for the Canadian Organization for Development Through Education.
The money raised as a result of the two-week trek will go to the organization’s programs that help support libraries and teacher training in Tanzania as well as writing and publishing books in Kiswahili.
The Canadian International Development Agency will quadruple the donation to bring the total to more than $700,000.
Sean Weir, the firm’s national managing partner, called the climb “one of the most difficult challenges” he has faced. He was joined at the summit by Chris Bredt, Bill Carter, Shelley Munro, and Michael Smith.
