Monday, February 3, 2014

RONALD DIMOCK JOINS JAMS
Intellectual property lawyer Ronald Dimock has joined the JAMS Toronto dispute resolution centre.

Dimock, with almost 40 years of patent, trademark, and copyright experience under his belt, will serve as an arbitrator and mediator dealing with intellectual property matters at JAMS. He’ll maintain his practice at Dimock Stratton LLP as well.

“An accomplished mediator, arbitrator, and litigator, Ronald Dimock is a highly esteemed member of the intellectual property law field,” said Chris Poole, president and chief executive officer of JAMS.

“His expertise in a range of areas including patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret disputes will make a tremendous addition to our panel.”

BLAKES ANNOUNCES 11 NEW PARTNERS
Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP has welcomed four new partners in Toronto along with other additions at its offices across Canada.

The new partners include Andrew Gordon, whose practice focuses on the energy and financial services sectors; commercial real estate lawyer Daniel Kofman; Alexis Levine, a lawyer focused primarily on debt and structured financings; and Jeffrey Shafer, who practices in all areas of Canadian domestic and cross-border income tax law.

“On behalf of the firm, I welcome them to the partnership,” said Rob Granatstein, managing partner at Blakes.

“This is a milestone in a lawyer’s career and every one of these individuals has worked extremely hard for our clients.”

Besides the Toronto additions, Blakes announced one new partner in Montreal (Tricia Kuhl), three new partners in Calgary (Michael Dixon, Sean Maxwell, and Michael O’Brien), two new partners in Vancouver (Troy Lehman and Robin Reinertson), and one new partner in Bahrain (Tim Sunar).

LAWYERS APPOINTED TO ORDER OF ONTARIO
Several members of the legal community were among the new appointees to the Order of Ontario last month.

The new appointees invested at a ceremony at Queen’s Park included lawyers such as Avvy Yao Yao Go. In announcing her appointment, the government touted her as someone “who uses her law degree to advance the rights of Toronto’s marginalized communities.” Go, the clinic director of the Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, also serves as a bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada.

Also appointed to the order was George Carter, one of Canada’s first black lawyers and the first Canadian-born black judge. The government praised him for his work to change discriminatory practices in Ontario’s justice system and his role in the development of legal aid in Ontario.

A third member of the legal community named to the order was Penny Collenette, an adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law honoured as “a leader and innovator whose influential reach spans the worlds of public policy, business, law, and academia.”

POLL RESULTS
The results of the latest Law Times online poll are in.

The poll addressed many people’s dream scenario about what Legal Aid Ontario should do if it suddenly had more money, and the results were clear that increasing the eligibility threshold for assistance is the way to go. According to the poll, 52 per cent of respondents would prioritize boosting the income threshold while 12 per cent felt any new money should go towards increasing the tariff paid to lawyers. About 10 per cent would like to expand the range of matters covered and just four per cent would emphasize more funding for legal clinics.

Not surprisingly, a significant number of respondents — almost 22 per cent — think LAO should do all of those things were it to have more money.   

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