FASKENS LAUNCHES NEW INSTITUTE
Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP announced last week a series of upcoming seminars for its new Fasken Martineau Institute.
The goal of the institute is to provide educational sessions on the legal issues senior business leaders in the Greater Toronto Area are facing. “Continuing education has long been an important part of the value we offer to our clients,” said Wally Palmer, the Ontario regional managing partner for the firm.
“With the new Fasken Martineau Institute, we hope to make it easier for our clients to participate in even more of our seminars and presentations.”
The new course calendar covers the first six months of the year and includes a six-part series focused on the top issues facing corporate directors and officers.
The sessions will also deal with topics such as a review of major intellectual property cases in 2009, public-private partnerships, new provisions in the Competition Act, and pension and benefits law.
For a link to the complete list of the seminars, see fasken.com/fasken-martineau
-institute-launches.
LAW FIRMS CRACK CANADA’S TOP 50
A new ranking has put Stikeman Elliott LLP and Bennett Jones LLP among the top 50 employers in Canada.
“We are delighted to be recognized among the 50 best employers in Canada,” said Pierre Raymond, Stikemans’ chairman.
“Our people are the reason that we can provide our clients with exceptional service and compete so strongly in this changed economy. Accordingly, we have made a conscious effort to invest greatly in our team.”
The ranking by Report on Business, La Presse, and Hewitt Associates isthe result of surveys of more than 108,000 employees across thecountry. Stikemans ranked the 12th best employer based on factors suchas employees’ motivation to contribute to the success of theorganization and their desire to remain and advance in the workplace.Bennett Jones, meanwhile, came in at No. 4.
Forits part, Stikemans highlighted its training programs as key to itssuccess as well as policies related to flexible work hours, parentalleave, and telecommuting.
“This is particularly exciting because the 50 best employers honour directly reflects the opinions of our people,” said Raymond. “It validates our efforts to be at the forefront of employee engagement, training, and retention and gives us a number of valuable ideas on how we can continue to enhance our workplace.”
LAWYER SUSPENDED OVER CONDUCT
A Law Society of Upper Canada panel has suspended lawyer Kevin Murphy over his actions during the decade-old murder trial of Julia Elliott.
“He was suspended for six months beginning Jan. 11 and has to pay costs of $10,000 within 24 months,” says Jane Withey, acting communications manager for the LSUC.
Murphy faced professional misconduct allegations before a panel of three law society benchers that wrapped up last week. They included claims that he “abused and hectored witnesses.”
The Elliott murder case was the same matter that landed former Superior Court justice Paul Cosgrove in trouble. Cosgrove resigned from the bench last year after coming under fire by the Canadian Judicial Council for his conduct during the trial.
LSUC SERVICE NOW FREE
The Law Society of Upper Canada is offering Ontarians a deal on its Lawyer Referral Service.
As of Jan. 1, the LSUC will provide the service at no charge through a toll-free number at 1-800-268-8326.
Since 1970, the Lawyer Referral Service has been helping Ontarians with legal questions. It allows them to get in touch with a lawyer in their preferred geographic area for a consultation of up to 30 minutes.
