PROF MAKES LEAP INTO FIRM LIFE
Professor Craig Brown of the University of Western Ontario Faculty of Law has joined Thomas Gold Pettingill LLP as counsel.
Brown has been on the faculty of law at Western since 1977 and has never before been associated with a law firm. He will provide counsel at the firm in the areas of insurance policy interpretation and tort law.
Brown, who co-authored Insurance Law in Canada with Thomas Gold Pettingill lawyer Tom Donnelly, has also served as a consultant to government, industry associations, and lawyers on matters related to insurance law.
He will continue his practice of providing coverage analysis and expert witness opinions in matters pertaining to insurance law, says the firm.
LAWPRO SEEKS STUDENT PAPERS
LawPRO is inviting Canadian law students to submit an essay for this year’s TitlePLUS Essay contest.
The submissions should be on a topic related to the current practice of real estate law, such as ethical issues, reform of law society rules or practising law in an electronic environment.
Submissions will be reviewed by a panel of judges with the $3,000 prize to be awarded next spring.
The contest deadline is March 31, 2010. Full contest rules are available at www.titleplus.ca.
KRISHNA MAKES POWER LIST
University of Ottawa law professor and Borden Ladner Gervais LLP tax counsel, mediator, and arbitrator Vern Krishna is one of 30 people named and profiled on India Abroad’s Power List 2009.
India Abroad is the largest selling newspaper in the South Asian community covering news, business, politics, and cultural affairs. Krishna, also a Law Times columnist, is profiled on the Power List in an article entitled “And justice for all.”
In it, he discusses the challenges that he faced early in his career and how he overcame them to go on to become the only South Asian professor of law in the country in 1975.
EVENT PROMOTES LAW CAREERS FOR GIRLS
The Ontario Justice Education Network partnered with the University of Toronto’s LAWS program and the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund last week to offer an event for high school girls.
Called Trailblazers: Meeting Women in Law, the program involved a day-long series of events to promote career options in the justice sector.
Held last Tuesday, it began with the LEAF Persons Day breakfast that included an address from Jeannette Corbiere Lavell, the first woman to challenge the Indian Act for discriminatory treatment of aboriginal women who married non-aboriginal men.
As well, participants went on a tour of Osgoode Hall, had a lunch-and-learn session at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, visited law firms, and met with female lawyers and judges.
The event is supported by the program partners, 12 major law firms, the Ontario Court of Appeal, and the Law Society of Upper Canada.
LECTURE PONDERS ABELLA REPORT
The Koskie Minsky University Lecture in Labour Law this week will reflect on the Abella Commission’s report on employment equity 25 years on.
On Friday, Supreme Court of Canada Justice Rosalie Abella will offer her thoughts during the event at the University of Western Ontario. For more information, visit www.law.uwo.ca/conferences/
labour/2009/index.html.
NEW CEO FOR FMC
Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP has a new CEO starting in February.
Chris Pinnington, the firm’s managing partner in Toronto, will take over the role on Feb. 1. He will replace Michel Brunet, who will return to his practice at the firm’s Montreal office.
Pinnington, a commercial real estate lawyer, has held several senior leadership positions with the firm and also played a key role in implementing its national strategic plan. “[Pinnington] has a great sense of the legal industry and what it takes to manage and lead an organization of this size and complexity,” said Brunet.
“He is a strong example of what a leader should be with a deep commitment to our clients’ interests, FMC’s culture, and corporate citizenship.”
