BLG BOLSTERS ASSOCIATE RANKS
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP has added 23 new lawyers to its Ottawa and Toronto offices.
In Ottawa, articling students J. David Henry, Dalton McGuinty Jr., Geneviève Langlais, and Jacquie El-Chammas have made the transition to associates, while Katherine Sangster has moved from the firm’s Calgary office. Alexander Anishchenko also joins as a lawyer and patent agent from Bereskin & Parr LLP in Toronto.
InToronto, 17 people have stepped up from their articles to becomeassociates: Scott Jones, Keri Bedeau, Matthew Furrow, HarrietGreenwood, Jonathan Gutman, Damian Hornich, Bethany Howell, Bruce Karn,Sabrina Kumar, Mark Lau, Paul Sharp, Kalvin Sie, Sharon Silbert,Jeffrey Spiegel, Sarah Stiner, Nicole Westlake, and Saba Zadeh.
Meanwhile, Robert Wood has made the move to BLG after articling at McMillan LLP in Toronto.
TORONTO CONFERENCE TO EXAMINE ELDER LAW
Registration has opened for the fifth annual Canadian Conference on Elder Law.
The conference takes place in Toronto from Oct. 29-30 at the Delta Chelsea Hotel in Toronto. The theme will focus on developing an anti-ageist approach to the law.
Canadian and international experts will gather for the event hosted by the Canadian Centre for Elder Law and the Law Commission of Ontario with support from the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly.
The pre-conference held by the World Study Group on Elder Law will take place on Oct. 28 and will provide an opportunity for scholars in this area to present research updates and new work in the field.
NEW HIRE AT FMC
David Hunter has joined Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP as counsel with the firm’s aboriginal, environmental, and mining groups.
Hunter brings with him more than 25 years of regulatory experience representing First Nations, resource companies, and various levels of government and will provide strategic counsel on aboriginal, environmental, and mining issues.
“David has a strong track record in the Canadian legal community and will be a welcome addition to our mining practice,” said Sander Grieve, national co-chairman of FMC’s mining group.
PROVINCE APPOINTS NEW CHILDREN’S LAWYER
The provincial government has appointed Lucy McSweeney as Ontario’s new children’s lawyer.
The position falls under the auspices of the Ministry of the Attorney General and provides independent representation for children under the age of 18 in cases such as child custody and access disputes, property and estate matters, child protection proceedings, and civil litigation.
McSweeney’s legal background includes civil litigation and human rights, as well as constitutional and labour law.
She has appeared in all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada, and taught public law at the Law Society of Upper Canada’s bar admission course since her call to the bar in 1995. She also articled with the Ontario Court of Appeal.
Since 2006, she has been a member of senior management with the province’s central litigation office.
McSweeney replaces Debra Stephens, who had served in the position since August 2008.
WEB SITE SUCCEEDS IN ARGUING NEW DEFENCE
A Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., news web site has successfully defended a libel action using the new responsible journalism defence.
SooToday.com reports that the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has dismissed a suit brought by a former Toronto chartered accountant who claimed he was defamed by a Sault Ste. Marie police fraud alert reprinted by the web site.
The jury found the police alert about Kofi Hadjor, who was convicted of fraud 10 years ago, contained errors but decided they weren’t sufficient to injure his reputation.
Hadjor had planned to buy and renovate a local resort to host education sessions for charity workers at a cost of $3,700 each, according to the web site.
SooToday.com said it provided evidence that between 20 and 30 sources were consulted for its subsequent report on the alert and that it had attempted unsuccessfully to reach Hadjor himself.
Hadjor’s lawyer argued in court that he was a changed man since his convictions and that the fraud alert had scuppered his dream.
The new defence was created in December by the Supreme Court of Canada. Superior Court Justice Edward Koke noted this was one of the first jury cases to use the defence, according to SooToday.com.
