DANIELS TAKES POST AT JOHNS HOPKINS
The University of Toronto’s former dean of law has landed a key post in one of the United State’s most prestigious research universities.
Ron Daniels last week became the 14th president of The Johns Hopkins University. The school’s selection committee unanimously chose the distinguished scholar and academic administrator in an international search involving almost 300 nominees.
“Ron is a strategic thinker, known for articulating and implementing bold and visionary academic ideas and initiatives,” said Pamela Flaherty, chairwoman of the search committee, in a release from the university.
“He impressed the committee with his passion for the academic enterprise, his record of academic entrepreneurship, and his commitment to building excellence in both the basic sciences and multidisciplinary research centers and institutes.”
Daniels, 49, will assume the post at the Baltimore school March 2. He has been provost of the University of Pennsylvania since 2005, a position he left the University of Toronto to assume.
While at U of T, Daniels doubled the size of the Toronto law faculty, cut the student-faculty ratio, enlarged the endowment, increased financial aid, and spearheaded several other initiatives to improve the school.
He also co-founded International Lawyers and Economists Against Poverty, and founded and served as chairman of Pro Bono Students Canada.
Daniels earned an LLM from Yale University in 1988 and a JD from the University of Toronto in 1986, where he received a BA in 1982. He and wife Joanne Rosen, who is a human rights lawyer, have four teenage children.
“The more I read about Johns Hopkins, about its research, and about the quality of its undergraduate and graduate students, and the more I learned about the passion and commitment of the university’s trustees, alumni, and friends around the globe, the more I was convinced that my own aspirations to serve as leader of one of the world’s most great universities and the aspirations of Johns Hopkins were consistent,” said Daniels.
LAW COMMISSION RELEASES REPORT
The Law Commission of Ontario has released its first report and recommendations, issuing an analysis of why low-income earners use relatively high-cost cheque cashing services to access their government funds.
The report includes a strategy the LCO hopes will help ensure that those receiving government benefits can access them without excessive cost.
“The measures recommended by the LCO can assist the most vulnerable citizens of our province by improving their access to their government benefits, encouraging stronger relationships between low-income communities and mainstream financial institutions, and ensuring that government funds aimed at benefiting the most needy do so more effectively and efficiently,” LCO executive director Patricia Hughes said in a release.
More information and a copy of the report are available on the LCO’s web site at www.lco-cdo.org.
WORK CONTINUES FOR OUTSIDE COUNSEL
Corporate legal departments continue to lean on law firms to manage rising caseloads, a recent study has found.
Robert Half Legal recently reported that 36 per cent of lawyers polled in a survey disclosed an increase in work with outside counsel during the past 12 months. On top of that, the survey found that 94 per cent of respondents were satisfied with their firm’s understanding of the organization’s business needs.
“Legal departments are busier than ever and retaining outside firms for litigation, corporate governance, patent prosecution, e-discovery, and other matters,” said Robert Half Legal executive director Charles Volkert in a release.
The survey was done by an independent research firm, and was compiled from responses gleaned from 150 lawyers from large Canadian and U.S. corporations.
NEW HIRES AT BLG
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP has brought a group of fresh faces to its Toronto office.
The new hires include Michael Healy, who practises insurance and tort liability; Carla Sage, who practises insurance and tort liability and municipal liability; Andrew Bunston, who practises securities and capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, and corporate law; Jessica Stern, who practises investment management and securities and capital markets; Leigh-Ann Ronen, who practises investment management, mergers and acquisitions, and securities and capital markets; Gillian Wilkins, who practises health law; John Vellone, who practises corporate/commercial and regulatory law; Alessandra Nosko, who practises commercial litigation and class actions; Court Peterson, who practises commercial litigation; Kate Zavitz, who practises labour and employment; Richard Manias, who practises commercial real estate; Christiaan Jordaan, who practises commercial litigation, administrative law, and class action defence; Tal Cyngiser, who practises in securities and capital markets and corporate finance; and David Surat, who practises in mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance.
