Native judge named to lead healing forum

See the news story at the National Post.

Justice Harry LaForme, a Mississauga Indian from Ontario, was appointed yesterday to head a federal truth and reconciliation commission exploring the legacy of abuse in Indian residential schools. A former commissioner of the Indian Commission of Ontario, he is a member of the Ontario Court of Appeal and was the first aboriginal to be appointed to an appellate court in the history of Canada.

I am so pleased to see this appointment and this commission. It is wonderful to have an aboriginal heading this, and one so well respected and well educated. I hope that it will give some of the survivors a sense of comfort and safety.

I am currently working on some residential school files, specifically with the Independent Assessment Process. It is proving to be extremely interesting. My grandmother went to a residential school, so I have a real empathy for these people.

Law firms do the math - outsourcing

I just read an interesting article at Financial Post published today. It was the 2nd part of a series, and is about the concept of outsourcing legal work to offshore companies (i.e. India). My eyes are opened so often in this career. Who would have thought that an Indian lawyer just outside of Mumbai could take on a legal task that me or my colleague here in Canada might be in charge of. If there is any truth to this article, I think that the lawyers in North America, the U.K. and Australia ought to make sure that they are doing their homework and that they are prepared to provide some added-value legal services, if they want to retain the kind of work that they so readily enjoy.

An interesting read.

Running low on lawyers?; Attracting attorneys to Peterborough a tough sell

Here's an interesting article on a subject dear to me: staying away from Big Law:

Posted By GALEN EAGLE

Peterborough Examiner - April 19, 2008

Coming out of law school, local lawyer David O'Neill could have done what most law grads do - move to Toronto.

The big money, the big firms, the big city is attracting a mass exodus of young lawyers from across the province at increasing rates.

Instead, the Peterborough native came home and joined a small firm. "Most of my classmates moved to Toronto," O'Neill said. "There are a lot more opportunities there and higher pays."

At 32, O'Neill is bucking the trend. He represents a minority of young lawyers who have chosen a smaller locale.

With the average age of Ontario's lawyers reaching 50 and most law school graduates heading to the Greater Toronto Area, communities such as Peterborough could be heading toward a lawyer crunch.

It's a tough sell telling people they need more lawyers.

Read the whole article here.

Law society should still teach ethics, say critics

By Nora Rock
The Lawyers Weekly
Toronto
April 18 2008

A Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC) Bencher has said she is appalled by a proposed retreat by the LSUC from ethics teaching in the Bar Admissions program. “I think it is a retrograde step... We are doing the wrong thing. We are betraying the profession,” said Bencher Heather Ross at a recent conference on legal ethics.

An interesting article...read it here.

Revised proposal for LU law school being reviewed

From Thunder Bay's The Source:

Lakehead University's latest proposal for a new law school is now in the hands of officials in southern Ontario and they may have their final answer by the end of April.

Read the whole article here.

Results of the Yellow Pages Ads

Sorry for not posting lately. It's been over a month. But, here's some good news:

Last year, I had a small sized ad in the yellow pages. I only remember getting one telephone call from that ad. This year, we did the ads in my last posting. The Estates one was a 1/2 page and the divorce one was a small business card sized ad. We have received numerous telephone calls from both. We have been keeping track, and everybody we talk to seems to like the simplicity of the messages in the ads. We have gotten about 5 new clients from the estates ad, and about 4 new clients from the divorce ad. So far, the increased ad costs have been paid for and then some! I am very pleased about this. And, it has only been a month since the pages were released, so I hope for more in the future. I have also had a number of people call about separate legal issues (i.e. not estates or divorces), which I find really interesting.

New Yellowpages Ad for Letourneau Law

The 2008 Yellow Pages came out today. My firm tried something totally different this year. We focussed our advertising on two areas of law. The ads are below:


My wife came up with the slogan below. I thought it was pretty funny, and my test subjects thought so too.



We tried to make the message really simple, with lots of white space, and a very clear message. We wanted to stand out from the other ads, which tend to be busy.

Let me know what you think. Thanks. I'll let you know if they prove to be successful or not.

This is one of the really fun parts about a personal practice - it's one big experiment, day after day.

New residence planned for Osgoode students

Written by Renata Valz, Production Associate, Excalibur online

Wednesday, 5 March 2008

Some students protest residence relocation

York University will be implementing a housing initiative next academic year that will provide a dedicated residence community for Osgoode students.

The new initiative came after Patrick Monahan, dean of Osgoode Hall Law School, did a tour of six American law schools in the fall as part of a renovation plan for Osgoode.

“In the process of those meetings, we realized that a number of law schools had their own residence facilities for law students,” Monahan said.“We were told that this had proven to be a very attractive option for the students and that it had increased the acceptance rate of students accepting offers that were made by the school.”

Upon the dean’s return, he and his team investigated whether a dedicated law school residence would be feasible.

According to Monahan, consultation with students proved favourable.

“The students felt it would be a very desirable option.”

Read the whole article here.

New courtroom drama worth a look

As played by JuliannaMargulies in the newcourtroom drama Canterbury's Law , Elizabeth Canterbury is impulsive, impetuous and struggling with substance abuse and turmoil in her personal life. She burned through law school in recordtime, awhiz kidwith a bright future in front of her. Now, though, hardened by experience and disillusionment, she feels that future slipping away.

Canterbury's Law has terrific style. It's fast, fast, fast - jumping from frenzied image to frenzied image. There aremore moments in the first fiveminutes than there are inan entire hour of other courtroom dramas.

Anybody seen this new show? Read more about it in the Calgary Herald here.

Behold, UofT's new law school

When Toronto architect Siamak Hariri was looking for inspiration in designing a law school, he visited the esteemed campuses of Yale and Harvard, along with Columbia University and New York University, some of the top legal institutions in the U.S.

The research bore fruit, as his design was picked over two other firms today, in the bid to build the University of Toronto’s new $60-million law school.

Read the whole article here.

Boy passes law school exam

An eight-year-old boy with dreams of becoming a judge has passed a law school entrance exam, shocking Brazil's legal profession and prompting a federal investigation.

This is a really sweet little article that makes you wonder :).

Updated online CANS / outlines

I haven't kept up as well as I should in tracking down law school outlines or CANS. Here's what I know about. I also have a bunch that I collected during my law school years, and I am happy to email them to you upon request.

UVic Law Student Resources—Student Outlines

http://outlines.law.uvic.ca/

Lots of first year and upper year CANS, updated yearly

Queen’s Law Students Outlines Site

http://qsilver.queensu.ca/~lss/outlines/

This was by far the most comprehensive site, with the best quality CANS, in my opinion. However, as of this second edition, it can no longer be found on the Internet. You may want to do some work to track it down, because it was so great when I was in law school

University of Calgary—Women in Law

CANS—http://www.fp.ucalgary.ca/womeninlaw/

A large selection of first, second and third year CANS

UBC Law Students’ Association CANS

http://faculty.law.ubc.ca/cans/

CANS used to be provided on an as-is basis. This was a very good site. However, as of this edition it no longer exists. Perhaps you can track it down with some work

Ed Chan—Outlines

http://www.edchan.ca/outlines.htm

Intended for University of Manitoba Students, but some very useful CANS for every law student

Melanie’s Law Notes http://www.geocities.com/melanie_lawnotes/

A few good sets of notes here

If you have any further sources, please let me know so that I can post them here.

A Sweet Class-Action v. Chocolate

I heard about this case on CBC the other day, and was really interested to hear the interview with Tony Merchant. Did anyone else listen to that interview? He sure made class action suits sound glamorous, essential and the greatest tool towards social justice.

Taken from Law is Cool:

Eaten chocolate since February, 2004?

Chances are you have. And that might make you eligible for this class-action lawsuit against chocolate manufacturers.

Juroviesky and Ricci filed an action in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for violations of the Competition Act and provincial consumer protection acts against major chocolate producers.

CNW Group states,

The suit claims that the Defendants conspired to inflate the price of
their products by 5% or more at least three times during the Class Period, in
violation of a variety of statutes including the Competition Act, and the
various provincial Consumer Protection Acts. Chocolate sales in Canada in 2007 were approximately $1.4 Billion.

Call for Canadian Law School Blogs

Calling all Canadian Law School Blogs. Are you a current or prospective Canadian law student who blogs? Check out our current blogrole to see if you are listed. If you aren't, please send me your link and I would be happy to add it to Law, Eh? Canadian Law School. Also, if you are aware of any dead blogs on our blogrole, please let me know so that I can keep that list current.

Current blogrole:

• A New Chapter
• Advocatus Diaboli
• Ali Writes
• Blog of the Narrows
• Canons of Destruction
• Duty to Consult
• grass diaries
• La pub et le droit
• Law Eh? Canadian Law School
• Law is Cool
• Law Target
• Law, Love & Life
• lawyerlike
• Lisa Hutch - The Trials
• Motion to Recess
• nottawa
• Queen's Law Life
• Sliced Bread #2
• The Canadian Law School Blog
• The Canadian Law School Experience
• The Co-Co Banana
• The Distillery
• The Grass is Always Greener
• The Law Years
• The New Step
• Thinking Out Load
• Tinkerbell Syndrome
• What I Think

Staying Healthy as a Lawyer

Thank goodness for weekends! Lately, I have been pushing hard, trying to make everything work at the firm, trying to become accredited as a mediator and arbitrator, trying to keep my publishing house on track (we just signed 3 new authors), and coping with having four children. At work , we are trying to focus our practice towards 2 or 3 areas, rather than being a general practice. It's really paying off, especially as we forge strong relationships with business partners. We are also opening up a mediation/arbitration/coaching centre in our law office, and that is really exciting. The world is my oyster, so to speak.

However, all of this takes its toll. I went out for supper a couple weeks ago with some classmates. They seemed genuinely tired of the lawyer life. Long hours, high demands, boredom, difficulty with senior lawyers, etc. My demands are not quite the same. I do have stress, the requirement of a steep learning curve, high customer service expectations, and the challenge of keeping a full staff.

I thought I would comment on how I cope with the stress.

I work as little as possible. For me, that means a 40-50 hour work week, usually closer to the former. I learned early on in my practice that anything more for me, personally, brings with it too high a cost, to health, to mind and to my relationships. When I am at work, I try to work really hard, really fast, and really smart.

I manage my time like a freak! Every morning, I review my week's goals (which I set out on Monday morning). I review my daily affirmations (I have 7 goals that I repeat to myself 3 times each day). I then do up my daily task list, reviewing the previous day's list and accomplishments. I then prioritize that list. Then, I set aside some time to check and respond to emails, to return phone messages, and to get updates or update my staff. Once I am satisfied that the day is set out properly, I start to attack my list. I try to avoid interruptions, using my staff to screen calls, mail, faxes, etc. I try not to move down the list until the top priority items are completed. If I think that an item is just not going to happen, I make a note on my list, and then move on. I review the list at the end of each day (giving myself a grade out of 5), and then try to leave work at work.

I treat staff like gold, or at least the best that I can. Only my wife is more important to my success when compared to my legal assistants/paralegals. They make my world go round. I offer bonusses, flexibility, encouragement, and I share my thoughts, feelings and expectations with them as much as possible.

I do yoga. My wife is a yoga instructor, so that is a huge bonus. I attend her class once as week, and try to incorporate stretching, and some meditation throughout the week.

I sleep! Hardly ever less than 7 hours per night. More often closer to 8. I should try to get to bed earlier, but it's hard with kids.

I exercise. At least 3 times a week, I hit the gym, strap on the running shoes, or do some other form of rigorous activity.

I practice my faith. I go to church regularly. I volunteer regularly. I read uplifting articles, books, and scriptures regularly. I read scriptures and pray with my family every day. I meditate on the larger picture often, praying at least three times each day.

I eat really well. My wife is a fantastic cook. Different members of our family have different food sensitivites or allergies, so we don't eat much wheat, milk or sugar. My kids can't eat sugar, so I eat less as a result. We eat a lot of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, etc. We eat few saturated fats or "other" foods. We all take our vitamins each day.

I am a very motivated person, not unlike most in the legal profession. Please don't think that my comments above are meant to make me look like like a perfected being. I am by no means near perfection. These things have developed over time. I have failed at each of them on many occassions. However, my intention is to master these things so that I can maintain my health, my career, my sanity, and my family over the next 2-3 decades. My friends do often ask me how I accomplish so much with so many challenges and so little time. It is through this formation of habits, through an attempt towards self-mastery, that I find the energy, the drive, and the love for my life.

The above habits may be beneficial to you as you prepare for law school, as you push your way through law school, or as you establish yourself as a lawyer. I wish you the best of luck.

If there is something that you do to help you cope, please let all of us know. We can all stand to learn something new, positive and helpful.

Law firm looks for lawyers with sales experience

From Financial Post
Posted: February 21, 2008, 12:23 PM by Jim Middlemiss

Practice Management, Mitch Kowalski

Larry Bodine has an interesting piece about law firm Scholefield Associates, which is seeking a new associate with a sales background for client development. In other words a “sales attorney.”

The firm’s website describes the job opening as follows:

"This is an unprecedented opportunity for the right individual with an outgoing and dynamic personality. If you see yourself more as a rainmaker than you do a litigator, we are interested in your future with us. You will be working under the direction of the firm's business development manager, and be a key player in the firm’s client development and legal marketing activities. We are looking for professionals with experience technical sales, sales engineering, legal marketing, or executive level business development. Previous experience or knowledge of the construction industry is a major plus.

"You will be the first point of contact for prospective clients, so a good first impression is important. You will not let your law school education go to waste as you must be admitted to practice in California, and may be expected to advise clients and attend hearings.

“We are not your typical law firm,”partner, Pam Scholefield, told Bodine, “so we’re not going to follow archaic unwritten rules that say a young attorney’s primary role can’t be a rainmaker.”

Mitch Kowalski
www.mekdds.com

Premier law schools to export talent abroad

Thinking of applying for an international lawyer job? You won't just be competing against law school graduates from your country of choice. International firms are looking everywhere now to land top recruits.

Read this interesting article from The Economic Times - The India Times called "Premier law schools to export talent abroad"

Producer shows no concern over ‘misogyny’

Written by Valary Thompson, Sports Editor

Wednesday, 20 February 2008

Some Osgoode students protest lack of apology

Some female students are angered and offended by an Osgoode variety show that featured scenes they are calling misogynistic.

According to the associate dean of Osgoode Hall Law School, Robert Wai, Mock Trial is an annual event that generates funds for charity groups. This year, the event was titled Habitat for Insanity and raised funds for the Jane/Finch Community and Family Centre. The variety show took place during reading week on Feb. 15 in Moot Courtroom.

Each year’s show is different, but shares a common theme of comedy.

“It’s kind of a variety show, but also [has] a lot of skits about the law school [and] law school life, almost like a parody or follies,” Wai said.

But despite the show’s comedic tone, second-year Osgoode student Alyssa Brierley is not laughing. This is due to scenes she believed were sexually provocative and degrading to women.

Read the whole article here.

This brings back memories of "Law Show" at the University of Alberta. I never could figure out what all the fuss was about - a bunch of law students making fun of their professors and themselves. Students would put huge numbers of hours into producing this show. I never participated, but apparently it was a great bonding and networking experience. I don't feel too sad about missing out. Most law schools have a similar activity group, usually with the intention of raising funds for a charity.

Let's ditch the battle of experts in court, and just get the facts

Technical expertise should not come with a viewpoint

James Morton, Freelance

Published: Friday, February 08

TORONTO - Expert witnesses seem a lot less expert these days.

Last week in Ontario we were reminded daily of the miscarriages of justice caused by forensic pathologist Charles Smith -- the many parents and caregivers charged and some found guilty of murdering children, the scores of lives ruined, and families destroyed.

And in August, the Ontario Court of Appeal said that one of its main reasons for acquitting Steven Truscott had to do with the testimony of John Penistan, the pathologist in that long-ago case of rape and murder. Dr. Penistan's official autopsy report stated that 12-year-old Lynne Harper had died soon after Steven Truscott had been seen giving her a ride on his bike, at a time when he would have been by far the most likely killer.

An interesting little editorial on some pertinent law. What do you think about what Mr. Morton has said?

University of British Columbia set to begin construction on Faculty of Law building in 2009

Here's some exciting law school news:

PATRICIA WILLIAMS
Feb. 15, 2008

Construction is expected to get under way in 2009 on a new Faculty of Law building on the Vancouver campus of the University of British Columbia.

Designed by the Toronto-based firm of Diamond + Schmitt Architects, the 13,500-square-metre facility is intended to meet the needs of a new generation of law students and legal researchers.

Situated adjacent to the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts and framing one of two principal gates into the campus, the building will replace the existing school, currently housed in two aging structures...

The new building provides space for more than 50 faculty members, 600 undergraduate and 100 graduate students. It includes contemporary classroom designs, more student service spaces, a moot court, a larger Law Library and new research spaces...

Read more here.