Law Times

Sept 30, 2013

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Page 2 NEWS September 30, 2013 Law Times • LawPRO launching campaign on digital assets Insurer wants lawyers to be aware of clients' online trails BY YAMRI TADDESE Law Times W hen it comes to drafting wills and powers of attorney, LawPRO is reminding lawyers to add digital assets to their to-do lists. When people die, they leave behind an online trail that includes digital assets, says Raymond Leclair, vice president of public affairs at LawPRO. "We're always talking to lawyers about how they deal with their clients' wills and power of attorneys and checklists and things like that. And one of the things that's missing on those checklists is digital assets," says Leclair. "In fact, when we talk to members of the public, they won't even think of digital assets. With everything that's going on digital, we thought: Shouldn't there be something out there to start thinking about that aspect?"  LawPRO, which is launching a campaign on the issue, wants clients to start asking these questions and lawyers to be ready to answer them, according to Leclair.  What happens to social media and other online accounts once the owner dies remains, in many ways, a question mark. But if planned in advance, clients may be able to have their executor shut down accounts after retrieving information of monetary or sentimental value, according to LawPRO. It could be as simple as considering what happens to someone's Facebook account after they die, says Leclair. He notes, for example, that friends and relatives of the deceased may not want to get automatic reminders to wish their departed loved one a happy birthday each year.  "Does that go on for 20 years, 30 years?" asks Leclair. LawPRO's campaign is essentially an attempt to "elevate the level of awareness" of these issues, he says. It might also be strange if someone's automatic Twitter feed continues to send out tweets after that person has died. If prepared in advance, the account's owner could keep an updated list of user names and passwords that the executor of the will can later access, Leclair notes. Trusts and estates lawyer Ian Hull says digital assets are "absolutely on the checklist" at his law practice. In the beginning, online banking was his main focus, but Hull says he now also asks clients if they'd like a post-death presence on Facebook. "I need to determine what existing presence they have," he says. While clients may be older than the majority of social media users, lots of 80-year-olds are on Facebook to connect with their grandchildren, he adds.  Hull's most important advice for lawyers is to not underestimate clients' commercial activities online. "If it's a commercial enterprise in any shape or form, don't underestimate it," he says, citing the example people who use their Facebook accounts to sell artwork.  "It may be far more lucrative in two years than it is today and if you just think of it as a small hobby site, you may find that you've missed significant assets and missed an opportunity to plan for that asset," Hull adds. LT ExpErt InsIght on AlbErtA Court rulEs And proCEdurEs New editioN AlbertA rules of Court AnnotAted 2014 the honourable judge allan a. Fradsham For more than 20 years, practitioners have trusted Alberta rules of Court Annotated as their reference on practice and procedure before the courts of alberta. With its insightful annotations of orders and judgments, significant case law, and pinpoint references to quoted pages, it's an invaluable tool at every stage including discoveries, in client meetings, and in the courtroom. 1. Main Volume • all needed practice tools are found in this volume, including the alberta rules of Court and the rules regarding appeals, fully annotated with direct quotations from significant cases • Concordances, Procedural Charts and Practice notes 2. Volume two • Includes forms and surrogate rules. order # 985280-65203 $162 3. Cd-RoM • Includes searchable Cd-rom with complete book contents and full text cases. 2 volume softcover + Cd-rom approx. 1420 pages (Volume 1) approx. 530 pages (Volume 2) august 2013 978-0-7798-5280-2 New iN this editioN this new edition contains amendments to the rules and legislation as well as all significant decisions including the following of note: • summary trials under the new rules: Islam v. Mozumder • settlement Privilege: Bellatrix Exploration Ltd. v. Penn West Petroleum Ltd. • Costs and "Without Prejudice" offers to settle: Chisholm v. Lindsay • abuse of Process: FastTrack Technologies Inc. v. 104 Street Law Office Management Ltd. • timing of exchange of medical reports: Erketu v. Wilson • Contempt: Schitthelm v. Kelemen • striking out Portion of an affidavit: Gauchier v. Cunningham • service under the hague Convention: Metcalfe v. Yamaha Motor Powered Products • dispensing with recording of medical examination: Nguyen v. Koehn • Consenting to Waiving of dispute resolution Process: Rampersaud v. Baumgartner annual volumes supplied on standing order subscription Practice Advisor available upon request on standing order subscription multiple copy discounts available Shipping and handling are extra. Price subject to change without notice and subject to applicable taxes. AVAilAble Risk-FRee FoR 30 dAys bonus offer for standing order subscribers order online: www.carswell.com Call toll-Free: 1-800-387-5164 as a standing order subscriber to Alberta rules of Court Annotated, you are entitled to receive Practice Advisor, a monthly email supplement of key practice cases and changes to legislation, at no extra cost, upon request. AUTHORITATIVE. INNOVATIVE. TRUSTED. www.lawtimesnews.com Austin Cooper 'A fine gentleman while being a fierce advocate' BY GLENN KAUTH Law Times A ustin Cooper's successes in the legal profession began before he was even a lawyer. It was 1951 and the young law student decided to attend court proceedings one day. As he watched the proceedings in one matter, he boldly stood up and decided to let the judge know why there wasn't enough evidence to convict the accused. The judge dismissed the case, says Mark Sandler, who worked with Cooper for years at Cooper Sandler Shime & Bergman LLP in Toronto. "He certainly won his first case as a student and many, many after that," says Sandler. Many of those cases are legendary, including Cooper's actions on behalf of nurse Susan Nelles in the 1980s and in proceedings dealing with the well-known wrongful conviction of Guy Paul Morin. The profession, then, has been mourning one of its legends since Cooper's death last week following a battle with pulmonary fibrosis. "He demonstrated that you could be a fine gentleman while being a fierce advocate," says Sandler, who worked with Cooper for 35 years. While the accolades have been pouring in since Cooper's death, he also received many of them while still alive. Called to the bar 60 years ago, he received a number of awards over the years: the Douglas Laidlaw medal for excellence; the G. Arthur Martin award from the Criminal Lawyers' Association; and The Advocates' Society Medal for his advocacy skills. He also served as a bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada from 1971-87. Most recently, the law society awarded him an honorary doctor of law. "He served as a mentor and role model for countless members of the criminal bar and often defended many serious criminal cases, pro bono — including capital murder cases — before the introduction of the Ontario Legal Aid Plan, now known as Legal Aid Ontario," LSUC Treasurer Tom Conway wrote on his blog. A funeral for Cooper was to take place Sunday. While he had practised law up until his recent retirement from the firm, he had stopped going to court a few years ago because "he never wanted to see his forensics skills diminish when he was representing a client," says Sandler. LT

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