Law Times

January 31, 2011

The premier weekly newspaper for the legal profession in Ontario

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Follow on www.twitter.com/lawtimes $4.00 • Vol. 22, No. 4 Untitled-3 1 5/5/10 3:55:30 PM Inside This Issue 3 Stepping Up 6 Parental Hostility 9 Focus On IP/Trademark Law Quote of the week "When 60 per cent of lawyers in the fi rst age group are women and racialized lawyers are clearly a signifi cant part of the talent pool, how can a law fi rm that needs the brightest and the best say no?" — Beth Symes, Symes & Street, See Forget, page 5 Covering Ontario's Legal Scene ntitled-3 1 Billions of dollars invested, not a penny lost. January 31, 2011 5/4/10 2:49:21 PM Lawyer takes on JP over bias Michael Jagtoo complains to review council following his acquittal BY MICHAEL McKIERNAN Law Times A Toronto lawyer has lodged a formal complaint against a justice of the peace who accused him of "sharp practice" before convicting him of a speeding off ence. Michael Jagtoo of Jagtoo & Jagtoo Profes- sional Corp. had his conviction overturned af- ter a judge found he hadn't received adequate disclosure and that Justice of the Peace Robert Boychyn appeared biased against him. But Jagtoo was so upset by the treatment he received at trial that he has now made a complaint to the Justices of the Peace Review Council. Council registrar Marilyn King says she "cannot confi rm or deny whether a com- plaint has been received" and that any in- vestigations take place in private. Boychyn, a former lawyer and Oshawa, Ont., regional councillor, couldn't be reached for comment. He became a justice of the peace in 2003. Jagtoo's father James represented him in his appeal. "We had no choice but to do something about the situation," the elder Jagtoo tells Law Times. "To my thinking, [Boychyn] came to conclusions that were totally without factual or evidentiary foundation and in fact defamed Michael. If it had not been in a court where he enjoyed immunity, that might have attracted a defamation lawsuit. It doesn't get any worse for a lawyer than an accusation of sharp practice." His son's trial took place on Sept. 29, 2009, after authorities pulled him over for speeding in Durham Region in April of that year. Five days before the trial, he asked for 'We had no choice but to do something about the situation,' says James Jagtoo, who is rep- resenting his son. disclosure, but the request went to the wrong offi ce. As a result, prosecutor Jane Moff att received it on the day before the trial. Th at meant she couldn't process the request but instead delivered a verbal summary to the ac- cused on the day of the trial. He requested an adjournment, noting he also intended to retain counsel specializing in Highway Traf- fi c Act off ences. In his ruling on the appeal, Justice Robert Beninger of the Ontario Court of Justice said the younger Jagtoo had shown a "lack of due diligence" in making his request so close to the trial date but he found Moff att's disclo- sure insuffi cient. Boychyn was much harsher in his assessment of the lawyer's actions as he dismissed his request for an adjournment. "I'm absolutely shocked and amazed that a barrister and solicitor, in good standing, in this province, would treat these matters in such a cavalier fashion. . . . I fi nd your request to have this matter adjourned disingenu- ous and smacking of, what has been referred to See Jagtoo, page 2 Are online DIY contracts the future of law? A BY MICHAEL McKIERNAN Law Times Vancouver lawyer who has launched a do-it-yourself contract service says his colleagues have more to gain than lose from products like his. Chilwin Cheng's contracttai 'I'm not trying to replace law- yers,' says Chilwin Cheng. TitlePlus_LT_Feb9/16_09 2/4/09 2:02 PM Page 1 lor.com web site allows small- and medium-sized business owners to draw up and customize their own contracts online using lawyer-de- signed templates and tutorials to bypass the process of hiring a legal representative. For $60 per month, they can have access to unlimited contracts and technical support from a lawyer over the phone. A one-time contract costs $129. "I'm not trying to replace law- yers," Cheng says. "I'm broadening the market for lawyers. I still practise and I have no interest in putting myself out of business. I'm trying to show lawyers there is a way we can adapt and move to new technologies." Cheng says the main targets of the web site are small-business owners who see legal advice as something beyond their budgets. "Many would prefer to go to a real live lawyer, but access to jus- tice is not just a poverty law issue. Th ere's a large middle market that can no longer aff ord business law services. Th e choice for many is not between ContractTailor and a lawyer. It's between ContractTailor and going off on your own." It's Cheng's third foray into on- line legal products following the launch of fi redwithoutcause.com Together we have all the tools To ensure your clients get the most comprehensive coverage in one title insurance policy, take a look at the TitlePLUS Program , your Bar-related real estate partner! ® ® PROTECTION AS GOOD AS IT GETS 1-800-410-1013 ® TitlePLUS, the TitlePLUS logo, OwnerEXPRESS and LAWPRO are registered trademarks of Lawyers' Professional Indemnity Company. ® BAR-RELATED Mark is a registered Mark of North American Bar Related Title Insurers used by LAWPRO under License. titleplus.ca 1 Please refer to the policy for full details, including actual terms and conditions. The TitlePLUS policy is underwritten by Lawyers' Professional Indemnity Company (LAWPRO®). Contact LAWPRO for brokers in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta and Québec. TitlePLUS policies issued with respect to properties in Québec and OwnerEXPRESS® policies do not include legal services coverage. 1 and fairdismissal.com for both sides of the employee-employer relationship. Michael Carabash, founder of dynamiclawyers.com, runs a similar service in Ontario that provides legal forms for download along with video tutorials to guide clients on how to fi ll them out. So far, he has around 90 forms covering areas such as wills and estates, em- ployment agreements, and leases. Many are based on Ontario law, and he has begun replicating them for jurisdictions across the country while consulting case law and local lawyers as part of his research. He's aiming to have more than 200 of them completed by this summer. Carabash sees himself and Cheng as the so-called legal See Kits, page 2 www.lawtimesnews.com Photo: Michael McKiernan

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