Law Times

PAGE 16 The Inside Story LAWYER DISBARRED OVER FRAUD Mississauga, Ont., lawyer Ak- bar Ali has had his licence re- voked after a Law Society of Upper Canada panel found him guilty of professional mis- conduct for his part in a mort- gage fraud scheme. Th e panel found he had knowingly helped both vendor and purchaser clients obtain fraudulent mortgages in sus- pect deals involving 22 diff er- ent properties. It also ruled Ali had failed to be honest with his lender clients and that he didn't disclose material facts in connection with the deals. In addition, the order re- voking Ali's licence, dated July 26, demanded that he pay the law society's costs of $50,000 by April 2013. SIX NEW JPS APPOINTED Th e province has appointed two new regional senior jus- tices of the peace to the On- tario Court of Justice. Justice of the peace Linda Kay takes charge in the central east region eff ective Oct. 22 as she marks 25 years since her appointment in 1986. She re- places Jack Wiley. In the west region, justice of the peace Bridget Forster took over from Stewart Taylor on July 19. Forster was originally appointed in 1995. Meanwhile, the province has also appointed six brand new justices of the peace to the Ontario Court. Five of them go to the To- ronto region, including Carol Ann May Allison, a lawyer for more than 12 years. She spent nine years as a sole practitioner before joining Legal Aid On- tario, where she worked for the last four years as criminal duty counsel. D. Wayne Buchanan, an- other LAO duty counsel in Newmarket, Ont., joins Allison in the Toronto area along with former Women's Habitat execu- tive director Rhonda Roff ey. Mohammed Brihmi, who has 25 years of public service experience, and Leslie Ann Kirke, a former adjudicator for the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board of Ontario, were also appointed to the Toronto region. In the central west region, Cristina Almeida Santos was appointed after 25 years of working in victim and social services in the Toronto area. Most recently, she served as ex- ecutive director at the Abrigo Centre, where she played a key role in the development of its partner assault response pro- gram. All of the new positions were eff ective July 29. EVENT SEEKS LEGAL SUPPORT Th e Juvenile Diabetes Re- search Foundation Canada has offi cially kicked off its an- nual Toronto Ride for Diabetes Research campaign. Th e focus this year is on families living with Type 1 diabetes, and organizers have set a $3.1-million target this year for Toronto while issuing a challenge to corporate teams, including legal fi rms, to raise funds for research to fi nd a cure. "Not only is JDRF's ride a fun and unique team building opportunity, but fundraisers should feel good about the fact that 80 per cent of funds JDRF expends directly support re- search and research-related ed- ucation," said Toronto ride co- chairwoman Judy Goldring, who is also general counsel and chief operating offi cer of AGF Management Ltd. Th e 2011 ride takes place on Friday, Sept. 9, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. See jdrf.ca/ride for further in- formation on registering or pledging. BLAKES PARTNER TOPS PIANO CONTEST Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP's Toronto tax partner Kathleen Penny was up against a diverse fi eld of profes- sionals to place third at the an- nual Washington International Piano Artists Competition. Th e event, in its ninth year, takes place at the French Em- bassy in the U.S. capital and is open to amateur pianists over the age of 31. According to the Washing- ton Post, Penny's "skillfully weighted" version of a Chopin nocturne helped her seal the podium fi nish behind a statis- tical contractor and a freelance tenor. Th e fi eld of 24 included physicians, graphic designers, and writers from places as far away as Singapore and Mol- dova. For more Inside Story, please visit www.lawtimesnews.com. DAD LETS SON, 8, TAKE WHEEL HOLDEN, La. — A drunk father allegedly allowed his eight-year-old son to drive his pickup truck on a south- east Louisiana highway while he slept until patrol offi cers pulled over the boy, police said. Th e boy was driving the Chevrolet truck on Interstate 12 near the town of Holden with his father in the passen- ger seat and his four-year-old sister in the back seat, Loui- siana State Police said in a statement. A passing motorist noticed the pickup truck was being driven erratically and called police. When Louisiana state troopers pulled over the truck in Livingston Parish, they found the eight-year- old boy behind the wheel and interviewed the father, 28-year-old Billy Joe Mad- den of Hattiesburg, Miss., police said. Police said they deter- mined Madden was drunk and that he had been sleep- ing while his son drove the vehicle on the way to Dallas. Madden was arrested and booked into jail on two counts of child desertion, parent allowing a minor to drive, open container, and two counts of no child re- straint and no seatbelt. — Reuters August 8, 2011 • LAw times Bizarre Briefs By Viola James WOMEN REBUFFED BY LINGERIE STORES RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi lingerie stores are drag- ging their feet on an offi cial deadline to avoid embarrass- ing female shoppers by re- placing their male sales clerks with women. Women in Saudi Arabia, one of the world's most con- servative societies, still have to buy their intimate cloth- ing from male clerks despite several petitions and two government decrees ordering businesses to hire women. In an eff ort to enforce the regulations, the Ministry of Labour threatened last month to close any lingerie shops that failed to replace all male staff within six months. "Th is plan can work but not at the speed they are ex- pecting. Th e women have to be trained from scratch," said Tarek, a store manager at a lingerie shop in Jeddah. In Saudi Arabia's conser- vative society, women are not allowed to work in public places where they have con- tact with men. Shops that hire females must bear the cost of train- ing them, cover their display windows to block the view into the stores, and hire a male security guard during work hours to keep men from entering. One of Saudi Arabia's lead- ing lingerie brands, Nayomi, made the switch after the fi rst government decree was issued in 2004. But poor sales owing to a lack of male customers, the high cost of ensuring se- curity, the inability to lure customers with a window display, and the reluctance of some female employees to work late shifts in a country where shops stay open until 11 p.m. led to high losses for the company. — Reuters A SHARP TASTING TACO SAN ANTONIO, Texas — In old movies, the inmate usually got a hacksaw blade secreted into his cell baked in a cake. But in Texas, it came in a soft taco. Jail guard Alfred Casas, 31, has been convicted of smuggling a saw blade to a double-murder suspect in the Bexar County Jail by hiding it in a folded soft taco shell. Casas admitted to sneak- ing a taco into the jail in De- cember 2009 but denied that a hacksaw blade was inside its shell. Assistant Bexar Coun- ty district attorney James Ishimoto said a jury con- victed Casas of bribery and providing an inmate with es- cape elements after 10 hours of deliberation. Ishimoto said Casas, who had been a jail guard for three years, brought two tacos into the jail for an inmate, who later pleaded guilty to mur- der, in exchange for two bottles of Xanax provided by the girlfriend of the inmate, Jacob Keller. — Reuters LT "You think THIS is hot?! Have you read the Ontario Court of Appeal's decision in XXXtreme Adult Video v. Madame La Spectre's House of Young Conservatives?" Recruiting? Post your position on GREAT RATES. GREAT REACH. GREAT RESULTS. Contact Sandy Shutt at sandra.shutt@thomsonreuters.com for details. www.lawtimesnews.com JobsInLaw 1-8 pg 5X.indd 1 2/15/11 4:12:27 PM

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