Law Times

PAGE 2 SCC grants leave in jury-vetting cases BY SHANNON KARI For Law Times A defence lawyer is welcoming news that the Supreme Court will weigh in on secret background checks of potential jurors conducted by police in Ontario on behalf of the Crown. Th e high court granted leave to appeal on June 23 in a number of so- called jury-vetting cases heard last year by the Ontario Court of Appeal. In each of the cases, the appeal court declined to order new trials. Justices Rosalie Abella, Ian Binnie, and Marshall Rothstein made up the leave panel. Th e Supreme Court may use the cases to defi ne exactly what inquiries police and Crowns may make into the backgrounds of potential jurors and what they must disclose. Th e Supreme Court will hear appeals from a number of appellants, in- cluding Ibrahim Yumnu. "Th is is good news," said Toronto defence lawyer Greg Lafontaine, who represents Yumnu. "I am pleased the Supreme Court found this issue to be of suffi cient importance to grant leave." Media fi rst revealed the use of confi dential databases to acquire informa- tion about potential jury members in 2009. Th e reports sparked an investi- gation by the Ontario information and privacy commissioner. It found that one in three Crown offi ces in Ontario had conducted improper background checks in the previous three years. In Barrie, Ont., where Yumnu was tried, the jury vetting dated back to the mid-1990s. In the appeals at hand, Crown lawyers successfully argued that the improper jury checks didn't aff ect the verdicts. Lafontaine argued in his leave factum that the Court of Appeal "did not address in any meaningful manner" whether the jury vetting had "irreparably tarnished the appearance of fairness." I NEWS June 27, 2011 • Law Times Incremental change key to success: legal commentator BY MICHAEL McKIERNAN Law Times ncremental rather than sweeping change is the key to success for law fi rms in a re- covering market, according to a leading professional services consultant. Ari Kaplan, a former lawyer based in New York, was in Toronto last week for the 10th stop in a 12-city tour to promote his book, Reinvent- ing Professional Services: Building Your Business in the Digital Marketplace. For lawyers, reinvention doesn't have to mean revolution, Kaplan says. "Because the profession has been in a model for such a long time, it's sometimes diffi cult to react in a time when there's a complete shift," he says. "If you were to focus on incremental in- novation, as opposed to this massive sweeping change that is very diffi cult to implement, you will be able to turn your organization and also your own career in a very positive direction." Kaplan says a recent encounter in a Min- neapolis taxi encapsulated the sort of small but high-impact changes he's talking about. Th e driver handed Kaplan a chilled bottle of water, later explaining that he kept one for all of his customers and that it generally increased his tip by as much as 20 per cent. "Th at small, small gesture was a fantastic message in terms of customer service and cli- ent responsiveness," he says. Kaplan says law fi rms can impress clients through technology and increased transparency. Simple technology such as digital dictation and time-tracking applications can save time and al- low clients a greater insight into the work a fi rm is doing on their fi le at a particular time. "Th ey want to see a much more holistic ap- proach to their matters," says Kaplan. "Th ey want the legal work obviously done well. Th at's really a baseline, but they also want to see how that matter is staff ed, what types of technology are being used." 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