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PAGE 16 WillBuilder Tel: 416.322.6111 Toll-free: 1.866.367.7648 doprocess com ntitled-7 1 The BLAKES LANDS FORMER STIKEMANS LAWYER Litigator Randall Hofley has joined Blake Cassels & Gray- don LLP, filling a gap in the firm's competition group left by the departure of Neil Finkel- stein last summer. The Ottawa-based competi- tion law and litigation practitio- ner comes to Blakes from Stike- man Elliott LLP. Hofley was formerly special counsel to the commissioner of competition and successfully acted on behalf of the Competi- tion Bureau in the Canada Pipe Company Ltd. antitrust case. He was also active in legisla- tive and policy reform related to mergers, cartels, and abuse of dominance. In addition to litigating before Canada's top courts, Hofley has also represented clients before the Competition Tribunal, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal, the Canadian Radio- television and Telecommuni- cations Commission, and the Copyright Board of Canada. In the early days of his career, Hofley served as law clerk to Beverley McLachlin, now chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. PROVINCE REJECTS COMPENSATION Two men sent to prison after being wrongfully convicted will not be entitled to receive com- pensation from the provincial government. The Ministry of the Attorney General announced last week that it's "not appropriate" to compensate Robert Baltovich and Anthony Hanemaayer, who both served time in prison on convictions that were later overturned. At each stage in both cases, "the Crown and police acted with integrity and in the best interests of the administration of justice," the government said. Baltovich was convicted of second-degree murder in 1992 for the killing of his girlfriend, Elizabeth Bain. He spent eight years in prison before a new trial was ordered. Reinventing the Will www 1/26/09 3:38:37 PM Inside Story As the second trial was set to begin, the Crown elected to call no evidence for lack of a reason- able prospect of conviction, after which Baltovich was acquitted. On the advice of his lawyer, Hanemaayer pleaded guilty in 1989 to sexual assault and was sentenced to two years. Serial killer Paul Bernardo later con- fessed to the crime. The province said that each case was not sufficiently "rare and unusual" to warrant finan- cial redress. GROIA LAUNCHES CHALLENGE Joe Groia is challenging the va- lidity of his upcoming disciplin- ary hearing for professional mis- conduct by the Law Society of Upper Canada. Last November, the LSUC commenced proceedings against Groia for his courtroom behav- iour in defending John Felder- hof, who faced insider-trading charges in the Bre-X Minerals Ltd. gold-dusting scandal. Now, the securities litigator is seeking to have the charges quashed, calling the law soci- ety investigation "a shocking departure from the rules of natural justice." In an affidavit, Groia alleged the LSUC had failed to review the transcripts of the Felderhof trial and is not in a position to determine if the security litiga- tor's actions violated the rules of professional conduct. The allegations included in the LSUC's notice of applica- tion are "so vague, general, and devoid of details as to be im- possible to respond to," the af- fidavit said. Groia also questioned the law society's jurisdiction to regulate conduct in open court. "The charges, in the circum- stance of the case, violate the principle of the independence of the bar and the obligation of a defence counsel to vigorously defend his or her client from the oppression of the state," he said. LT For more Inside Story, please visit www.lawtimesnews.com. PROSECUTORS WANT ALLEGED SCAMMER'S POINTS FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — You know what they say: if you want to earn lots of points, put everything on your credit card. That was advice indicted Fort Lauderdale lawyer Scott Rothstein took to heart. The alleged Ponzi-scheme mas- termind racked up nearly 21 million reward points on his American Express card. Now, federal prosecutors want to use those points to help pay back his victims, according to the Miami Herald. Rothstein has been charged in a $1.2-billion Ponzi scheme. He reportedly is negotiating a guilty plea. A court filing revealed the reward points but didn't say what Rothstein bought to earn them. The Herald posits that "his gold toilet seat, flashy jewelry, powerboats, and fleet of foreign sports cars are all possibilities." IMAGINE THE CHAOS IF THIS HAPPENED IN CANADA KINGSPORT, Tenn. — On an average winter day, mil- lions of Canadians will walk into their houses, apartment buildings, workplaces, and, well, anywhere stomping their boots to release the excess snow and salt. At 7 a.m. on a recent ™ January 18, 2010 • Law Times Bizarre Briefs By Viola James Saturday, Michael C. Pickel did the same thing in this Tennessee town. But his neighbour in his apartment building, John C. Shepardson, wasn't pleased. He reportedly brandished his shotgun and threatened Pickel for waking up someone else in Shepardson's apartment. Police were called. Shepa- rdson was arrested and charged with aggravated assault. Let's hope there's not a lot more snow in Kingsport this winter. 'FACEBOOK FUGITIVE' CAPTURED LONDON, England — Craig (Lazie) Lynch led police on a merry chase, taunting them via Facebook all the way. But in the end, the law had the last laugh. Lynch, 28, was recaptured last week after four months on the lam. He had become a cult figure thanks to his defiant status up- dates on the social networking site. His profile picture showed him raising his middle finger to the camera while he notched up tens of thousands of "friends" from around the world. He was recaptured in the county of Kent, southeast of London. Lynch was serving a seven- year term for aggravated bur- glary when he escaped prison in Suffolk, eastern England, in September. Now, he'll likely be spending some extra time behind bars af- ter being charged with escaping from lawful custody. A spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police Service con- firmed Lynch had been recap- tured but couldn't say whether information posted on Facebook had helped officers locate him. STUNNING, AND NOT IN A GOOD WAY NUREMBERG, Germany — It really shouldn't have sur- prised Stefan Koch, who bid $2,355 to win a night of pas- sion with a "stunning model," that there was no pot of gold at the end of that rainbow. Koch, 27, turned up at the model's apartment to collect his prize, but instead of being greeted by a bodacious babe, it was flat-chested teenage boy Dieter Muhr at the door. Koch said, "I saw the auc- tion on the Internet and put in a bid straight away. I watched every day for a week to see if anyone would outbid me, but no one did, and when I real- ized I had won, I started pre- paring for the big night." His first inkling that his dream wouldn't come true came when he sent e-mails to the model after winning but got no reply. Still, he noted, "on the auc- tion site, there was an address and a date for the night of pas- sion, so I thought she was just trying to set a mood of mystery for the night. "I loved it and decided to just turn up at the address." Instead, he found a "spotty little kid" with a laptop. He called police on the boy right away. Police say Muhr, 17, faces charges of fraud and decep- tion. LT "No, I'm sorry. Despite what you may have seen on our new cutting-edge web site, newly installed by our distinguished soon-to-be-deceased senior partner Mr. Beazley after reading Website Design for Dummies for an hour, Harcourt Flibber and Beazley LLP presently does not offer professional services involving either Nigerian currency transfers or penis-enlargement technologies." WHICH DIRECTION IS BEST FOR YOU? RainMaker Group 110 Yonge Street, Suite 1101 Toronto, Ontario M5C 1T4 Untitled-7 1 Tel: 416-863-9543 Fax: 416-863-9757 www.rainmakergroup.ca www.lawtimesnews.com 5/29/08 1:05:49 PM