Law Times

PAGE 16 Enabling Lawyers through Technology Tel: 416.322.6111 Toll-free: 1.866.367.7648 doprocess com www The Confidential Inside Story JPs GET PARALEGAL EQUIVALENCY FROM LSUC Retiring justices of the peace with at least three years of experience will be allowed to take the para- legal licensing exam without an accredited diploma, following a vote at the Law Society of Upper Canada's Convocation. Law society benchers approved the motion, which was requested by the Association of Justices of the Peace of Ontario through LSUC's paralegal standing com- mittee, at their March meeting. "The committee is of the view that the expertise acquired by years of experience as a sitting JP can reasonably be compared with years of practice as a paralegal," reads the committee's report. A similar measure was created to allow for grandfathered parale- gals. The report also noted most retiring JPs stop working when they leave the job, and some are lawyers. "This request is expected to affect quite a small number of persons," said the report. ADVOCATES' SOCIETY MEDAL AWARDED Torys LLP lawyer Sheila Block has been awarded the Advocates' Society Medal. Block, chairman of the firm's Toronto litigation practice, is a trial and appellate lawyer whose practice also focuses on civil liti- gation, including corporate-com- mercial and securities litigation, intellectual property, defamation, and administrative law cases. The award is given to lawyers who have shown their pre-em- inence as counsel, are known as leaders of the bar, are dedicated and active members of the soci- ety, and whose contributions to the legal profession and commu- nity are noteworthy. Block will receive the award May 14 at Osgoode Hall. MILLER CANFIELD COMES TO TORONTO Michigan-based law firm Miller Canfield Paddock & Stone PLC has opened an office in downtown Toronto, hoping to expand its ability to offer cross- border legal work. "Our expansion into the heart of the economic centre of Canada allows us to continue to provide seamless cross-boarder legal rep- resentation to clients interested in doing business in North Ameri- ca," said Michael W. Hartmann, the firm's CEO. The firm was the first Mich- igan-based firm to open an of- fice in Canada when, in 2002, it merged with Windsor's Wilson Walker Hochberg Slopen LLP. Miller Canfield works with foreign and multinational com- panies, banks, and "other clients whose business affairs are tied to the increasingly interdependent world economy," said the firm. Its new office will be located on Bay Street in the Brookfield Place TD Canada Trust Tower in downtown Toronto. It will serve clients in the banking and finance, life sciences, and manu- facturing sectors, and expand its reach in a number of other areas. SASK. LAWYER MAKES HISTORY McKercher LLP partner Chris- tine Glazer has become the first female in Saskatchewan to be made a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Glazer is a senior litigation partner at the firm, whose prac- tice focuses on medical malprac- tice, personal injury and disability claims, and administrative law, including professional licensing, discipline, and labour law. The honour brings her within the group of only 12 Saskatch- ewan lawyers who are members of the college. Also named to the college was WeirFoulds LLP partner Greg Richards, who practises corporate law and commercial litigation. The college was founded in 1950 and is made up of some of the best lawyers in the United States and Canada. Fellows are offered entrance following "care- ful investigation" and having "mastered the art of advocacy and whose professional careers have been marked by the highest stan- dards of ethical conduct, profes- sionalism, civility, and collegial- ity," according to the college. Membership to the college can't exceed one per cent of the to- tal lawyer population of any state or province. LT DD LT GRLBBE-05 S&R bw 3/27/08 3:07 PM Page 1 For more Inside Story, please visit www.lawtimesnews.com T "I'm enhancing my diversity." Search & Registration Services ry our Securities Searches/Due Diligence and receive a $25 Cara Gift Certificate For complete details contact Lorie O'Sullivan by email: lorie_o'sullivan@dyedurham.ca or phone: 1-800-668-8208 ext 4541 Offer expires June 30th, 2008. Limit one gift per new user. C eservicedd.ca • 1-888-668-8208 • lorie_o'sullivan@dyedurham.ca Choose Dye& Durham your ONE source supplier www.lawtimesnews.com DUSTUP AT THE COURTHOUSE PORTLAND, Ore. — It was a sight to see. Two law- yers yelling and smacking each other around in the halls of the Multnomah County courthouse. Witnesses and court of- ficials said lawyers David Lawrence and Aaron Ma- tusick came to blows after a landlord-tenant hear- ing. They apparently began shouting at each other, one slapped the other, who then punched the other guy in the forehead. Not a pretty scene, though none of the crowd watching the melee is sure who started it, noted the Oregonian newspaper. Judge Lewis Lawrence came out and put a stop to the fracas, forcing the two legalists to apologize and threatening to bar them per- manently if they ever got into it like this again. "Both of them should have had enough sense not to en- gage in that," the judge said. HE SHOULDA BEEN PLAYING TENNIS MARGATE, England — Top players grunt it up on the pro tennis circuit, but Girman Jobe, who was just trying to get himself in shape, has been fined $140 after neighbors complained about his loud grunting while exercising. Jobe, 36, had been told by the local council a number of APRIL 7, 2008 / LAW TIMES Bizarre Briefs By Viola James times to keep it down while he was lifting weights. Ap- parently council noise teams had recorded sounds as high as 100 decibels (imagine a rock concert) and noted he'd violated the noise abatement orders 47 times. "The noise was so loud that I thought that he had an angle grinder up there," said neighbor Doris Fox, 68, told the Daily Mail. Thanet Magistrates Court fined Jobe $140 for violating the order. "I don't play loud music, I don't have parties, and I don't stamp around," said Jobe, a carpenter and father of four. "All I do is exercise and work out with my weights. I am trying to keep fit. I cannot believe I got taken to court for exercising." Jobe's going to ditch the weights now and concentrate on sit-ups and such. MUCH ADO FOR NOTHING NEW YORK — The Re- cording Industry Associa- tion of America has waged a very public war against P2P file-sharing sites, win- ning settlements of over up to $400 million from the likes of Napster, Kazaa, and Bolt. However, artists, in whose name the RIAA was so righteously fighting, claim they've not seen a dime from their record labels. "Artist managers and law- yers have been wondering for months when their artists will see money from the copyright settlements and how it will be accounted for," lawyer John Branca, who has represented Korn, Don Henley, and The Rolling Stones, told the New York Post. Now Branca says the art- ists are considering filing their own lawsuits to get their fair share of the booty. The reason for the lack of cash, say some: it's all gone to pay lawyers' fees. Reps for the three labels told the Post they dispute the notion that they are with- holding settlement money. CHALK ONE UP IN THE SINS COLUMN OMAHA, Neb. — Sister Barbara Markey has a gam- bling problem and it's going to land her in jail for up to 20 years. The Roman Catholic nun pleaded guilty last week to theft of more than $1,500. But in reality, an audit by the Omaha Archdiocese found Markey probably used more than $300,000 of church money for her own purposes. Prosecutors say she mostly spent it to cover her gambling jags, trips, and gifts. J. William Gallup, the nun's lawyer, says in addition to her guilty plea, Markey has agreed to pay $125,000 in restitution. She was fired in 2006 as director of the archdiocese's family life office after the au- dit found irregularities. She will be sentenced in July. LT Seen, heard, or been involved in a bizarre brief? Tell Viola James about it at viola.james@ gmail.com W e ' r e a y C a n a p d i m a n o a n

• Cover