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PAGE 20 WillBuilder Tel: 416.322.6111 Toll-free: 1.866.367.7648 doprocess com ntitled-7 1 The Inside Story COSGROVE FACES JUDICIAL COUNCIL Embattled Ontario Superior Court Justice Paul Cosgrove will meet with the Canadian Judicial Council March 6 to respond to an inquiry committee's report that found there are grounds to justify his removal from the bench. The council will file a recom- mendation to the federal justice minister after hearing Cosgrove's submission. Both Cosgrove's lawyer Chris Paliare of Paliare Roland Barristers and independent coun- sel on the inquiry, Earl Cherniak of Lerners LLP, will address the council at the hearing. The Ontario Court of Appeal in December 2003 overturned Cosgrove's ruling in the 1997 R. v. Elliott murder trial, ordering a new trial, at which Julia Elliott pleaded guilty to manslaughter and received a seven-year sentence. In April 2004, then-Ontario attorney general Michael Bry- ant requested a CJC inquiry into Cosgrove, alleging his conduct on the case hurt public trust in the ad- ministration of justice. The hearing is set to take place at 9:30 a.m. at the InterConti- nental Toronto Centre. PRIVACY FORUM Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian aimed to gain some powerful back- ing for her claim that technology can be used to protect privacy in a forum last week involving big names in the tech industry. "In a world of increasingly savvy and inter-connected customers, an organization's approach to pri- vacy may offer precisely the com- petitive advantage needed to suc- ceed," said Cavoukian in a release. "Privacy is essential to creating an environment that fosters trusting, long-term relationships with ex- isting customers, while attracting opportunity and facilitating the development of new ones." The "Privacy By Design Chal- lenge" was set to take place last Wednesday in Toronto. Leading executives from Intel, IBM, Mi- crosoft, HP, Sun Microsystems, and Facebook were expected to speak at the forum. Cavoukian coined the term "privacy by design" in the 1990s when she started her movement to get big tech companies on board to develop products that protect privacy, rather than diminishing it, according to the release. LAWYER'S LICENCE REVOKED BY LSUC The Law Society of Upper Can- ada has disbarred Brampton real estate lawyer Winston Gauntlett Mattis, and ordered him to pay the law society $10,000 in costs. In a Jan. 20 hearing panel de- cision, Mattis was found, among other things, to have failed "to be on guard against becoming the tool or dupe of unscrupulous clients and third parties and by com- pletely abdicating his professional responsibilities by failing to super- vise his real estate practice in con- nection with the purchase, sale, and mortgage transactions involving 15 properties," according to a summary issued by the LSUC. SUPERIOR COURT JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS Ontario Superior Court Justice Louise Gauthier is now regional senior judge of the court's north- east region, swapping spots with Justice John Poupore. Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced last week that former regional senior judge of the central west region Justice Bruce Durno has changed places with Justice Francine Van Melle. Two new judges also were unveiled. Justice Anne Mul- lins, formerly an associate with Augustine Bater Polowin LLP, was appointed to the Newmarket Superior Court bench. Justice William Hourigan, a litigation partner with Fasken Martineau LLP, will reside at the Superior Court in Milton. JEWETT JOINS GOWLINGS Former general counsel and cor- porate secretary of the Bank of Canada Mark Jewett has joined Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP's financial services industry group. "We are very pleased to have Mark join us. His experience in the complex area of financial regulation and public policy adds depth and breadth to the services that we are able to provide to clients," said the firm's chairman and CEO, Scott Jolliffe, in a release. LT For more Inside Story, please visit www.lawtimesnews.com "I'm terribly sorry. I practise asset-backed securities law. Perhaps you would prefer to speak with someone who specializes in debt restructuring, like my friends here." 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 Reinventing the Will www 1/26/09 3:38:37 PM IT DOESN'T ALWAYS HIT THE FAN SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Things really hit the fan last week after a judge declared a mistrial in the case of a man who threw feces at his lawyer and the jury. Prosecutor Christopher Law- son says Weusi McGowan was upset because the judge turned down his request to take public defender Jeffrey Martin off the case. So, he took the issue into his own hands by spreading feces on Martin's hair. He then lobbed it at jurors but missed hitting them, The Associated Press reports. McGowan had smuggled a bag of the excrement into court as he prepared to face trial for robbery and assault with a deadly weapon stemming from a 2007 home invasion. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. The court antics, however, have com- plicated his case as the judge declared a mistrial and raised McGowan's bail from $250,000 to $1 million. NO TICKET NO TRAVEL MOSCOW, Russia — Forget collection agencies. If you don't pay up in Russia, you may find yourself barred from travelling. Facing a court system that's biased toward borrowers over lenders, Russian authorities have stepped up efforts to recover debt by issuing travel bans against people who don't pay their bills. "The scheme has been very effec- tive, a phenomenal success," says Natalya Selivanova, spokeswom- an for the Federal Bailiff Service. ™ February 2, 2009 • Law Times "We cannot confirm the sto- Bizarre Briefs By Viola James Officials credit the moves with helping recover almost $800 mil- lion rubles (about US$24.25 million) after they issued orders for 82,000 foreign travel bans. Some of them only learned of the restrictions after they arrived at the border, Reuters reports. "If someone can't keep up his payments on a $100,000 debt and then buys a package tour to Thailand . . . that's not just illegal, it's immoral," Federal Bailiff Service director Artur Parfenchikov said. This isn't the first time Russia has taken aggressive steps to en- force bill payments. In the past they put the names of delinquent borrowers on billboards in order to shame them into paying. GOAT DOES HARD TIME LAGOS, Nigeria — Prisons are home to all sorts, but police in witchcraft-crazed Nigeria set a new standard recently when they took a goat into custody on sus- picion of attempted robbery. The beast first came to the at- tention of officers after a group of vigilantes intervened in the theft of a Mazda 323. One of the robbers used black magic to turn himself into a goat to escape ar- rest, the interveners claimed. "The group of vigilante men came to report that while they were on patrol they saw some hoodlums attempting to rob a car. They pursued them. Howev- er, one of them escaped, while the other turned into a goat," Kwara state police spokesman Tunde Mohammed told Reuters. ry, but the goat is in our custody. We cannot base our informa- tion on something mystical. It is something that has to be proved scientifically, that a human being turned into a goat." FIVE-FINGER EMPLOYEE DISCOUNT NATCHEZ, Mississippi — The case of a Wal-Mart cashier who allegedly got $547.50 worth of goods for less than $5 gives new meaning to the term employee discount. In recent days, police have ar- rested six employees at the Nat- chez store on charges including embezzlement and shoplifting. Even the door greeter was said to be involved in the scheme to dra- matically roll back prices. The case came to light when police charged Erica Marie Jones, 20, on claims she paid $5.25 — before using her 20-per-cent em- ployee-discount card — for more than $500 in merchandise. They also arrested cashier Tiffany Wil- liams, 22, allegedly embezzling $1,181.60 worth of goods. The scheme, police claim, in- volved cashiers ringing up each other's purchases but only charg- ing for a few of them. At the same time, a device would deactivate the bar code from setting off the store alarm, while the greeter al- legedly allowed the employee to leave despite checking the ques- tionable receipts, The Natchez Democrat reports. Further investigation by Wal- Mart led to charges last week against four other employees, including the 25-year-old door greeter. Police say $9,182.90 worth of merchandise, ranging from electronics and computers to clothes and DVDs, was sto- len. Natchez police Sgt. Craig Godbold says officers also have a warrant for the arrest of one more employee. LT