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PAGE 16 WillBuilder Tel: 416.322.6111 Toll-free: 1.866.367.7648 doprocess com ntitled-7 1 The Inside Story CLA GETS NEW PRESIDENT The Criminal Lawyers' Assoc- iation will soon have a new president as current head Frank Addario prepares to step down. During the association's fall conference on Nov. 27, lawyer Paul Burstein will be acclaimed to take over the job, according to In announcing legal a CLA notice. the change, Addario said he would con- tinue his involvement and emphasized the ongoing fight for more aid funding. "As I have been saying since June, the government did not spend 22 years ignoring legal aid funding to cave in over- night. The fight is going to be a long one." LEGATE RECEIVES CAREER HONOUR Lawyer Barbara Legate received a career recognition award from the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association last week for outstanding work in per- sonal injury law. Legate received the honour at the association's annual cel- ebration of the personal injury bar event as a result of her trial advocacy on behalf of the injured as well as her extensive contribution to legal educa- tion. Legate, of London, Ont., founded her own firm, Legate & Associates Professional Corp., in 1996. OSGOODE CONVENES CORPORATE FORUM York University's Osgoode Hall Law School is bringing together experts to discuss cor- porate law and human rights issues this week. The event, called an Expert Consultation on Corporate Law and Human Rights: Opportunities and Challenges of Using Corporate Law to Encourage Corporations to Respect Human Rights, is being held Nov. 5 and 6 at Osgoode's professional devel- opment centre. It will bring together corporate lawyers, civil society representatives, academ- ics, government regulators, and industry representatives in sup- port of the corporate law tools project of Harvard University professor John Ruggie, special representative of the United Nations secretary general on business and human rights. Experts will discuss how key corporate and securities law concepts such as incorpo- ration and listing, directors' duties, reporting, shareholder engagement, and other gover- nance issues as expressed in national laws and guidelines may help companies to respect human rights. The event is being supported by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights with the assistance of Export Development Canada and PricewaterhouseCoopers. SCHOLARSHIP WINNER ANNOUNCED Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP recently announced that the 2009 Black Business & Professional Association national scholarship for black law students has been awarded to University of Ottawa law student Danardo Jones. Between 2006 and 2008, Jones was a senior mentor at the Carleton University Centre for Initiatives in Education, where he acted as a classroom liaison between students and professors. As a result of his mentorship expe- riences, Jones was invited to present at the 2008 Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education conference. In 2007, he launched Seeds of Prevention, his own non- profit volunteer organization in Ottawa. This organization is based on the notion of social justice and offers seminars that discuss the relationships between the law and the black community. The scholarships are award- ed to black students attend- ing a college or university in Canada in order to further academic excellence among black youth. LT For more Inside Story, please visit www.lawtimesnews.com "As usual, Mr. Minister, you were perfectly correct. We are far too soft on crime." 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 IS THAT YOUR FINAL ANSWER? WHIDBEY ISLAND, Wash. — There is an old saying among lawyers that you never ask a question you don't know the answer to. For Patricia Sylvester, she likely wishes her lawyer didn't ask a question he thought he knew the answer to. While on trial for vehicular assault over a head-on collision that left a man with a col- lapsed lung and three fractured ribs, she was hurried into the courtroom upon hearing the jury had reached a verdict. The judge read "not guilty" to the relief of Sylvester, her family, and friends. Then her lawyer asked the judge to poll the jury. But when he did, they didn't get the response they expected with juror No. 1 saying she didn't agree with the verdict. Upon hearing this, Judge Alan Hancock sent the jury out of the courtroom. He discussed the problem with Sylvester's lawyer and the deputy prosecu- tor, who both seemed surprised at the turn of events. The judge decided to call the jury back and explain that a verdict must be a unanimous decision by all members. He then sent them back to the jury room to continue deliberating. Later on that day, the jury again reported they had reached a verdict. This time, the jury found Sylvester guilty of vehicular assault, the least ™ November 2, 2009 • Law Times Bizarre such as "poet" and "soap." "Kudos to the governor Briefs By Viola James serious aspect of the allegations against her. In doing so, the jury found she wasn't guilty of committing vehicular assault while intoxicated. The jury later said members believed that if they couldn't come to a unanimous deci- sion, then the person had to be innocent. COINCIDENCE? REALLY? SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger likes the personal touch when signing bills or vetoes by attach- ing a letter to lawmakers on the reason for his decision. But a recent veto had something a little extra for a Democrat assembly member. The member who heckled the governor during a recent event in San Francisco received the normal veto letter. However, each word along the left-hand margin started with a letter that when lined up spelled out a common vulgar phrase that ends in "y-o-u," The Associated Press reported. "My goodness. What a coin- cidence," said Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear. "I suppose when you do so many vetoes, something like this is bound to happen." Schwarzenegger's veto mes- sages are sent to the lawmak- ers who authored the bills and posted on the governor's web site. McLear noted that the left-hand margin of past veto messages has spelled out words A PRIEST, A CIVIL SERVANT, AND A LAWYER MADRID, Spain — Spanish police say they have broken up an illegal marriage ring while detaining a civil servant, a priest, and a lawyer. According to police, the group had charged between $15,000 and $18,000 to arrange about 100 bogus mar- riages for immigrants seeking residency papers. Most of the foreigners who used the service were Colombians involved in drug trafficking. Spaniards who agreed to be involved were said to have been paid $4,500, while witnesses for the ceremonies got $300. YOU DRIVE LIKE A CLOWN VANCOUVER, B.C. — He may have gotten away with driving erratically in a clown suit, but a Vancouver-area man possibly celebrating Halloween a little early couldn't escape crashing into a police car. A West Vancouver police officer was looking for suspects involved in a fight when he noticed a car driving the wrong way down the road at him. Behind the wheel was a man wearing a clown suit. The officer stopped cruiser and turned on his lights to warn the other driver. However, the man in the clown suit crashed into the police car. Luckily, there were no injuries; however, a 29-year-old man is now facing charges including impaired driving. LT for his creative use of coinci- dence," said a spokesman for San Francisco assembly mem- ber Tom Ammiano. his