Law Times

PAGE 2 NEWS OctOber 26, 2009 • Law times Work continues on professional mobility as Ontario debates new law BY ROBERT TODD Law Times try are moving ahead on their own eff orts to further break down borders. In January, the governments made a deal to amend A the Agreement on Internal Trade that would make it easier for certifi ed workers in professions and trades to come to other jurisdictions. As a result, in On- tario proposed legislation has passed fi rst reading at Queen's Park to open doors for professionals from other provinces hoping to work here by removing roadblocks such as added training or testing. But the legal profession will largely be unchanged whenever the Ontario labour mobility act gets passed. Th at's because law societies are relying on a section of the agreement that makes way for provinces and s Canadian provinces and territories work at implementing an agreement on professional labour mobility, law societies across the coun- territories to enforce added requirements for workers based on public-interest concerns such as health and safety or consumer protection. Th e law societies have each asked their respective pro- vincial governments, in drafting their own legislation on the agreement, to request such an exception for the legal profession, Law Times has learned. Th e consumer protec- tion exception relates to the mobility of Quebec lawyers trained in civil law wanting to practise in common-law provinces. Under the exception, Quebec lawyers would be forced to get added training or testing to make sure they are equipped to practise common law. Th e mobility of lawyers between provinces was also addressed in 2002, when law societies signed on to the Federation of Law Societies of Canada's national mobility agreement. All but one of Canada's provincial law societ- ies had implemented that deal by 2006, with Quebec's partial implementation taking hold in June 2008. In terms of Ontario lawyers hoping to work in Que- bec, Barreau du Québec secretary Sylvie Champagne notes that its partial implementation involves the is- suance of special certifi cation — called Canadian legal adviser permits — to out-of-province practitioners. It allows lawyers to work in the province without taking transfer exams or completing additional law courses in civil law, she says. However, the permit restricts holders to work on federal matters or advising on legal issues relating to their home jurisdiction, says Champagne. Th ey may not work on any civil law matters. Lawyers trained in a common-law province looking to practise civil law in Quebec must pass three transfer exams with the barreau — two in civil and procedural law and one in administrative law, says Champagne. Nevertheless, federation president Stéphane Rivard says all law societies earlier this month agreed to formal- ize a process to loosen restrictions on Quebec lawyers looking to practise in other provinces. Th at reciprocal agreement would allow Quebec lawyers to work on mat- ters involving Quebec laws, federal law, and international public law in other provinces and territories, he says. LT Discrimination continues despite victory 'The child of an Indian man and a white woman has different status than my kids' BY GAIL J. COHEN Law Times I magine losing your citi- zenship just because you married someone from a diff erent background. Th at's what happened to Jeannette Corbiere Lavell when she got married in 1970. She was born on the Wik- wemikong Reserve on Mani- toulin Island and speaks Ojibway. Her husband David Lavell was a white man. Shortly after they wed, she received a letter from the De- partment of Indian Aff airs and Northern Development telling her she was stripped of her In- dian status. Subscribe to Law Times Why pay extra for your legal news? Cutting-edge legal affairs, news and commentary for just 37¢ a day! Make the time for Law Times and keep up with all the developments in Ontario's legal scene. Subscribe today and receive: • Unlimited access to the Law Times digital editions and to our digital edition archives...FREE • Canadian Legal Newswire, a weekly e-newsletter from the editors of Law Times and Canadian Lawyer...FREE 1-800-265-8381 www.mckellar.com www.mckellar.com $3.55 • Vol. 20, No. 13 Covering Ontario's Legal Scene BY ROBERT TODD Law Times F dicial Council's decision to call for his ouster, saying he was compelled to resign due to his pending retire- ment, despite finding aspects of the council's report "troublesome." Cosgrove tells Law Times in an interview that once the CJC issued its recommendation to the justice minister, "My options were pretty narrow." While he believes he could have appealed an earlier committee report at ormer Ontario Superior Court justice Paul Cosgrove has spo- ken out on the Canadian Ju- month after the CJC issued a final re- port stating that his actions in a late- Cosgrove people in public office, and they were given little weight, according to the decision." Cosgrove's final criticism is the CJC's determination that the issue of public confidence was central to its decision. He suggests that it remains unclear what evidence is required to make such a determination. inquiry the Federal Court, he says a decision was un- likely before his mandatory retire- ment took hold in December. resigned earlier this Former Superior Court justice Paul Cosgrove tells Law Times that his pending mandatory retirement compelled him to resign from the bench rather than battle a call for his ouster. 1990s murder trial led to the conclusion that he "failed in the execution of the duties of his judi- cial office and that public confidence in his abil- ity to discharge those duties in future has been irrevocably lost." The decision made him only the second federal judge to meet such a fate. But the former judge says parts of the CJC's the senior regional judges in Ottawa since I've been here for the last 24 years, all wrote very positive recommendations, and they also were aware of the trial," says Cosgrove. "So to say that these letters, the people had final report could have been challenged. The council did not use a set of 32 letters of given rise for us to challenge," he says. "The problem with that is, of course I'm retired — manda- tory retirement in December of this year. And the process, for ex- ample, dealing with the constitu- tional issue, took three years." He says he did not want to "So, all of those issues may have Financial Matters with 20,000 pages of evidence likely put forth. The 74-year-old former judge, who will gamble and let the matter play out before Parliament, where an un- precedented joint resolution would have been required to finalize his ouster. Doing so may have proved cumbersome, suggests Cosgrove, no knowledge of what was going on was not accurate." Cosgrove also suggests the council should support written by judges and retired judges, law- yers, and members of the public when coming to its decision, saying they were irrelevant, he notes. "Personally, I found that difficult because, for example, there were my supervising judges, have used the letters from community mem- bers when considering whether he had lost the public's confidence. "It would seem to me that it's logical to test collect an annual pension of about $170,000, says that before the decision he was reason- ably confident that the council would not call for his dismissal. Independent counsel Earl Cherniak, a partner at Lerners LLP, had previ- ously told the council such a stern punishment was not necessary. "It was shock and disappointment," Cos- what the public's demeanour is; you ask people who are knowledgeable in the public," he says. "And there were a number of letters from 9 Focus On ADR/ Mediation together we have all the tools. TitlePLUS title insurance and you, TitlePLUS title insurance and you, together we have all the tools April 20, 2009 Inside This Issue 3 Fight Over Fees 6 Quote of the week grove says of his reaction to the final decision. He says he has been dealing with the fall- out by responding to media inquiries, and See Cosgrove, page 4 BY TIM NAUMETZ For Law Times OTTAWA — The possible closure of McCarthy Tétrault LLP's high- profile office in the nation's capital is unrelated to dire economic cir- cumstances that have hit home for some Canadian law firms, a senior McCarthys partner says. zation we review our business plans on an ongoing basis," Boake tells Law Times when asked of the Ot- tawa office closure possibility. She adds the firm wants to meet the needs of its clients, and that each of its offices have a practice and focus which aligns with McCarthys' over- all strategy. "So it's in that context "Yeah, I guess, like any organi- staff, remains undecided. "It's really just a question of the fact that we are in discussion with lawyers there as part of an overall strategic review," she tells Law Times. "These discussions have been decisions" because of a drop in busi- ness due to the economy, letting go less than 20 of its 650 lawyers across the country. She would not give the specific number or other details. Gowling Lafleur Henderson going on for a while and are not related to the economy," she says. "I would call it a strategic review. Our firm really focuses on integrat- The financial crisis that has hit directly New York and London, being financial centres of the world, and the financial institutions based there, has not hit to the same degree in Canada, primarily because of the strength of the financial institutions in Canada. McCarthys' Ottawa contingent is a "strategic review" based on the firm's national business plan, and the role played by all of its six loca- tions across Canada, says Barbara Boake, national leader, profession- als, at McCarthy Tétrault. Consideration of the future of that we're currently reviewing the Ottawa office, but no decision has been made to close it," she says. Boake would not divulge fur- ther details and said the fate of the office, along with the employ- ment of its seven partners, two associates, and 11 administrative ed practices; we have offices right across the country. We have a very diversified practice geographically and our overall strategy is to inte- grate those practices and develop client teams on a firm-wide basis." Boake, however, confirmed Mc- Carthys has taken "difficult staffing "It is now incumbent on sports federations in selection disputes to show they had the proper criteria set up and that it was properly applied . . . The onus is now on the organiza- tion not the athlete. It wasn't quite as clear a few years ago." LLP also confirmed to Law Times the firm released staff last week. But Gowlings chairman and CEO Scott Jolliffe said the shakeup did not involve partners or associ- ates. Jolliffe says the firm is shifting toward a "pod" model where law- yers and associates share a smaller number of secretaries, but he would not say how many were affected. The move not only economizes, but also creates a team atmosphere among secretaries that is useful for mentoring and sharing workloads. Sources in the legal community say McCarthy Tétrault's Ottawa re- view may be related to a management See Ottawa, page 4 WHICH DIRECTION IS BEST FOR YOU? RainMaker Group 110 Yonge Street, Suite 1101 Toronto, Ontario M5C 1T4 Tel: 416-863-9543 Fax: 416-863-9757 www.rainmakergroup.ca www.lawtimesnews.com She, like any woman who mar- ried a non-native man, lost her Indian status as did any children of the marriage. She could no longer live on the reserve and lost the right to own land or inherit family property; she couldn't re- ceive treaty benefi ts or participate in band councils and political or social aff airs in the community; and she lost the right to be buried in cemeteries with her ancestors. Th at was unfair and, in her eyes, also discriminatory. "Th e law was so discrimina- tory and counter to our cul- ture," said Corbiere Lavell at last week's Women's Legal Education and Action Fund Persons Day breakfast where she was being honoured for her advocacy on aboriginal women's rights. Non-native women who mar- q Send me 1 year of Law Times for only $135.00 (Total with GST: $141.75) Name: __________________________________________________________________________ Company: _______________________________________________________________________ Address: ________________________________________________________________________ City: ____________________________ Prov: _______________ Postal Code: __________________ Tel: ( ) _______________________ Fax: ( ) ______________________ Email: ____________________________________________________________________________ q Payment enclosed q Charge my: q Visa q Mastercard q American Express Card #: __________________________________ Expiry Date: ___ / ___ (mm/yy) Signature (required): ________________________________________________ Date: ________________ 240 Edward St. Aurora, ON. L4G 3S9 Tel: (905) 727-0077 Fax: (905) 841-4357 Mail or fax this form to Law Times ried native men actually gained all those things that Corbiere Lavell had taken away from her. "I am a member of the Nish- nawbe Nation, and it should be my right to choose to have that," she said. In her culture, she said, men are not of a higher or diff erent status than women. Th e government's letter made her feel that her respect had been taken away. But it didn't make her an- gry. Instead, it spurred her on to launch a fi ght for equality rights that went all the way to the Su- preme Court of Canada. "Anger won't get us any- where," she told the crowd of about 700. "I had the support of my family and the creator to bring about positive change." In 1973, her eff orts were LT_1-4sub.indd 1 12/16/09 11:04:45 AM 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 denied by one vote by an all-male panel of judges at the Supreme Court. But she was the catalyst for Sandra Lovelace to take a chal- lenge in the 1980s to the United Nations to have the discrimina- tory Indian Act repealed. On July 30, 1981, the United Nations human rights commit- tee found Canada to be in breach of Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Th en, in 1985, Bill C-51 was passed giving Corbiere Lavell and others their status back. But the fi ght is not over. "We still have a long way to go. We are still dealing with dis- crimination," she said, noting her granddaughters aren't members of the community with status. "Th e child of an Indian man and a white woman has diff er- ent status than my kids. I'll be following up on this with the minister of Indian aff airs to- morrow," said Corbiere Lavell, who was elected president of the Native Women's Association of Canada earlier this month. And she put a challenge out to a crowd that included hun- dreds of lawyers. "My prayer is if we believe we have rights . . . we will believe that no one should be subjected to anything less than they want for themselves," she said. "All of you can support us in our initiatives. Come to our assis- tance when we have court cases." Th is year's LEAF Persons Day breakfast celebrated the 80th anniversary of the Persons Case, which legally recognized women as "persons" on Oct. 18, 1929. LT www .lawtimesnews.com Includes a FREE digital edition! 'Shock says Cosgr and goes 'life ove Future disappointment' on' after the bench uncertain for McCarthys' Ottawa office

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