Law Times

September 22, 2008

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PAGE 2 NEWS September 22, 2008 • Law times Hybrid model one cure to articling woes Continued from page 1 "Those are not tied to any one part of practice." Trimble admits that a student who articled with him would be mainly exposed to civil litiga- tion matters, and it's unlikely they would ever draft a motion on family law. "But any good lawyer who takes on an articling student should be able to deal with drafting in general, cor- responding with clients, corre- sponding with institutions," he says. "Those are generic skills you learn from articling that you don't learn in law school." All three organizations recog- nize the current structure of the articling program isn't ideal, but say getting rid of it is not the solu- tion. "Articling can't be the pana- cea, but you can't throw the baby out with the bath water either," says Trimble. He suggests the law society look to other ways of solv- ing the shortage of positions. The OBA response contains several suggestions, including expanding the definition of an articling principal to allow for Q. more people to qualify, and pro- viding incentives for lawyers to take on articling students. Of- fering credit for different types of experience is also suggested, such as summer legal work or volunteer legal experience. The goal is to increase the number of available articling opportunities. From the very beginning, Trimble says the profession needs to control expectations and make sure potential candi- dates know there is no guarantee of becoming a practising lawyer. "A law education is great for a lot of things," says Trimble. There are plenty of other options outside the actual practice of law. "They do all sorts of things that have nothing to do with the ren- dering of legal services for a fee." Trimble also poses the question of creating an alternate stream for students not able to secure articles. He assumes that would mean some sort of fee-based classroom setting, but says there are many matters needing investigation be- fore that could become a reality. Both the OBA and The Advocates' Society suggest the use of incentives to encourage arti- cling positions with smaller firms. "One idea suggested was financial assistance to sole practitioners or small firms to allow them to hire a student when they might not otherwise do so," says Cronyn. The CDLPA's report suggests a hybrid model that retains the cur- rent articling program and creates an alternate stream, but also sug- gests an exemption from articling for those who refrain from private practice. They refer to those who work as in-house counsel or in certain government sectors. The law society task force charged with examining the is- sue is expected to report back to Convocation this week. LT Exasperated judge decries lack of technology Continued from page 1 the delay was so police could de- termine its authenticity. During this time, the letter was leaked by the then-head of Toronto po- lice internal affairs to a lawyer representing the officers. While Gans ordered the KGB statement to be played in closed court, he denied a sweep- ing motion by the Ministry of the Attorney General to bar the public from all of a trial where Crown misconduct is alleged — because of concerns the informant might be identified. "Ideally, we would have the entire trial in camera," said Michael Fleishman, a lawyer in the civil branch of the min- istry. He echoed a line by Gans and suggested he did not want to be responsible for CI-186 "ending up face down in the Don River." (The informant is not scheduled to testify at the trial and there has only been an unsubstantiated allegation in 2001 that he was afraid of retribution from the police.) Why does the legal profession trust Martin's? A. Analysis and commentary from renowned authors you won't find anywhere else Martin's Annual Criminal Code 2009 Edition Instead, the judge warned the lawyers for all sides and the plain- tiffs not to give any testimony that would identify the informant. The province made its request based on the Supreme Court's ruling last year in Named Person v. Vancouver Sun and suggested that the absolute informant privilege made the normal open courts balancing test unnecessary. The Supreme Court said in Named Person, the Dagenais/ Mentuck balancing test did not apply in that case, which in- volved a person facing extradi- tion disclosing in court he was a confidential informant. The majority decision stressed that even when protecting infor- mant privilege, the open court principles should be infringed as little as possible. "The question that the judge must ask is this: is a totally in camera proceeding justified on the basis that only an in camera proceeding will properly protect the informer privilege," wrote Justice Michel Bastarache. "The guiding rule at this stage should always remain the following: the judge must accommodate the open court principle to as great an extent possible without risking a breach of the informer privilege." The Named Person decision does not suggest that courts may be closed simply because there will be references to con- fidential informants or some belief that it is safer to exclude the public, said Wong. "Named Person very much af- firmed the importance of openness by requiring disclosure of as much non-identifying information as possible," he tells Law Times. This can be done by redacting information in exhibits and refer- ring to the CI by a number in a court proceeding, Wong explains. The civil proceeding involv- ing the officers, which resumed Sept. 22, is not the only recent Toronto-based trial where the court has been sealed. At press time a pre-trial ar- gument in the prosecution of an Ontario Provincial Police detective on perjury charges was ordered to be held in cam- era by Justice Julie Thorburn two days last week. The Named Person ruling and a 2005 Ontario Court of Appeal decision in R v. Dell, which dealt with disclosure obligations relat- ed to a confidential informant, were cited as the reasons for the in camera hearing. In the Dell case, the Court www.canadalawbook.ca www.lawtimesnews.com Martins Annual (LT 1-2x4).indd 1 of Appeal stated that only the portions of the legal argument that would specifically identify the informant should be held in camera. LT 9/17/08 9:41:17 AM

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