The premier weekly newspaper for the legal profession in Ontario
Issue link: https://digital.lawtimesnews.com/i/54116
top stories Rare look at firm's alleged abusive culture BY MICHAEL McKIERNAN A wrongful dismissal dispute at a leading criminal law office gave us a rare glimpse at what gets said behind the normally closed curtains of the firm's internal e-mail system. It all started when Tracy Francis, a member of the administrative staff at Rusonik O'Connor Robbins Ross Gorham & Angelini LLP, sued the firm for wrongful dis- missal. She alleged the firm fired her without cause and demanded $200,000 in damages. The firm jabbed back in its defence, denying all of her allegations and claiming that Francis had in fact been engaged in a "deliberate course of misconduct designed to disparage and undermine the firm's part- ners, lawyers, and students, as well as breach the firm's confidentiality." The firm alleged in its defence that Francis had singled out partner Jeff Her- shberg for particular abuse in e-mail correspondence with two associates. It claimed she labelled Hershberg a "tyrant" and a "sniveling bitch," expressed a desire "to choke him," and compared his appear- ance to that of an Auschwitz survivor. But Francis delivered an even bigger counterpunch, alleging in her reply that these types of comments were "perfectly acceptable within the firm's culture" and producing a string of examples from firm e-mails to back up her claim. Several of them attacked Hershberg in particular, including one allegedly from partner Nathan Gorham in October 2008. "Now you're just a 110 pounder . . . who's trying to overcompensate for a life of being the runt of the litter," the alleged e-mail stated. A number of the quoted e-mails made overtly homophobic references, including one where two lawyers at the firm are told that "you two fags were made for each other." An alleged attempt by Hershberg to assault Francis, an allegation strongly denied in the firm's statement of defence, became fodder for jokes on the e-mail system, according to Francis. It wasn't just Hershberg who was on the receiving end of disparaging remarks from firm partners, Francis claimed. An August 2010 e-mail from Reid Rusonik to Francis, for example, allegedly called an articling student "stupid, fat and lazy, Tracy. I like him, mind you, but we ain't going to baby him." In another e-mail in March 2010, Rusonik appeared to lay into a former senior partner who left when the firm morphed from Pinkofskys to Rusonik LLP. "Pretty hard to have a 'firm' of one," Francis' reply quotes Rusonik as writing. "He's seriously delusional, he's lazy and he's cheap." Rusonik allegedly labelled another criminal lawyer a "skank" in a further e-mail quoted in Francis' reply. In addition, an e-mail from April 2010 quoted partner Christian Angelini alleg- edly calling an Ontario Court judge a "useless tit." Later in the same conversation, another partner, Liam O'Connor, allegedly chimed in on the same judge: "the zoo is aware he has escaped and are sending a search and rescue party over immediately." Accord- ing to Francis' reply, Rusonik then added: "Wrong. The other chimps expelled him!" In a statement, Rusonik told Law Times the firm was "fully and vigorously" defend- ing the action. None of the allegations have been proven in court. "The passages from the e-mails in ques- tion, however much they are accurately quoted, are badly out of context," said Rusonik. "Moreover, they have absolutely nothing to do with the reasons for Ms. Fran- cis's termination." Storied names disappeared in 2011 BY GLENN KAUTH I t was the year the name of one of Canada's most storied law firms disappeared, a scenario that's about to repeat itself this January. In June, Ogilvy Renault LLP formally became part of the global legal practice known as the Norton Rose Group under the name Norton Rose OR LLP. But the name won't last very long as it's about to change again in 2012. When Macleod Dixon LLP joins Norton Rose on Jan. 1, it'll become Norton Rose Canada. The move capped a year of significant change on Bay Street with Lang Michener LLP having joined up with competitor McMillan LLP under that firm's name. The changes have also meant a significant amount of movement among the firms' lawyers, one of the highest profile among them being the departure of Yves Fortier from Norton Rose OR. Fortier, the former chairman of Ogilvys, announced in the fall that he was leaving the firm he had practised at for roughly 50 years. In October, he told Law Times that as an international arbitrator, conflict of interest issues had begun causing him problems when Ogilvys joined Norton Rose this year. "That started to give me bellyaches because every time I received an appointment to act as arbitrator, I had to run conflict checks throughout the Norton Rose Group, which is very active globally," he said. "It was accentuated in early October when Norton Rose decided to merge with Macleod Dixon, which expanded my potential conflict situation." Nevertheless, Norton Rose is continuing to grow in Canada with the addition of Macleod Dixon, a move that will take the global firm to 2,900 lawyers worldwide. "I believe this changes the legal landscape in Canada," said Norton Rose OR managing partner John Coleman, who described the new firm as a "new Canadian powerhouse." Coleman noted that Macleod Dixon's strength in energy and resources as well as its client base in Western Canada made the deal a logical one for Norton Rose. Nevertheless, it's clear that not everyone has found it easy to adapt to the changes. "It's with a heavy heart that I've decided to leave what will always be for me Ogilvy Renault," said Fortier. 2011 top news & newsmakers 11