Law Times

PAGE 10 FOCUS November 3, 2008 • Law Times the late 1990s Osgoode Hall Law School's masters degree in real estate has a "robust class," erhaps it's due to the downturn in the economy, but for the first time since Osgoode's masters degree a 'magnificent' program P BY GRETCHEN DRUMMIE Law Times says one of the lawyers involved in organizing the program. In fact, the two-year masters de- gree, which is part-time with classes mainly in the evenings, has only been done once before with that group graduating in 1999, says Jef- frey Lem, a partner at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, who is a Ontario 2008-2009 Real Estate Legislation Consulting Editor: Howard Shuster When you want a complete and handy source for Ontario real estate legislation, the logical place to turn is Ontario Real Estate Legislation, 2008-2009 Edition. This portable consolidation, prepared by a seasoned legal expert in real estate matters, offers the most thorough collection of laws available for this expansive area. Key statutes and regulations include: Assignments and Preferences Act Construction Lien Act (Part XI Priorities), ss. 72-85 Conveyancing and Law of Property Act Estates Administration Act Execution Act Expropriations Act, ss. 6 and 9 Fraudulent Conveyances Act Income Tax Act, s. 116 Land Registration Reform Act and regulation Land Titles Act and regulations Land Transfer Tax Act and regulations Line Fences Act and regulations Mortgages Act Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act and regulation www.canadalawbook.ca Ont Real Estate Legislation_LT 1-4x3.indd 1 Partition Act Planning Act, s. 50 Public Lands Act Public Transportation and Highway R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 1026 (under the Surveyors Act), s. 29 Surveys Act, s. 2 Tile Drainage Act Vendors and Purchasers Act Improvement Act (Part II ss. 36 to 39) Real Property Limitations Act Registry Act and regulations Road Access Act graduate and program director. "It's a magnificent program," says Lem. "It covers everything you ever wanted to know about real estate but never learned in law school, or had enough time to finish in law school." There are 20 students enrolled. "That's considered a very strong Reduce your research time with these useful features: concise Table of Contents with detailed Table for each Act a thorough subject index legislative history for each provision bleed tabs to help you locate exactly what you need class for a masters degree at night," says Lem, who adds that over the past nine years it's been impossible to attract enough students. "May- be it's the turning of the economy, I don't know what prompted it [the sudden interest] this year but they do have a robust class." The students are all real estate practitioners; practising lawyers with their degrees who are probably looking to get to the next level to improve their skill sets in real estate and "there's no better way to do it than through this sort of an intense two-year degree," says Lem. "And, you get a degree at the end as opposed to doing a ton of conferences and continuing legal education sessions. This is orga- nized and a co-ordinated ap- proach to the law of real estate." He adds, the "instructors are estate. It's particularly good if you are already a practising lawyer be- cause even if you're a specialist in real estate you really don't do ev- ery area. I don't do a lot of condo law at all and frankly I don't know that much about condo law, so when I took it 10 years ago to hear about condo law I thought, 'Oh, so that's what they meant.'" He says there's always an ele- ment of a lawyer's practice that isn't well-rounded. So this is "perfect for even the people who take a course in an area in which you have ex- pertise, you learn something new, I guarantee because you are learning from the top guys in the industry." He boasts that the instructors a 'Who's Who' of experts in the industry discussing their specific topics," says Lem who was asked to help design the program. "They said, 'If you had to do it over again and design one spectacular pro- gram that would cover everything you needed to know to be an excep- tional practising real estate lawyer what type of programs and which instructors would you want?'" Lem says the program is tackled in one of two ways. Most of the classes are conducted at night, three hours a week on a specific topic for six weeks. Some though, like the classes taught by Bruce Ziff, profes- sor University of Alberta Faculty of Law, take place over a couple of weekends. "That's really intense," says Lem. "He gets in on Friday and you get out on Sunday night. I call it boot camp of law." There's homework and a re- search paper. Lem says that's a chal- lenge for some given it's been "a long time since they've had to write essays and that really jars them." Lem says there's nowhere else 10/28/08 2:02:00 PM November Specials Practical Guide, The Commercial Lease: A Fourth Edition Harvey M. Haber, Q.C., LSM Assignment, Subletting and Change of Control in a Commercial Lease: A Practical Guide Editor: Harvey M. Haber Q.C. and contributing authors lawyers can get this type of for- mal, organized, co-ordinated con- tinuing legal education for real estate. "There are a lot of ad hoc programs," he says, but "there is nowhere else you can get this type of intensive education covering the entire breadth of everything you are likely to run across in real are "the best lawyer in each cat- egory that I could think of. I got them. I'm very happy." While he's unsure if it will be an annual event, "a couple of things are conspiring to make this year successful. I think a lot of people are thinking about a recession and if times are slow you should do something to improve your skills when times get better again and you're there. Until now times have been very busy for real estate. They tried two or three times to do this program and got [no] tak- ers. But this time I think it's a com- bination of real estate having a great run, and now we're obviously into a recession. Even before the super meltdown real estate was beginning to feel the credit crunch. But you're only going to get these recessionary times once in a while which is why I think this is a neat story because it's these twenty guys and gals who will be the crop of masters degrees possibly for the next decade." Besides Ziff the faculty in- cludes, Craig Carter of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP; Duncan Glaholt of Glaholt LLP; Ronald Goldenberg of Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP; John Mas- carin of Aird & Berlis LLP; Marc McAree of Willms & Shier Envi- ronmental Lawyers LLP; Stephen Ruby of Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP; Mitchell Kow- alski, director Ontario Realty Corporation; Doug Klaassen, Stikeman Elliott LLP; Arnie Her- schorn, Minden Gross LLP. LT Tenant's Rights and Remedies in a Commercial Lease: A Practical Guide Editor: Harvey M. Haber, Q.C. and contributing authors Editor: Harvey M. Haber, Q.C. and contributing authors Distress: A Commercial Landlord's Remedy www.lawtimesnews.com 10/28/08 2:02:50 PM

• Cover
• Canaries In Coal Mine
• Judge Launched CJC
• Focus On Real Estate Law