Law Times

PAGE 20 Enabling Lawyers through Technology Tel: 416.322.6111 Toll-free: 1.866.367.7648 doprocess com www The Inside Story TOP FIRMS MAKE TOP DOLLAR The Legal Business Global 100 list just hit our desks, giving the earnings and profits of the 100 largest law firms in the world. The last Global 100 ran in the British law magazine in 2003. So here are some numbers to chew on. According to Legal Business, the top 50 law firms in the world had total revenues of US$55.3 trillion, up 17 per cent over the previous year. They had an 18-per- cent increase in total profits, at US$421.68 trillion, from 2007. The top three law firms in the world, according to revenue, are Clifford Chance (US$2.668 bil- lion), Linklaters LLP (US$2.590 billion), and Freshfields Bruck- haus Deringer LLP (US$2.635 billion). All three are London, U.K.-based and had revenue in- creases between 18 and 22 per cent over the previous year. The rankings change quite back to Canada. "By failing to bring Omar Khadr home, and by allowing him to be tried for war crimes, the government of Canada is helping to set a very dangerous precedent where children recruited by bellig- erent armed groups will be pros- ecuted for war crimes, and could face death sentences in conflict- affected regions," said Dallaire in a release. "Repatriation is the best way to ensure that Omar Khadr's rights are protected." Khadr has been held at Guan- tánamo Bay since his arrest in 2002, at the age of 15. He's cur- rently awaiting trial in October for alleged war crimes before the U.S. military tribunal. Dallaire says that both the a bit though when looked at through the profit-per-equity- partner lens. In this category, the top three are Wachtell Lip- ton Rosen & Katz, Slaughter and May, and Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP. New York City- based Wachtell is number 61 on the revenue list (US$549.6 million) but with only 79 eq- uity lawyers, each one's profits add up to US$4.405 million. Each of the 127 equity part- ners at London-based Slaugh- ter and May (number 32 with US$846.6 million in revenues) had profits of US$3.467 mil- lion. At Cravath, based in New York, (number 53 with revenues of US$605 million), there were profits per each of the 90 equity partners of US$3.3 million. The lone Canadian firm in the Global 100 is McCarthy Tétrault LLP, which comes in at number 83 with revenues of US$402 mil- lion, one of only two firms on the list that showed revenue down from the previous year — four per cent in this case. The profits per each of McCarthys' 290 equity partners was US$638,000. DALLAIRE CALLS FOR KHADR'S RETURN Canadian Senator Roméo Dal- laire has made it clear that he wants the Canadian govern- ment to bring Omar Khadr United States and Canada have ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, prohibiting the prosecution of child soldiers. According to Dallaire, if the trial goes forward then Khadr may become the "first child sol- dier ever to be prosecuted for war crimes." Dallaire is best known for his position as commander during the United Nations peacekeep- ing mission in Rwanda and his account of the events that took place, which he wrote in the book Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda. FEDS NAME NEW COMMISSIONER A new man has been put in charge of protecting the independence of Canada's judiciary. The government has named Claude Provencher as Com- missioner for Federal Judicial Affairs. The office, created in 1978, was designed to advocate for judge's independence from government, promote improved administration of justice, and sup- port to the federal judiciary. Provencher got his law degree in 1988 from Université de Mon- tréal, and was called the Quebec's bar in 1989. He went on to earn a post graduate degree in man- agement in 2001, and obtained a master in business administration in 2002. LT For more Inside Story, please visit www.lawtimesnews.com "That's nothing! MY new girlfriend has links to the bottled-water industry." 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 WHY S/HE NEEDS UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Jim- my Maurice Lewis II didn't feel comfortable in his own body. But changing yourself can be very costly, especially if you have to pay for all of it yourself. Prosecutors believe Lewis, who has already had breast implant surgery, stole $9,600 from the Alabama Credit Union to help finance a costly sex-change operation. A federal jury found Lewis guilty of federal bank robbery for his role in the November 2007 heist, in which s/he en- tered the bank wearing a dress and carrying a purse. He will be sentenced Dec. 11 and faces up to 20 years in jail. RISK MANAGEMENT! LONDON, England — British celebrity chef Anthony Worrall Thompson made a slight error in recommending in an Organic Living magazine article that people use a bit of "henbane" in their salads. He really meant to say "fat hen" weed. Seems henbane can kill you, and even if it you don't eat enough for that tragic re- sult the toxic plant can cause hallucinations, drowsiness, and disorientation if ingested. Fat hen, on the other hand, is a member of the not-so-nasty spin- ach family. So far no reports of any salads gone awry. correction on its web site. Wor- rall Thompson told reporters The magazine has issued a AUGUST 11-18, 2008 / LAW TIMES Bizarre Briefs By Viola James he's sorry for the mix-up, which he called "a bit embarrassing." NO MORE CUTE PETS FOR YOU BOYS RIYADH — Saudi Arabia' gious police have banned selling cats and dogs or exercising them in public in the capital city, because of men using them as a means of trying to pick up women. Othman al-Othman, head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in Riyadh, known as the Muttawa, told the Saudi edition of al-Hayat the commission had started en- forcing an old religious edict. He said the commission was implementing a decision by the acting governor of the capital, Prince Sattam bin Abdul Aziz. The reason for reinforcing the s reli- edict now was a rising fashion among some men using pets in public "to make passes on wom- en and disturb families," he said. Othman said the commis- sion had instructed its offices in the capital to tell pet shops "to stop selling cats and dogs.'' TIME FOR A CHANGE WELLINGTON, New Zea- land — If your name was Talula Does the Hula from Hawaii you'd want to change it too. Honestly! Nine-year-old Talula had had enough — she was so em- barrassed that she wouldn't even tell her friends her name, telling them to just call her K. Earlier this year New Zea- land family court Judge Rob Murfitt ruled that the girl be- come a ward of the court so her name can be changed. The girl was involved in a custody battle between her separated parents. In his February ruling, which was made public recently, Murf- itt expressed concern at the "very poor judgment" shown by the parents in selecting the moniker. "It makes a fool of the child and sets her up with a social disability and handicap, un- necessarily," said Murfitt. "In all facets of life, a child bearing this name would be held up to ridi- cule and suspicion." The girl's new name is not being released to protect her privacy. In his ruling, Murfitt cited a list of strange names given to children in New Zealand. He said names blocked by registration officials included Yeah Detroit, Keenan Got Lucy, and Sex Fruit, while Number 16 Bus Shelter and Violence were allowed. 'WEAPONS OF GRASS DESTRUCTION' NEW YORK, N.Y. — It doesn't take much to alarm a public bat- tling a "war on terror," but what kind of threat could a group of hungry goats present? Well, anti-terrorism workers in New York City were recently put on guard by a scare created by a dozen goats that trespassed beyond a fence at a historic Rev- olutionary War site on Staten Island, reports the Associated Press. It turns out the "weap- ons of grass destruction," as one newspaper described them, were placed at Fort Wadsworth by the National Park Service to deal with unsavoury weeds. The Metropolitan Transporta- tion Authority said the incident doesn' bridge protection system. t actually part of the LT t count as a security breach, as the metal fence the goats slipped under wasn' Confidential

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