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June 11, 2012

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RAISING THE BAR Bill seeks to change qualifications for JPs P3 SHARED ARTICLES Help pay debt to profession P6 $4.00 • Vol. 23, No. 20 Covering ontario's legal sCene • www.lawtimesnews.Com L AW TIMES W BY KENDYL SEBESTA Law Times hen Toronto lawyer Lorisa Stein vowed to live a healthier lifestyle on New Year' career as a family lawyer would change. "I vowed not to be a couch potato by the time I retired," she said. "So I started trying as many " no idea just how much her s Eve in 1992, she had new sports as I could. Nearly 10 years later, I was rock climbing, my partner wasn't paying atten- tion, and I fell from the wall onto a metal struc- ture. I suffered 12 injuries in total from the fall. Over the next seven years, Stein, who had been a busy family lawyer with a steady practice, visited countless doctors, went through months of intense physical rehabilitation, and saw her career as a lawyer start to fade before her eyes. "For seven years, I was absent two to three days a week or more from my practice. I had to learn how to write with my leſt hand, how to use voice recognition on my computer, and spoke to clients during the few times where I could work," she said in recounting her story during a session at the Law Society of Upper Canada' small-firm conference on May 31. "At the end of it all, I decided I had to look at what I could do and readjust my practice into something that would work for me or risk losing it." That led Stein to found her Toronto family law and collaborative practice in 2007. s solo and 'We all know clients who do their best to avoid making a will but we as lawyers tend to do that, too,' says Ian Hull. Photo: Kendyl Sebesta Lawyers warned to prepare for the worst Many practitioners shy away from thinking about death and illness ntitled-4 1 address what will happen to their law prac- tices if, like her, they're unexpectedly unable to continue working. But Stein, a speaker at a conference session Stein suspects many lawyers are afraid to " aimed at preparing lawyers for major practice interruptions, said fear shouldn't stop lawyers from considering the unexpected. "If you get nothing else from my story, please FOCUS ON Real Estate Law P8 June 11, 2012 12-03-20 10:44 AM for me and I went for it," said Stein, who has re- turned to full-time practice. "When things happen unexpectedly, re- "I realized that this is what was going to work turning to work doesn't happen all at once and I had to learn that I can't do everything. But it also taught me the importance of preparing for when something does go wrong. know that unexpected things can happen to you and it' prevention and stakeholder relations at Law- PRO and a speaker at the event, said he has seen how fear can have significant conse- quences for lawyers and their firms. Still, he said, many lawyers don't seem to be don't have power of attorney or appropriate clauses in their will that would allow someone Crown chided by appeal court for 'abusive' tactics BY JULIUS MELNITZER For Law Times remember where a court was so offended by the conduct of the Crown that it wouldn't even look at the merits of the appeal, says Richard Shekter of Toronto's by the Crown with the release of its decision in the United States v. Fafalios extradition case. "This is the only case I can T Richard Shekter argued the Crown's conduct constituted an abuse of process. he Ontario Court of Appeal has sent a mes- sage that it won't toler- ate high-handed tactics " Shekter Dychtenberg LLP, who represented respondent George Fafalios. The case arose in the context of an extradition proceeding against George and Marc Fafalios. Canadian authorities had arrest- ed them in relation to an alleged scheme to defraud several American corporations. They were facing criminal charges, including fraud over $5,000. The scenario is uncomplicat- ed. The Crown attorney, Richard Kramer of Justice Canada, didn't like Ontario Superior Court Justice Nancy Backhouse' ing the Crown to produce certain documents. So he told the court he wasn't going to comply and invited the court to stay the proceedings or grant a discharge. "He provided no notice of his intention to take this step," wrote s order requir- Justice Gloria Epstein on behalf of a Court of Appeal bench composed A DAILY BLOGOF CANADIAN LEGAL NEWS [WWW.CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/LEGALFEEDS ] LegalFeeds-BB-LT-Apr23-12.indd 1 of fellow justices David Doherty and Stephen Goudge. "He pro- vided no explanation for refusing to provide further disclosure and requesting that the proceedings be terminated. Indeed, Epstein noted, the Crown's "steadfast and only posi- tion" throughout " over disclosure was that Shekter's the dispute motion for exclusion of evidence based on a breach related to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms "was doomed to fail" and was irrelevant. Backhouse discharged the getting the message. "More than three-quarters of attorneys See Few, page 2 Dan Pinnington, vice president of claims " it just involves keeping your files current while you're away or having a robust office manual to ensure your practice runs smoothly. s so important to have a plan even if respondents and indicated she was also prepared to make an order staying the proceedings as an abuse of process. See Record, page 2 CANADIAN LAWYER & LAW TIMES POWERED BY 12-04-16 11:56 AM Pm #40762529

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