Law Times

PAGE 2 NEWS June 11, 2012 • Law Times Few lawyers have wills or succession plans to take over their practice in the case of their death or serious injury, Continued from page 1 large disasters won't happen to us, but as you heard from Ms. Stein, they do. Time and time again, I've seen when there isn't a plan in place and disaster hits, practices tend to disappear. "We tend to fool ourselves into thinking these types of " said Pinnington. to prepare their practices for the unexpected. The first, a contingency plan, would allow lawyers to continue their practice in the case of a sudden serious injury. The sec- ond, a succession plan, would allow another lawyer to come into the practice and take over in the event of death. "In both cases, you need to consider who would be Pinnington said lawyers can create two types of plans " the best prepared to take over your people, your practice, and your infrastructure, to make sure you have insurance in place that includes commercial, liability, and ideally business-interruption insurance. Barring that, having a backup office buddy " said Pinnington. "You also need that could let you use their office in case of an emergency is also a good idea." Ian Hull, a speaker at the event and cofounder of Hull & Hull LLP, said that while many lawyers oſten want to avoid talking about death and wills, not doing so could lead them onto a dangerous path. "We all know clients who do their best to avoid making a will but we as lawyers tend to do that, too," said Hull. "We don't want to talk about death but we're walking down a dangerous path if we don't address what could happen." Hull, who practises extensively in trusts and estates law, noted his best advice to lawyers who want to pro- tect their practice in case of an emergency is to find the simplest path. "Try to figure out and manage whichever approach is best for your practice. Start by picking someone as your executor who you know could be comfortable in your practice and will know about that area of law. Also, make sure taking over your practice will be financially profit- able for them." Professional Corp., says he'll take that advice to heart. "I'm going to go back to my office and redraſt my will to appoint someone to look aſter my law practice," says Robert Coates, a lawyer at R.G. Coates Estate Law Coates, who notes he currently has business-interruption and disability insurance. "The idea of having a will for your law practice is really important, but probably 99 per cent of the people in this room don't have one. I think most lawyers just don't like to think that we might not be here one day, but you owe it to yourself and your employees to think about it." Several of the speakers at the event said they, too, were knows disasters don't wait until lawyers are comfortable or prepared. "I never expected it to happen to me, but it did, emotional Stein said to the audience. "I just hope you'll learn from my mistakes." " an LT Record 'devoid of evidence' to justify Crown actions Continued from page 1 surprise. "It is not disputed that at the Kramer was hardly caught by conclusion of the hearing on Nov. 26, 2010, the Crown had in hand two notices of appeal — one in the event that a stay was imposed and the other available if the court granted a discharge, " Epstein noted. The latter notice of appeal, dated Nov. 26, 2010, was served and filed with this court that day. Moiz Rahman and Monika Rahman, who represented the Crown on appeal and present- ed substantive arguments that counsel at trial hadn't advanced, It's possible, however, that " were prepared for the Court of Appeal' Crown that was entirely sub- stantive and I decided that my primary and basically only argu- ment in response was that the court shouldn't even listen to this because the conduct of the Crown constituted an abuse of "We got a factum from the s response to the case. GET THE QUICK ANSWERS YOU NEED FOR COURT CANADIAN CRIMINAL CODE OFFENCES JOHN L. GIBSON AND HENRY WALDOCK PART OF THE CARSWELL eREFERENCE LIBRARY® Quickly find the Criminal Code charges that affect your case with Canadian Criminal Code Offences. This acclaimed practice manual brings together essential information about the 51 most commonly charged Criminal Code offences. Offences are organized in alphabetical order, in individual tabbed chapters. 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As it turned out, the strategy court should exercise its inher- ent process and dismiss the appeal without considering the merits of the impugned order, jurisdiction to protect its concluded. Generally speaking, orders " Epstein in extradition proceedings, like interlocutory orders in criminal matters, can be challenged on appeal only after the proceed- ings are complete and the court makes a final order. "The policy reasons underly- invoke the exception because there were two interests worthy of protection: privileged commu- nications and the protection of international relations. But Epstein would none of it. "Not surprisingly, given have ing the bar against interlocutory appeals include the promotion of efficiency and protecting the system and those involved in it from the disadvantages associ- ated with fragmentation," Epstein wrote. "In my view, these con- cerns are especially relevant in the extradition process which is, by design, an expedited process that is less complex and extensive than a criminal trial. against interlocutory appeals are narrow and, according to Epstein, "limited to two types of circum- stances [that put] the Crown in the position where there is no reasonable alternative. where the interlocutory ruling excludes evidence of such impor- tance that it makes no sense for the Crown to continue or it raises a reasonable prospect of harm to an interest the court deems worthy of protection, such as the identity of an informant or solic- itor-client privilege. The burden of falling with- Such circumstances occur " EXPAND YOUR OPTIONS WITH THE in the exceptions, however, is a heavy one. "The onus on the Crown is CARSWELL eREFERENCE LIBRARY To learn more about this and other eReference looseleaf titles, call 1-800-387-5164 or visit www.carswell.com/ereference formidable due to the excep- tional nature of a procedure that essentially circumvents the rule against a direct appeal from an interlocutory order but also involves a party appealing from an order that the party expressly requested, Here, the Crown argued on appeal that the court should " Epstein wrote. www.lawtimesnews.com The exceptions to the rule " the fact that the two issues the Crown now raises in support of its argument that it had no reasonable alternative but to 'fold its tent' and appeal were not argued in the court below, the Crown faces another insur- mountable problem — there is nothing in the record to support either concern," she wrote. As far as privilege was con- cerned, the Crown had waived it during the disclosure proceed- ings. At the same time, she found the claim about possible harm to international relations was no more than a "bald assertion." As well, according to Epstein, coming to court with notices of appeal in hand only aggravated the abuse with "high-handed and disrespectful" conduct sup- porting the conclusion that the Crown' "for the sole purpose of obtain- ing an interlocutory appeal on an adverse ruling" and therefore "an unfair and abusive exercise of prosecutorial discretion." While the final outcome of s refusal to continue was the case was unsatisfactory, the court put the responsibility on the Crown. "It chose to bring the proceed- once uncomfortable with the idea that they may no lon- ger be able to continue working or support their practices. But Stein said while she understands that fear, she ings to an end without expla- nation," Epstein noted. "It then found itself in this court with a record that was devoid of evi- dence to justify the extraordinary procedure it chose to follow. woman would say only that the depart- ment was reviewing the matter. Shekter says he has had no that Carole Saindon, a spokes- for " Justice Canada, indication yet intends to seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. "Because of the summer the Crown recess, however, the time peri- od for seeking leave doesn't run out until the end of September, LT he notes. "

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