Law Times

PAGE 20 u BIZARRE BRIEFS By Viola James A GET-OUT-OF JAIL BOOK? BRASILIA — Forget credit for time served in pretrial custody. Brazilian officials are now con- sidering quadruple credit for reading a book. According to Reuters, Brazil will offer permissible . . . with consent, moral objections to the proposal are not relevant considerations." According to AFP, the brothel' inmates in its crowded federal penitentiary sys- tem a novel way to shorten their sentences: four days less for every book they read. Inmates in four federal prisons holding some of Brazil's most notorious criminals will be able to read up to 12 works of literature, philosophy, science or classics to trim a maximum of 48 days off their sentence each year, the government announced. Prisoners will have up to four weeks to read each book and write an essay that must "make correct use of paragraphs, be free of corrections, use margins, and legible joined-up writing, the notice published in the official gazette. A special panel will decide which inmates are " said eligible to participate in the program dubbed Redemption Through Reading. " Sao Paulo lawyer Andre Kehdi, who heads a book donation project for prisons. "Without doubt, they will leave a better per- son," he said. MEGA-BROTHEL GETS GREEN LIGHT SYDNEY, Australia — Does Sydney' mega-brothel foreshadow what Ontario might expect should the Supreme Court of Canada uphold the recent prostitution ruling? According to Agence France-Presse, the s new A person can leave prison more enlightened and with an enlarged vision of the world," said "As a sex premises is a legal land use and expansion to 40 rooms had addressed traffic and other concerns. Stiletto is open every day of the year except for Christmas Day and bills itself as the "world's s proposed finest short-stay boutique hotel and Sydney brothel. at its current location. The proposal includes a wing for group bookings, AFP reported. State and territory laws govern prostitution " It plans to double the number of rooms in Australia. Brothels are legal in some parts of the country, including New South Wales, while other jurisdictions ban them, according to AFP. OVERWEIGHT COPS TARGETED ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Can police relieved of their field duties for being overweight take legal action? That' announced it's cracking down on portly police s one of the questions as Pakistan after only a quarter of the 19,000 officers in the Punjab province passed a fitness test. The plump police, responsible for safeguard- July 9, 2012 • law Times u The INSIDE STORY NEW LSUC BENCHER NAMED The Law Society of Upper Canada shuf- fled the deck during Convocation proceed- ings on June 28. Thomas Conway assumed his post as shaw, a partner at Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP' to take a position as bencher to fill the va- cancy leſt by Conway. ONTARIO COURT JUDGES APPOINTED The province has appointed two lawyers as judges of the Ontario Court of Justice. Cynthia Johnston, a deputy Crown attorney in Durham, joins the bench in Oshawa, Ont. Johnston will take the position July 11. Allan Letourneau, a lawyer ing the most populous province, received warn- ing letters to trim their waistlines to the regula- tion 38 inches by the end of the month, local newspapers said. Those who fail may be removed from field Australian city will soon get a mega-brothel complex following a court ruling last month. City council had opposed the proposal on the grounds that it was too big, but the owners of the Stiletto brothel have won their appeal at the Land and Development Court. "The issue of a moral objection to the nature of the activities of a sex premises were raised by some of the public submissions and resident objectors," said commissioner Susan O'Neill in her ruling. duties, The News reported. The warning comes as local television channels have been repeatedly screening footage of overweight officers. They were shown snoozing in chairs, talking on phones, and standing belly to belly with their buckles straining. The coverage made Punjab' of police, Habib ur-Rehman, even more deter- mined to get his officers fit to fight crime, said a police officer from headquarters in Lahore. The News reported that several policemen s inspector general objected to the tests because senior officers had been exempted and the men conducting them were overweight themselves. — Reuters LT in Kingston, Ont., takes a position in that city on July 11. In addition, Justice Martin Lambert becomes a regional se- nior judge in the northeast region. He took the position on June 27. TORONTO LAWYER DISBARRED The Law Society of Upper Can- ada has made a finding of profes- sional misconduct against Toronto lawyer Joseph Gouveia. According to a June 11 deci- sion, Gouveia abandoned his law practice some time around Janu- ary or February 2011. The order notes Gouveia his failed to provide contact information to the law society, failed to advise an exist- ing client in advance of his ad- ministrative suspension that he would be unable to complete her matter, and had the client sign an authorization and direction regarding settlement discussions and the release of funds. Gouveia went on administra- current tive suspension in September 2010. FIRM TO GET FEE PREMIUM The Ontario Court of Appeal has set aside an order by the Su- perior Court of Justice deny- ing a Bay Street law firm a pre- mium on its account in relation to a client. The appeal court ruled in "And our managing partner! Why, he's nothing but an old dinosaur!" DeMichino v. Musialkiewicz that although the court should take the needs of Michele DeMichino, a man who suffered a catastrophic treasurer of the law society. He replaces Laurie Pawlitza in the role. That opened the door for Ross Earn- s office in Waterloo, Ont., Tom Conway injury in 2003 following a car accident, into account, it should also consider the work of his for- mer lawyers, Gary Neinstein and the law firm Neinstein and Associates LLP, in any settle- ment agreement. "It goes without saying that any premium paid to coun- sel who helped a plaintiff in a tort action achieve a resolution of his or her claim will reduce the funds available to meet the plaintiff ' compensate him or her for dam- ages sustained, Gloria Epstein in her decision. "However, as important as s needs and otherwise " wrote Justice those interests are, they must be balanced against the need to pro- vide fair compensation for lawyers who assist in achieving the result." Because of DeMichino' ability, court approval of any tort settlements in his case was necessary. Superior Court Justice Lois s dis- Roberts ruled last year that Neinstein and the firm weren't entitled to any premiums be- cause it had transferred money out of DeMichino' into its general account prior to receiving court approval. However, the firm didn't at- s trust account tempt to hide the transfer and subsequently returned the mon- ey in full, Epstein noted. As a result, Neinstein and the firm are to receive $216,000 plus $15,120 for fees and $29,512 for disbursements. The appeal court has also or- dered the respondent's solicitors to pay more than $12,000 in in- terest. BLG LANDS OSLER LAWYER Andrew Powers has joined Bor- den Ladner Gervais LLP. Powers previously practised at Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. His main areas of practice are securities and capital markets. He joins BLG as a partner. LT KPI_LT_July9_12.indd 1 www.lawtimesnews.com 12-07-04 10:42 AM

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