Law Times

Page 16 November 28, 2016 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com DALE PONDER AWARDED 2017 AWARD OF DISTINCTION The Toronto Lawyers Associ- ation will give Dale Ponder its 2017 Award of Distinction. Ponder, who is the chief exec- utive and managing partner of Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, first joined the firm in the 1980s as an associate. She says that while the lack of women in the profession back then presented challenges, she was used to the environment, having grown up playing a lot of sports with male friends. She started her career as a tax lawyer, but she soon moved into securities law, ascending to become a leading corporate and M&A lawyer. She became chief executive and managing partner of Osler in 2009, but she had already served as a co-managing partner of the firm for years before that. Ponder says she was very lucky to have mentors in her early years at Osler such as Brian Levitt, Jack Petch and Peter Dey. Under their guidance, she was given the opportunity to work on some of Canada's largest corporate and M&A mandates. "I owe a great debt of gratitude to each of them for taking such an interest in me personally and for giving me the development oppor- tunities they did," she says. The TLA's other award winner is Stephen Thiele, of Gardiner Roberts LLP, who will be honoured with the Honsberger Award. Thiele is credited with shaping legal arguments in many significant cases that have had far-reaching effects. The awards will be given out at the TLA's awards reception on March 2, 2017. OBA OPENS REGISTRATION The Ontario Bar Association has opened up registration for Institute 2017. Last year's event won a Con- tinuing Professional Develop- ment award from the Associ- ation For Continuing Legal Education for its use of technol- ogy in bringing around 2,000 lawyers from across the province together. Institute runs Feb. 7-11, 2017 in Toronto and Ottawa and will be broadcast live online. For more information, or to register, visit oba.org. GOWLING WLG PROMOTES DIVERSITY Gowling WLG has launched a new podcast to talk about divers- ity in the global legal industry. Diversonomics will be hosted by associates Roberto Aburto and Sarah Willis, and will discuss how the legal profes- sion can become more inclusive. The podcast can be found on iTunes and the first six episodes will be released every Wednes- day until Dec. 14. The firm plans to launch a second season of the podcast in 2017. 50 % NO, I DO NOT AGREE YES, I AGREE 50 % LAW TIMES POLL Law Times recently reported that alleged communications and funding failures might undermine indigenous engage- ment in a federal review of the environmental assessment pro- cess. Readers were asked if this will lead to serious f laws in the over- haul of the Canadian Environ- mental Assessment Act in 2012. Half of respondents said yes, this will harm the overhaul of the Act, and lead to less public con- fidence in environmental assess- ment processes. The other half said no, while alleged communications and funding failures are not ideal, every review process has wrin- kles and the overall goal of over- hauling the act is sound. LT u Bizarre Briefs By Viola James u The InsIde story "But if Your Honour can wear a Donald Trump hat in court ... ?" DRONE SMUGGLES PHONE, SAW BLADE INTO PRISON NYBORG, Denmark — It wasn't a cake with a file in it, but maybe it's the modern equivalent. A drone f lew a load of illegal items to an inmate's cell on the fourth f loor of a Danish prison, the Danish Prison Union said last week, presumably to help bust the inmate out, accord- ing to Reuters. The drone carried two cellphones, a saw blade and various bolts across the Nyborg Pris- on's wall and successfully delivered them to the inmate through the cell's window last Tuesday night before disappearing. Prison guards immediately discovered the drop and seized the items, but they did not catch the drone nor the person controlling it, said Reuters. "It's fortunate it was discovered this time, but it might not be like that the next time," chair- man of the Prison Union, Kim Osterbye said, according to Reuters. BRITAIN BANS BEANS AD LONDON — A Heinz television commercial showing people drumming a rhythm on its baked bean cans has been banned by British reg- ulators on safety grounds, according to Reuters. Britain's Advertising Standards Author- ity ruled that Heinz's "Can Song" commercial should not be broadcast again in its current form after nine people complained that the ad encouraged unsafe practices or could be dan- gerous for children to copy, Reuters reports. More than 1.6 million people viewed a ver- sion of the commercial on YouTube. The ad showed families, workers and festival-goers en- joying Heinz beans, a British mealtime staple, and using the tin cans to hammer out percus- sion sounds to accompany an original song. The ASA said there was a risk that viewers could cut themselves on used cans when trying to emulate the ad, according to Reuters. Heinz said it did not believe the ad posed any safety risk, adding that the TV campaign is over and the company has "no plans to run it again," reports Reuters. BLUE PILLS IN BLUE HOUSE SEOUL, Republic of Korea — President Park Geun-hye's office on Wednesday confirmed revelations by an opposition lawmaker that she bought about 360 Viagra pills and the generic version of the drug in December, according to CTV News. Park's office said the pills were bought to potentially treat altitude sickness for presiden- tial aides and employees on the president's May trips to Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya, whose capitals are one to two kilometres above sea lev- el. The little blue pills weren't used, said a Blue House spokesman, according to CTV News. The presidential office also purchased a va- riety of injection drugs used for fatigue and anti-aging treatment, according to the office of lawmaker Kim Sanghee. Park's spokesman explained that the presidential office purchases drugs for the president's entire staff including security officers, reports CTV News. The Viagra revelation is the latest twist in a massive political scandal building around Park. She is bracing for an impeachment push by op- position parties and some members of her own Saenuri Party amid allegations that she let a se- cretive confidante manipulate government af- fairs and amass an illicit fortune, according to CTV News. Last week, prosecutors said they believe Park was involved in the criminal activities of her friend, Choi Soon-sil, and two presidential aides who allegedly bullied companies into giving tens of millions of dollars to foundations and businesses Choi controlled, and that she also enabled Choi to interfere in state affairs, reports CTV News. Prosecutors have indicted Choi and the two former presidential aides. Park's office has denied the accusations. LT Dale Ponder has won the 2017 Award of Distinction from the Toronto Lawyers Association. © 2015 Stewart. All rights reserved. We put legal professionals front and centre and we put our efforts into keeping real estate transactions where they belong – in your office. Learn more about our level of support, call (888) 667-5151 or visit stewart.ca. Ally Untitled-4 1 2016-03-02 10:19 AM

• Cover