Law Times

Page 16 January 9, 2017 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com JOHN CAMPION JOINS GARDINER ROBERTS LLP After 44 years at Fasken Mar- tineau DuMoulin LLP, John Campion is moving on. The senior litigator joined Gardiner Roberts LLP effec- tive Jan. 3 to start the next stage of his career. Campion says he is looking to lead a new process at Gardiner Roberts to make a change in how dispute resolution is managed. "The litigation, arbitration, mediation piece is indeed com- ing together, and I want to have a hand in reshaping that and this is a wonderful platform to give that a go," he says. Campion says he came up with the idea, which is still being developed, at a program at Harvard on advanced mediation. He says he is "not your normal candidate for mediation" because people think of him as a tough litigator that never settles unless of- fered a perfect settlement, but he wanted to be part of something new. Campion, who is an emeritus bencher at the Law Society of Upper Canada, says he couldn't be more proud of the work his former firm does but that his new employer has given him free rein to tackle his project. "It's actually remarkably healthy to make a change," he says. The firm also welcomed lawyer Kevin Fisher, who joined Gar- diner Roberts in September, after his former firm Basman Smith LLP dissolved. Fisher says one of the Basman Smith's practice groups splintered quickly and the remaining members decided it would be best to dissolve the firm. "Rather than try to hold things together, we determined as a group that we were going to fold," he says. He built his practice over 20 years at Basman Smith, practising predominantly in litigation with a sub- set in intellectual property, acting for broadcasters looking to protect their IP. HARRY FREEDMAN JOINS SHERRARD KUZZ LLP The former vice chairman of the Ontario Labour Relations Board has joined Sherrard Kuzz LLP. Harry Freedman, who has been described as an esteemed labour lawyer, started working as counsel to the firm effective Jan. 3. He is a certified specialist in labour law and a former partner at Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP. LAW SOCIETY PUTS OUT CALL FOR AWARD NOMINEES The Law Society of Upper Canada has put a call out for nominees for its awards that hon- our excellence in the profession. The law society is looking for nominations for the Law Soci- ety Medal, the Lincoln Alex- ander Award and the Laura Legge Award by Jan. 27. Nominations can be sent to submissions@lsuc.on.ca YES, I AGREE 50 % NO, I DO NOT AGREE 50 % LAW TIMES POLL A recent Law Times story de- tailed a case where a man ar- gued an officer posing as an underage girl entrapped him in an Internet luring case. Readers were asked if current laws allow for digital entrapment. Roughly half of respondents said yes, while it is important to ensure criminal behaviour does not occur, the current laws allow police to extend their investiga- tive powers in a way that needs examination. The other half said no, the current laws are ap- propriate and police should be able to investigate allegations as needed, using different online techniques. LT u Bizarre Briefs By Viola James u The InsIde story "That's an innovative approach to storing data in the cloud." WALK LIKE PENGUINS BERLIN — Lawyers specializing in slip-and- fall cases may not be pleased by the latest advice from German trauma surgeons to the public: Walk like penguins. The advisory was issued last week as freezing temperatures were forecast in Germany, reports Reuters. Published on the website of the German Society of Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery, the advisory said that walking like penguins involves leaning the torso forward so that the centre of gravity is on the front leg. A drawing attached to the advisory explains that when humans walk normally, body weight is split almost evenly over both legs, which the surgeons say increases the risk of losing one's balance and falling on slippery surfaces, ac- cording to Reuters. Municipal authorities in Berlin were criti- cized over their failure to sprinkle pavements with rock salt in January 2014 despite warnings of a freeze from meteorologists, says Reuters. As a result, rescue services received more than 750 emergency calls and emergency rooms were overstretched with patients with bone fractures. FORCEPS REMOVED AFTER 18 YEARS HANOI — National television station VTV reports that doctors in Vietnam have removed surgical forceps from a man who unknowingly carried them inside his body for 18 years, ac- cording to Reuters. Ma Van Nhat, 54, said the forceps had prob- ably been left in his abdomen in 1998 when he had emergency surgery after a traffic accident. He had felt only the occasional pain and a clinic had given him medicine for a suspected stom- ach ulcer. An X-ray taken late last year showed the forceps were to blame, reports Reuters. The 15-centimentre-long instrument had broken apart and become lodged in Nhat's stomach. They were removed in an operation. Medical errors are not uncommon in Viet- nam, says Reuters. Over the past year, there have been two cases of doctors operating on the wrong limbs and three cases of men being diag- nosed as pregnant. WELCOME TO HOLLYWEED LOS ANGELES — The iconic hillside sign over- looking Southern California's film and televi- sion hub was defaced last week in honour of marijuana, reports Reuters. Residents awoke to find "Hollyweed" staring down at them in four-story, white letters from Los Angeles' Mount Lee, where a version of the "Hollywood" sign was first erected in 1923. City surveillance cameras captured foot- age of someone dressed in black whom police believe was behind the conversion, Sgt. Robert Payan of the Los Angeles Police Department told Reuters in a phone interview. Material similar to a tarp was placed over the two Os to make them appear as Es, and park rangers were assessing how to remove them, Payan told Reuters. There were no suspects, but the person if caught could be charged with mis- demeanor trespassing, he said. A ballot measure to make recreational mari- juana legal for adults was easily approved by California voters on Nov. 8, opening the most populous U.S. state to the burgeoning commer- cial cannabis market, although the drug remains illegal under U.S. federal law, says Reuters. The Hollywood sign remains a popular spot for hikers and tourists, who used to be able to walk up to the sign and take a picture. Now, a fence blocks people and accessing the sign is difficult, says Reuters. The sign originally read "Hollywoodland" and was created to promote a housing develop- ment. The last several letters deteriorated in the late 1940s, and the part that remained was re- stored in 1978. LT John Campion has joined Gardiner Roberts LLP. • 40 issues a year covering Ontario's legal landscape • FREE digital edition and unlimited online access to past issues • FREE Canadian Legal Newswire, a weekly e-newsletter from the editors of Law Times and Canadian Lawyer Juror ruling prompts call to look at Criminal Code BY TALI FOLKINS Law Times ith the Ontario Court of Appeal having ruled on jurors' use of extrinsic informa- tion in a recent case, the president of the Criminal Lawyers' Association says it may be necessary to amend the Criminal Code in order to get a better handle on the issue. "You can't say if jurors are or are not doing this at any level that is ap- preciable because you only find out in the rare case where a juror hap- pens to mention something," says Anthony Moustacalis. "Maybe jurors really do obey the judge's instructions. In my experi- ence, it seems that they generally do. But do I really know? The an- swer is no. Maybe they're Googling stuff all the time." The only way to know for sure and assess the necessity of any changes to the jury system, accord- ing to Moustacalis, is to amend the Criminal Code to allow research- ers to interview jury members anonymously about their experi- ences. "The fact of the matter is that people are people and they might not always remember the limits of what they're allowed to do or they might stray," he says. The comments follow the ap- peal court's ruling in R. v. Farinacci, a case that demonstrated the ease with which jurors can now find information about the defendant outside of the evidence presented during the trial. In their ruling on June 3, a panel of three judges re- fused to overturn the convictions of two brothers for possession of the proceeds of crime and conspiracy to traffic in cocaine. The brothers, Lucas Farinacci and Leonard Fari- nacci Jr., had argued their right to a fair trial had been compromised because jurors in the case, with the help of Google and other sources, had come across information about them that hadn't come up in court. The appeal came about as a result of a chance event at a coffee shop. Prior to sentencing but after the brothers' conviction, someone at the coffee shop overheard one of the ju- rors, in a conversation with a friend, mention that another me mber of Zero-tolerance conundrum Lawyers say pendulum has swung too far against accused in domestic violence cases BY TALI FOLKINS Law Times he justice system has taken the idea of zero toler- ance in domestic assault to such an extreme that it's unfair to defendants and no longer works in the best interests of Ontario families, says a 40- year veteran of criminal law. It's an opinion, however, vociferously opposed by at least one lawyer who helps victims of domestic violence. Leo Adler, of Adler Bytensky Prutschi Shikhman, says the issue of domestic assault has become "political football" over the last 25 to 30 years with largely undesirable results. While Adler emphasizes he doesn't want to diminish the tragedy of family violence, he says the situation has now reached a point where police called to family violence situa- tions are unduly afraid to release the defendant even in cases that don't appear serious. "Nobody wants to be the person who says, 'O.K., I'm going to release you,' because you might be the one in a million or whatever the statistic is who might end up killing your spouse," says Adler. "In a lot of these cases, there's no sign of violence, there's no sign of anything having occurred. You simply have the word of the complainant. And the person gets arrested and I can tell you that again in the majority of cases, the police don't even bother to try to take a statement from the accused, usually the male. . . . They don't ask because it doesn't make a difference because they're going to arrest you no matter what." Bail hearings in domestic violence cases, he says, are "a l- ways run on the presumption of guilt" and, if the court does grant bail, it's generally under strict conditions with the de- fendant required to live with a surety. The result, according to Adler, is often a divided family with the added financial strain OBA LAUDED Association honoured for mental-health efforts P4 CAMPAIGN SPENDING Bencher candidate calls for expense limits P6 FOCUS ON Legal Innovation P8 'In a lot of these cases, there's no sign of violence, there's no sign of anything having occurred,' says Leo Adler. Photo: Robin Kuniski See Silence, page 2 See Bail, page 2 There's no way to know if jurors are doing their own research on cases, says Anthony Moustacalis. PM #40762529 & $#&!&jmmm$cYa[bbWh$Yec t7PM/P +VOF Follow LAW TIMES on www.twitter.com/lawtimes L AW TIMES T W ing on ges re- ictions n of the piracy others, d Fari- ight to omised ith the ources, about court. a result e shop. er the e at the the ju- friend, ber of of um estic vio io vi v len len ence case case case cas ca case se case case se ca cas as n c ses FOCUS ON OCUS ON FO FO FOCUS OCU OCUS ON FOCUS ON CUS O CUS OCUS ON C ON O F egal Innovation egal Innovation egal Innovation Le Le L P8 P8 Adler. Photo: Robin Kuniski Photo: Robin Kuniski page 2 ag PM #4076 PM #40762529 M #40762529 & $#&!& $#&!& $#&!& & jmmm$cYa[bbWh$Yec mm$cYa[bbWh$ c mm$cYa[bb mmmcYa[bbWhYec mmcYa[bbWhYec cYa[bbWhY bbW mcYa[bbWhY mcYa[bbWhYe mcYa[bbWhYec Ya[bbWh a h a[bbWhYec mmcYa[bbWhYec mcY + O +VOF + +VOF +VOF VOF +VOF +VOF VOF F S Juror ruling prompts call to look at Criminal Code BY TALI FOLKINS Law Times ith the Ontario Court of Appeal having ruled on jurors' use of extrinsic informa- tion in a recent case, the president of the Criminal Lawyers' Association says it may be necessary to amend the Criminal Code in order to get a better handle on the issue. "You can't say if jurors are or are not doing this at any level that is ap- preciable because you only find out in the rare case where a juror hap- pens to mention something," says Anthony Moustacalis. "Maybe jurors really do obey the judge's instructions. In my experi- ence, it seems that they generally do. But do I really know? The an- swer is no. Maybe they're Googling stuff all the time." The only way to know for sure and assess the necessity of any changes to the jury system, accord- ing to Moustacalis, is to amend the Criminal Code to allow research- ers to interview jury members anonymously about their experi- ences. "The fact of the matter is that people are people and they might not always remember the limits of what they're allowed to do or they might stray," he says. The comments follow the ap- peal court's ruling in R. v. Farinacci, a case that demonstrated the ease with which jurors can now find information about the defendant outside of the evidence presented during the trial. In their ruling on June 3, a panel of three judges re- fused to overturn the convictions of two brothers for possession of the proceeds of crime and conspiracy to traffic in cocaine. The brothers, Lucas Farinacci and Leonard Fari- nacci Jr., had argued their right to a fair trial had been compromised because jurors in the case, with the help of Google and other sources, had come across information about them that hadn't come up in court. The appeal came about as a result of a chance event at a coffee shop. Prior to sentencing but after the brothers' conviction, someone at the coffee shop overheard one of the ju- rors, in a conversation with a friend, mention that another me mber of Zero-tolerance conundrum Lawyers say pendulum has swung too far against accused in domestic violence cases BY TALI FOLKINS Law Times he justice system has taken the idea of zero toler- ance in domestic assault to such an extreme that it's unfair to defendants and no longer works in the best interests of Ontario families, says a 40- year veteran of criminal law. It's an opinion, however, vociferously opposed by at least one lawyer who helps victims of domestic violence. Leo Adler, of Adler Bytensky Prutschi Shikhman, says the issue of domestic assault has become "political football" over the last 25 to 30 years with largely undesirable results. While Adler emphasizes he doesn't want to diminish the tragedy of family violence, he says the situation has now reached a point where police called to family violence situa- tions are unduly afraid to release the defendant even in cases that don't appear serious. "Nobody wants to be the person who says, 'O.K., I'm going to release you,' because you might be the one in a million or whatever the statistic is who might end up killing your spouse," says Adler. "In a lot of these cases, there's no sign of violence, there's no sign of anything having occurred. You simply have the word of the complainant. And the person gets arrested and I can tell you that again in the majority of cases, the police don't even bother to try to take a statement from the accused, usually the male. . . . They don't ask because it doesn't make a difference because they're going to arrest you no matter what." Bail hearings in domestic violence cases, he says, are "a l- ways run on the presumption of guilt" and, if the court does grant bail, it's generally under strict conditions with the de- fendant required to live with a surety. The result, according to Adler, is often a divided family with the added financial strain OBA LAUDED Association honoured for mental-health efforts P4 CAMPAIGN SPENDING Bencher candidate calls for expense limits P6 FOCUS ON Legal Innovation P8 'In a lot of these cases, there's no sign of violence, there's no sign of anything having occurred,' says Leo Adler. Photo: Robin Kuniski See Silence, page 2 See Bail, page 2 There's no way to know if jurors are doing their own research on cases, says Anthony Moustacalis. PM #40762529 & $#&!&jmmm$cYa[bbWh$Yec t7PM/P +VOF Follow LAW TIMES on www.twitter.com/lawtimes L AW TIMES T W Subscribe to Law Times today for $205* and receive: Canlawyer.lawtimes@thomsonreuters.com | 416.609.3800 | 1.800.387.5164 Access a free preview at: bitly.com/LawTimes-FreePreview Order online at: www.lawtimesnews.com/subscribe *Plus applicable taxes How the legal community in Ontario gets its news @lawtimes Untitled-4 1 2017-01-04 4:28 PM

• Cover