Law Times

PAGE 2 Balancing law practice with political candidacy not easy M NEWS BY MARG. BRUINEMAN For Law Times iller Thomson LLP's Eric Da- hotly contested Kitchener-Waterloo seat in the Sept. 6 provincial byelection. Davis, in fact, is taking a stab at the seat vis is following many lawyers in taking the electoral plunge this week as he runs for the for the second time in less than a year. Last October, he came fairly close to win- ning the seat against longtime Progres- sive Conservative incumbent Elizabeth Witmer. But he' was not that difficult." Cabinet minister Di- anne Cunningham won that election. Crossan realized he enjoyed the sense of independence and ventured out on his own, eventually forming Lexcor Business Lawyers LLP, a business law bou- tique, with two partners and two associates. Expectations also ate running for office this week. In the Toronto-area riding of Vaughan, Steven Del Duca is also running for the Liberals. So how do lawyers like Davis balance s not the only law gradu- have a role to play for lawyers who throw their name into the ring. the demands of a busy practice with the hectic schedules that come with running for office and then potentially serving in it? In Davis' case, he' sence from his role as a municipal and plan- ning lawyer with Miller Thomson. "The support that I have received has been in- credible, that works for all parties involved and I am very appreciative of this." Larry Crossan had that support when "We have worked out an arrangement " says Davis. he ran as the Liberal candidate in the rid- ing of London North Centre during the 1995 provincial election. "I think a lot depends on what type of work you do and the setting you're in," says Crossan. "Being in a large firm, they gave me time to wind down files before stopping to gear up for the election. I did not have exclusive carriage of any large clients at that point, so it s taking a leave of ab- became a Conservative MPP in the Barrie, Ont., area in 1977, he tried to continue working as a lawyer. It was difficult right from the start. He spent much of that first summer in Toronto. "The practice diminished, partners When George Taylor soon tired of my lack of earnings since I was not there, so the partnership ended, he says. "I went on my own till I got parlia- mentary assistant to attorney general Roy McMurtry, then I could not." Taylor served as solicitor general from " 1982 to 1985. When Paul Wessenger ran as the NDP candidate in that same riding in 1990, he figured it would be like every other provin- cial election. Perhaps some pre-campaign events might have served as indications that this experience would be unlike any other during the nearly 40 years he had spent working with the party at that point. It wasn't his intent to serve as a candidate, but 'We have worked out an arrangement that works for all parties involved and I am very appreciative of this,' says Eric Davis. party, and pretty much the entire prov- ince didn't anticipate. The NDP swept the province and won a majority at Queen' Park. Wessenger, to his surprise, found himself to be the victor. Wessenger continued to plug away at s his practice while working as MPP. But he also served as a parliamentary assistant, a role that prohibited him from working si- multaneously. Aſter four months, he sold his practice. "It was not my choice and I suffered for it," says Wessenger, who spent years building a new practice aſter he, along with the majority of the NDP caucus, went down to defeat during the follow- ing election. "Fortunately for the Con- servative member who defeated me, the government changed the rules and he continued to practice. Doug Lewis' experience was altogether " tions, he always had a partner at his law prac- tice he could rely on for support. But in 1991, he was flying on his own, which meant he had files to work on and cli- ents to see while he ran his campaign. And then something happened that he, his the writ came a little ear- lier than anticipated, just before the 18th birthday of the young man who had hoped to run for the NDP. As a result, Wes- senger became the can- didate by default. In previous elec- September 3, 2012 • Law timeS different. He was a federal Conservative running in the Tory stronghold of Orillia, Ont., and found his practice served him well when it came to his political ambitions. "I went through a 13-month unde- clared and then declared nomination bat- tle, with the exception of a few clients during the 1979 campaign. He found continuing to work as a law- " says Lewis, who dropped his practice yer aſter his election to be almost impos- sible. As a result, he asked his partners to buy him out. He points out that maintain- ing an affiliation with a firm, which some political lawyers do, is different than car- rying on a practice. Lewis, who served in various cabinet roles during his time in office, also found that as a solicitor, it was easier to organize his practice around an election than it might be for a litigator. Del Duca, meanwhile, is having a dif- ferent experience from Davis given that he' s a law school graduate not working as a lawyer. What's the same, however, is the need to set aside daily commitments in order to run as a candidate. "It' says. "The hours are long and it requires family sacrifice. For his part, Davis considers himself lucky. He's working at a firm that has ex- s not easy to run for public office," he " perience in the political realm with for- mer prime minister John Turner among its roster of lawyers acting as a resource. "I am incredibly thankful for the un- wavering support of my firm, my col- leagues, my clients, and my family as I seek to serve the residents of Kitchener- Waterloo as their member of provincial parliament," he says. LT for Classes Starting in September 2012 Part-time, Executive LLM program for corporate counsel and practising lawyers Information Sessions Wednesday, December 7, 2011 5:30 - 7:00 pm Friday, December 9, 2011 8:00 - 9:30 am U of T Faculty of Law, Faculty Lounge 78 Queen's Park, Toronto No registration required. Please feel free to drop in anytime during these hours. Taught by U of T Faculty of Law professors, together with top international faculty from INSEAD Business School, NYU School of Law, and Rotman School of Management. 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