Law Times

LAW TIMES COVERING ONTARIO'S LEGAL SCENE | MARCH 4, 2019 5 www.lawtimesnews.com BY JENNIFER BROWN For Law Times IT'S been 25 years since the popular CBC drama series Street Legal ended, but it's com- ing back with a focus on an opi- oid class action and a law firm meltdown. "There's an excitement about this; it's really been a fun ride," says executive producer and Os- goode Hall Law class of '71 grad Bernie Zukerman. "The new cast is surprising. There is homage to the old, but we're in a different time period now." Unlike the old series, which focused on a major case each week, this time around the six- part series tackles one large case — a class action against a big pharmaceutical company that produces an opioid drug. The first episode of Street Legal airs March 4 at 9 p.m. and Zukerman thinks they will get the green light for a second season. As Zukerman describes it, Olivia Novak's fictitious Bay Street firm (the role of Novak is again played by Cynthia Dale) "crashes and burns" after an up- start smaller firm beats her to the punch on filing a major class action. The show description outlines the scenario: ". . . as her own firm goes down in a f lame of egos and departing partners, Olivia finds herself starting over at the boutique firm with new younger colleagues." Some might wonder if the idea of a failed law firm came from the collapse of Heenan Blaikie LLP five years ago, on Feb. 5, 2014, but Zukerman side- stepped the question of whether that was the inspiration. "I had a good friend who was a partner at Heenan Blaikie and I knew a bit more than the aver- age person," he says, but Zuker- man is cautious about saying whether the storyline was in- spired by that event. He did say that one of the problems of doing a legal show in Canada is that the E&O in- surance requirements are fairly strict around storylines being specifically connected to such events. "Insurance companies in this country are so conservative. They go through our script with a fine-tooth comb asking: 'Is this based on this?'" he says. Along with Dale, Eric Peter- son also returns, reprising his role as Leon Robinovitch, as well as Anthony Sherwood starring as Dillon Beck. The new genera- tion of Street Legal lawyers in- cludes Cara Ricketts (The Book of Negroes), Steve Lund (Bitten) and Yvonne Chapman (The Crossing) joining the series as the next generation of Toronto lawyers fighting the good fight. Zukerman is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law class of 1971. He articled at the Special Pros- ecution Branch of the Ontario government. One of his projects at the attorney general's office was to write a brief on whether Ontario should have a Good Sa- maritan law. "It was great — Brian Greens- pan and Peter Wilkie [now a judge with the Ontario Court of Justice] articled there with me," he says. But halfway through the bar admission course, which was a six-month course at the time, Zukerman says, he started to have second thoughts about a career in law. "I really never saw myself as a lawyer. I loved law school, but I couldn't look two or five years ahead and see where I was going to be or where I wanted to be." Zukerman had read about a new current affairs show Global News was starting up. He made a cold call and met with the Global News team and in short order be- came an on-air consumer affairs reporter. He then met lawyer and me- dia businessman Peter Herrn- dorf at CBC and Herrndorf of- fered Zukerman a job as a docu- mentary producer. "The only downside was I couldn't start in Toronto — I had to go to Winnipeg and dem- onstrate I could really produce documentaries," he says. "I still can't believe it — but law school gave me a confidence to do any- thing. If I couldn't do it, I figured I could always fall back on law. I think it happens more now, but back then it wasn't as common to do that. I discovered I was good at storytelling." He says Street Legal's re- vival is entirely due to an idea planted by show star Dale, who was having lunch one day with CBC's head of programming, Sally Catto. At the end of the lunch, Dale reminds Catto that the television networks in the United States have success- fully relaunched old shows such as Murphy Brown and Hawaii Five-0. "There is so much television now, if you have a brand people recognize, it really gives you a leg up," says Zukerman. A week and a half later, Zuker- man also had lunch with Catto. She asked him if he thought it was crazy to consider a relaunch of Street Legal. "It took me about two sec- onds to say 'What a great idea. It's probably one of the most popular shows ever. Let me put together an idea for what a new show would look like.'" LT The cast of the new Street Legal television re-boot, with actor Steve Lund starring as Adam Darling, Yvonne Chapman as Mina Lee, Cynthia Dale as Olivia Novak and Cara Ricketts as Lilly Rue. Opioid class action part of plot Street Legal is back on CBC NEWS Photo provided by CBC/photo credit to Matt Barnes Photography IT'S YOUR CALL 1 866 685 3311 When your client suffers a serious injury and needs a referral, make the call. We will safeguard your reputation and get them the compensation they need. Refer r al fees paid in accordance with LSO guidelines. Proud member ofXLI4-% Toronto I 1-866-685-3311 I www.mcleishorlando.com 'SRWYPXEXMSR3J½GIWMR&EVVMII Hamilton I Kitchener I St. Catharines Untitled-2 1 2019-02-28 2:11 PM

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