Law Times

Page 4 NEWS Heydary 'was excited about law' Continued from page 1 completion. As a client, he was happy with the way the lawyers at Heydary Hamilton treated him. "They never brushed me off," he says. In fact, he says Heydary himself gave him a call a number of times to discuss his case and promised — "about a dozen times" — that the firm would never abandon him. "If Heydary was worried about money, he never let on," Stever says. "He was excited about law." Now, of course, things are different. "After one and one-half years in motions court, my actions in both Federal [Court] and Superior Court had been postponed in the discovery process due to the recent events of Javad Heydary and trusteeship of Heydary Hamilton by Law Society of Upper Canada," said Stever. "I am now one of many . . . adversely affected and harmed by these events. I had paid a significant sum to Heydary Hamilton to be represented on the two actions. I am now in the very difficult position of determining a means of proceeding with or without new counsel." The situation is different for Javad Khatiri, who first went to Heydary Hamilton to retain a lawyer for a franchise case in 2006 and has been in a dispute with the law firm ever since. In 2011, Heydary Hamilton launched a $700,000 libel lawsuit against Khatiri for embarking on "a campaign of libel and defamation with the express purpose of embarrassing the plaintiff and injuring its reputation and business." According to the statement of claim, Khatiri paid an initial consultation fee of $500 to the law firm and agreed to have it represent him on a contingency-fee basis. But when asked to pay $10,000 as an initial retainer, he decided not to hire the law firm. Khatiri admits he had been sending many emails to the law firm asking for the return of his $500 payment. Although the law society told him it didn't find any wrongdoing, Khatiri still believes Heydary Hamilton defrauded him and thinks the recent events surrounding the firm should convince the LSUC he was right. Like Heydary, Khatiri is of Iranian descent. In the statement of claim, Heydary Hamilton said Khatiri's alleged campaign of defamation was primarily conducted via e-mail to "prominent members of the Persian-Canadian community and others." Besides its clients, Heydary Hamilton also had involvement with Red Seal Notary, a company that provides notary public and commissioner of oath services. The company's web site notes it's affiliated with Heydary Hamilton but is an independent private company. A manager who didn't want her name published says business is ongoing at the company but wouldn't give any more details. LT January 13, 2014 Law Times • Legal aid critical Continued from page 1 The chief justice will also be under increased scrutiny, according to Morton. "The chief justice has a curious role. [The role] is different from that of other judges because the chief has a public ceremonial job. Your typical judge isn't supposed to go out and talk about things, but the chief is supposed to go out and talk about things. I think the new chief will be facing increasing scrutiny in terms of media, [including] social media." For Ruby, top on the to-do list for the next chief justice should be improving access to justice. "From my perspective, the greatest issue is legal aid," he says. "We slash the income eligibility levels for legal aid to the point where it's given to almost no one. And secondly, we provide so little in terms of preparation time [for legal aid counsel] that we're giving third-rate legal aid for the poor, and that's a humiliation for the entire system of justice." Both the provincial and federal governments need to step up with more funding, Ruby says, and "someone needs to organize that. No one seems willing to speak for the poor. "There are a huge number of people who are poor or middle class but don't qualify for legal aid and they don't get justice." Bringing Ontario's courts into the 21st century should be another priority for the chief justice, says Morton. "The courts are becoming progressively more adept at the electronic world. I think it's fair to say that they've moved into the mid-1990s and the new chief is going to have to see how to move the court from where it is now, which is still basically a paper-based court," he says. Doing so will be tough, Morton admits. After the Integrated Justice Project, which saw "hundreds of millions of dollars" going to waste on a failed attempt to computerize the province's courts, there's a lot of resistance to spending money on technology, he says. "But the court system will collapse if it doesn't become electronic and the new chief is going to have to become a champion of technology and evolution." Age-old issues such as lack of judicial resources are still on the radar. To add to the chief justice's challenges, delays in the civil justice system have reached unacceptable levels, says McLeish. In Inside you will find: fact, Marrocco is one of the two of more than 78,000 judges Superior Court Chief Jusbarristers, solicitors and Quebec notaries, corporate tice Heather Smith appointed to counsel, law firms and judges in Canada; come up with solutions to growfor the Supreme Court of Canada, ing civil litigation delays. The the Federal Court of Canada, Federal Cabinet Ministers, other judge is Superior Court departments, boards, commissions and Crown Justice Geoffrey Morawetz. corporations; "Both Justice Marrocco and related to Justice Morawetz are very praceach province for the Courts of Appeal, Supreme Courts, County and District Courts, Provincial Courts, law tical guys who get it. They know societies, law schools, Legal Aid, and other law-related what the problem is and they are offices of importance. looking for ways to fix the problem. It just doesn't rest on their MORE THAN A PHONE BOOK shoulders alone. They're going to need help from the profession," says McLeish, noting the chief Hardbound justice will need to help rally Published February each year people around the efforts. On subscription $159 Winkler managed to move the L88804-627 One-time purchase $176 court along in significant ways, L88804-627 according to Morton, "so the new Multiple copy discounts available chief has big shoes to fill. I think Prices subject to change without notice, it's going to be a tough job." to applicable taxes and shipping & handling. McLeish agrees: "It's a very challenging job for anybody. It does take someone with very strong managerial, administrative, and people skills. It has to carswell.com or call 1.800.387.5164 be someone who gets it." Winkler, meanwhile, has for a 30-day no-risk evaluation secured a new job for himself. Last week, Arbitration Place announced he had joined the firm as a resident mediator and arbitrator. LT CANADIAN LAW LIST 2014 YOUR INSTANT CONNECTION TO CANADA'S LEGAL NETWORK Visit Untitled-7 1 www.lawtimesnews.com 13-12-19 3:17 PM

• Cover