Law Times

Law Times • sepTember 8, 2014 Page 3 www.lawtimesnews.com Colleagues remembered as lawyers douse themselves for ALS By KaBeer Sethi For Law Times s law firms across Canada get behind the ice-bucket chal- lenge, many lawyers are remembering colleagues who have died from amyo- trophic lateral sclerosis. Elliott Simcoe, a partner at Smart & Biggar/Fetherston- haugh in Ottawa, decided to do the challenge to honour his men- tor and former colleague, David Morrow, who died following a battle with the disease last year. "I didn't know a lot about ALS before David got it, and it felt great to do something to hon- our him," says Simcoe. "He was a mentor to a lot of people at the firm and to do something that I know would have made him proud while raising awareness and having fun, it felt great." Participants at the firm have raised more than $1,800 and chal- lenged other intellectual property law firms in Canada to take up the challenge as well. Among those to take them up on the chal- lenge was Bereskin & Parr LLP. Other firms that have joined the challenge include Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (which did so in honour of Michael MacNaughton), Howie Sacks & Henry LLP, and Oatley Vigmond Person- al Injury Lawyers LLP, whose founding partner, James Vig- mond, found a unique way to do it. "I was told I was a natural fit for it, so we sold tickets to see who would get to throw water on me and watch. I matched the money we got and we ended up raising $1,000 at the end. It was a bit unnerving to see how many people were ex- cited to dump water on me but it was all good fun and well worth it," says Vigmond. Vigmond is also a former president of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association. When he challenged other past presidents, three of them rose to it in a note- worthy fashion. Wearing full suits with water wings in a small pool, the presidents donated $1,000 to the cause before get- ting dunked. Scott Jolliffe, chairman and chief executive officer of Gowling Laf leur Henderson LLP, also did the challenge in memory of Morrow. He describes the experience as "heartwarming." "All our branches in Canada and various offices rallied together, and within 24 hours everyone was con- vinced to do the challenge. I know there's been criticism about the challenge, but it's completely unwarranted. I hope something equally cre- ative happens soon to raise awareness," he says. One person who feels the campaign has been a turning point in awareness of the dis- ease is Morrow's widow, Joy. "It's not usually on a person's radar, and this campaign just went viral," she says. "My husband was extremely fit and active before the disease and to see him not even being able to lift a spoon was very saddening. It's a very hard way to die." LT NEWS Introducing the new CriminalSource ™ on WestlawNext ® Canada. Nothing else compares. 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Watch a demo at westlawnextcanada.com/criminalsource Call 1-866-609-5811 00223AX-A46861 A David Morrow died following a battle with ALS last December. Court considers child custody for pedophile By arShy mann Law Times hould a man convicted of sexually exploiting a very young child have custody or access to his teenage son? Is it in the son's best interest to see his father? These were some of the ques- tions Justice Cheryl Robertson of the Ontario Court of Jus- tice's family court branch had to wrestle with in her judgment in Tuttle v. Tuttle. The father, Keith Tuttle, had pleaded guilty to sexual exploita- tion and creating child pornogra- phy in 2012. His crimes included sexually abusing a four-year-old foster child, who was in the care of a relative, and possessing 36,000 pornographic images of children. After his release from prison, Tuttle pursued custody of his 12-year-old son, who was in the care of the mother. Robertson ultimately or- dered sole custody for the moth- er but allowed the father limited supervised access to his son. "The supervision order is not a punishment but is the safe course for the child to pursue a healthy relationship with his father," she wrote. "When the father can prove he has per- manently changed his thought process, it could be a material change in circumstance." Robertson's ruling included similar moments of empathy for Tuttle along with condemna- tions of his criminal behaviour and the deceitful actions he has taken since his release. "He presents as a soft-spoken, polite, sincere individual anxious to move forward with his relation- ship with his son. He is likeable. His positive demeanour and task sharing history is offset by his se- cret truth when considering trust- worthiness. Despite these positive attributes, he was also a man who was disrespectful, inappropriate, sneaky, deceptive, and unable to maintain self-control at the ex- pense of his child." Despite the noteworthy cir- cumstances of the case, Robert- son focused on the same issues that are the mainstay of any child custody ruling: the best interests of the child. "I find that the father can choose to be a vital part of his son's best interests if he commits to it," she wrote. "He must step into the child's world and can- not expect his child to step back into his isolation." LT S

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