Law Times

Page 16 March 2, 2015 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com CBA AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED The Canadian Bar Association has recognized a number of lawyers through its 2015 awards. The awards recognize CBA members who, among other contributions, work to advance equality for gays and lesbians, demonstrate exceptional service to the as- sociation's goals, offer pro bono legal ser- vices as a young lawyer or show outstand- ing efforts as a student member. Geoffrey Creighton, who recently retired as general counsel at IGM Fi- nancial Inc., took home the Douglas Miller award while Stewart McKelvey partner William Ryan received the Louis St-Laurent award. The CBA is also honouring Christian Whalen, senior legal counsel with the New Brunswick office of the child and youth advo- cate, with the John Tait award. The awards also recognized several academics. University of To- ronto law professor Stephen Waddams receives the Ramon John Hnatyshyn award while the Touchstone award goes to another profes- sor, Martha Jackman of the University of Ottawa. Other professors honoured include University of Ottawa law Prof. Nicole LaViolette, who received the SOGIC Hero award. The CBA also awarded the SOGIC Ally award to Victoria lawyer Michael Mul- ligan. In addition, the CBA recognized Deborah Templer, a partner at Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, with the Young Lawyers Pro Bono award and University of Montreal student Olivier Girardeau with the 2014 Rowan-Legg award. STAFF ROB OWN BANK KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — You know the situation is desperate when employees rob their own bank. According to Reuters, an official said staff at a branch of Afghanistan's central bank in southern Kandahar province may have gotten away with as much as 81 million Afghanis (almost $1.8 mil- lion) when they robbed their own bank and ran. Security cameras showed the bank's vault had been cleaned out, but investigators were waiting to gain access before confirming the total miss- ing, the official said. "Yesterday, we could only open one of the treasury's doors. We hope to open the next one today," said Fazel Azimi, cen- tral bank director for the southwestern region. Weak regulation undermines confidence in Afghanistan's banking system, which has yet to fully recover from a 2010 scandal over a bank that collapsed and helped trigger a financial crisis. According to Reuters, an international finan- cial watchdog last year threatened to place Af- ghanistan on a blacklist and has since warned it needs to do more to enforce laws to regulate its banking sector. The Kandahar raid is believed to have been carried out by a senior official at the bank, an em- ployee of nine years, with the help of his son and brother-in-law who were also on staff, according to Azimi. Investigators believe the group has es- caped to Pakistan, Reuters reported. HUMAN RIGHTS TRIAL BALLOON FLOATED WASHINGTON — The head of a United Na- tions commission of inquiry is f loating a trial balloon aimed at addressing human rights in North Korea. According to Reuters, the official called for more efforts, including the use of balloons and computer hacking, to tell the North Korean peo- ple about its damning report on human rights conditions in their country. Retired Australian judge Michael Kirby said it was "completely unacceptable" for North Koreans to remain in the dark about the com- mission's report that compared abuses in their country to Nazi-era atrocities. Speaking at a Washington conference, he highlighted recommendations from the Bush Institute think-tank that hackers, balloons, and even drones could help overcome secretive North Korea's information barriers. Kirby, who spoke at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, questioned whether South Korea was being cautious about using balloons to take messages north across the bor- der in order to avoid damaging its long-term strategy of national reunification. Turning to fellow panellist Lee Jung-hoon, South Korea's ambassador for human rights, Kir- by said another way to get the details of the report into North Korea would be to hack into its closed Internet system. "You have some of the cleverest technicians in the world," he said to Lee. Lee said South Koreans weren't against using balloons and suggested it was important to find other ways to get information to North Korea, including via data sticks and text messages. According to Reuters, Seoul has recently sought to dissuade activists from launching balloons while it tries to engage Pyongyang in dialogue. Kirby's commission issued its report a year ago. In December, the UN General Assembly urged the UN Security Council to consider re- ferring North Korea to the International Crim- inal Court for crimes against humanity. Kirby said he would have welcomed North Korea's attendance at the conference, something that wasn't possible due to U.S. rules requiring North Korean officials to get U.S. government permission to travel outside of New York City. For its part, North Korea's UN ambassador said North Korea wasn't worried about the threat to refer the country to the International Criminal Court because it wasn't guilty. LT The title insurer that puts you front row, centre Putting the legal community front and centre has made us the #1 choice with Canadian lawyers for over a decade. Stewart Title does not support programs that reduce or eliminate the lawyer's role in real estate transactions. For more information call (888) 667-5151 or visit www.stewart.ca. Untitled-2 1 7/19/11 12:31:45 PM u Bizarre Briefs By Viola James u The InsIde story TORONTO LAWYER DISBARRED ON APPEAL The Law Society Tribunal has disbarred Toronto real estate and corporate commercial lawyer Norma Jean Walton. An appeal panel ordered re- vocation of her licence on Feb. 18 after the Law Society of Upper Canada appealed a previous rul- ing that had suspended her for 18 months for misconduct that in- cluded comingling her corporate or personal funds with client trust funds and misleading a client on the nature of an investment. "Taken cumulatively, and discounting the few mitigating factors that were relied upon er- roneously by the hearing panel, this was a case with the following features: many serious findings of misconduct over a lengthy dura- tion, featuring an absence of in- tegrity, honesty and candidness on the part of the licensee, with minimal mitigating circumstanc- es, and multiple aggravating con- siderations," wrote appeal panel chairman Raj Anand. The original hearing panel had declined to disbar Walton on the basis that the evidence before it didn't support a finding of "a com- plete loss of integrity" as the law society had argued. Walton has also faced separate allegations in litigation involving Dr. Stanley Bernstein, a well- known diet doctor. According to court documents in civil proceed- ings related to the Bernstein case, mortgages worth $6 million were allegedly discharged from joint in- vestment projects Walton and her husband owned with Bernstein without his approval. A court- ordered investigation also found that $2.1 million in mortgage pro- ceeds had been diverted from the joint investments. POLL RESULTS The results of the latest Law Times online poll are in. According to the poll, the ma- jority of respondents are happy with the newly rebranded civil practice court at the Superior Court of Justice. Sixty-one per cent of poll par- ticipants said the court, which is allowing judges to manage cases and resolve some disputes without requiring a formal motion, would make a big difference. The culture of endless motions in Toronto had created a massive backlog that meant wait times of up to seven months to bring even the simplest of motions. At the in- struction of Chief Justice Heather Smith, a civil justice review com- mittee has been working to reduce the wait time for complex motions to four months. LT "Yes, I have to take your treasure. But you might have a subsequent cause of action against your cave-management company for failing to protect you from intrusion upon seclusion." Geoffrey Creighton

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