Law Times

Law Times • April 27, 2015 Page 3 www.lawtimesnews.com Lawyers in Ottawa play find overlap between law practice, theatre By elizaBeth thomPson For Law Times OTTAWA — Long before she fell in love with the law and became one of Ottawa's top employment law litigators, Janice Payne had another love. "I remember writing and putting on plays in my backyard as a kid and charg- ing money to raise money for charity. That is where it started," she says of her love of the theatre. Payne continued her involvement with the theatre through high school and uni- versity, but once she hit law school and be- gan to practise law, the dramatic arts had to take a back seat. However, Payne is one of several Otta- wa lawyers who have found a way to com- bine their passion for the theatre and their love of the law by staging the County of Carleton Law Association's annual lawyer play fundraiser. "Those of us who are in the cast and come back every year really enjoy performing," says Payne, who performed for her fifth year with the lawyer play in this year's production of Parfumerie. "It's a chance to be a cast member in a professionally directed production." It's also a chance to raise money. Since it first began in 1999, the lawyer play has raised $1.25 million with part of the pro- ceeds going to Ottawa's Great Canadian Theatre Company and another part to a community charity chosen each year by the lawyer play committee. The lawyer play is also an opportunity for Ottawa's legal community to come together. Lawyers, judges, and Justice Department officials make up a large part of the audience for each of the gala events, and high-profile members of the legal community often appear on stage in cameo roles. This year, the cameo roles included Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Beaudoin, University of Ottawa law school dean Nathalie Des Rosiers, and Bill Pentney, the deputy federal jus- tice minister. The plays often have a legal theme or a plot that resonates with lawyers. For ex- ample, this year's production, which ran April 15-18, is a rollicking comedy where many of the conf licts between the char- acters echo the kinds of problems lawyers deal with every day: infidelity, unjust fir- ing, and broken commitments. Ironically, perhaps, each conf lict manages to resolve itself without the help of a lawyer. "This year's play is funny because ulti- mately the story is about a bunch of peo- ple who can't communicate, who have trouble communicating, and it is played by lawyers who communicate for a liv- ing," said Mitch Charness, co-chairman of the lawyer play committee. Charness, who practises intellectual property law at Ridout & Maybee LLP, be- gan working with the lawyer play in 2002 and this year marked his 12th production. "I loved going to the theatre. It always looked like they were having so much fun. . . . I auditioned, I got a part, and I was hooked." He adds: "It was also a great opportunity for me because I am in a specialized area of law, [so] it was a great opportunity to meet lawyers from other areas. From a social as- pect, it was wonderful. It has actually turned out not bad from a business aspect as well in that I have gotten several clients through my par- ticipation in the lawyer play, either cast mem- bers or people who have seen me on stage who have then contacted me afterwards and said, 'I saw you and I've got a trademark question or a patent question.'" Payne also finds the play brings her in con- tact with fellow lawyers she might not otherwise meet. "It is wonderfully satisfying to deal with your colleagues in a dif- ferent setting. We have a lot in common. Al- though our practices may be very differ- ent, we basically are all enjoying a career in law and so we have a lot in common, a lot to talk about, and that's satisfying." Dan Moore, a lawyer called to the bar in 2011, joined the lawyer play for the first time this year. As a human rights, immi- gration, and international law specialist with the federal Justice Department, he spends much of his day advising govern- ment departments and rarely sets foot in- side a Canadian courtroom. "I was looking for something out of the routine, something that would be a bit of a challenge, something not similar to any- thing I do in day-to-day life. A lot of my job involves being in an office and craft- ing legal opinions and e-mails, so I felt it would be kind of fun to have to perform and to be in front of people like this." Moore, who admits he was "thrilled but ter- rified" to be on stage, emerged as one of the stars of the show with a natural knack for com- ic wit and timing, even when he found himself onstage with his top boss, Pentney. For those who aren't litigators, the lawyer play is a chance to work on performance skills, said Charness. "Being in the play has helped me as a lawyer in that certainly in terms of my litigation, whenever I have to do public speaking as a law- yer, all the experience I have had on stage has helped me with that and it has helped me with things as simple as projecting my voice and ensuring that I'm heard to just the con- fidence of being able to speak and being able to keep going when things go off the rails." There's a lot of overlap between the skills needed for acting and litigation, and "litigators tend to play roles," says Payne. While being on stage can be stressful, Payne says it's also a change of pace that provides a break from a very busy practice. "The performance of a play, involving memory work and rehearsing and re- membering when to say what and where to stand when you do it and how to sound and how to deal with everybody else presents its own stresses, of course. But a bit like the practice of law, if you prepare well, you're fine." LT NEWS Untitled-1 1 2015-02-05 2:53 PM Being on stage provides a change of pace that gives lawyers a break from their prac- tices, says Janice Payne.

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