Law Times

PAGE 4 NEWS September 5, 2011 • Law timeS IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO THE LATEST SECURITIES LAW CONSOLIDATED ONTARIO SECURITIES ACT, REGULATIONS AND RULES – WITH POLICY STATEMENTS, BLANKET ORDERS AND NOTICES 2011, 50TH EDITION PAUL G. FINDLAY This new edition continues to offer the many features Ontario securities professionals have come to trust, plus a new CD-ROM containing electronic versions of this and the previous 20 editions. NEW IN THIS EDITION • 14 National Instruments and National Policies and OSC Rule 62-504 Take-Over Bids and Issuer Bids have all been significantly amended effective January 1, 2011. For each affected instrument, changes are reflected with shading to differentiate between the version applying to financial years before January 1, 2011 and the version applying after January 1, 2011 • New CSA Staff Notice 13-317 — Amendments to the SEDAR Filer Manual • New CSA Staff Notice 31-323 — Guidance Relating to the Registration Obligations of Mortgage Investment Entities • New CSA Staff Notice 81-321 — Early Use of the Fund Facts to Satisfy Prospectus Delivery Requirements • Amendments to National Instrument 23-101 Trading Rules and Companion Policy • Withdrawals of numerous CSA and OSC Notices • Amendments to the Act • Amendments to the Regulations • Revision of IA-5 Memorandum of Understanding Respecting the Oversight of Exchanges and Quotation and Trade Reporting Systems • Updates to Other Intergovernmental Agreements and new documents have been added Briber plans career as legal clinic lawyer BY MICHAEL McKIERNAN Law Times with his career after a Law Society of Upper Canada panel ruled he had the good character necessary to practise law in Ontario. In a decision released late last month, the panel ruled 2-1 in Erik Bornmann's favour after three days of hearings. During his mid-20s, Bornmann, A now 35, was a Liberal party power broker who played a key role in the British Columbia Railway Co. scandal that prompted raids on the province's legislature. Between 2001 and 2003, while lob- bying on behalf of U.S.-based Omni- TRAX Inc., one of the bidders looking to purchase BC Rail after the provincial government decided to privatize the company, Bornmann made payments totalling about $28,000 to Dave Basi, a ministerial aide in the Liberal govern- ment. Many of the payments happened while he was a law student at the Uni- versity of British Columbia. Bornmann eventually became a vital witness in the prosecution of Basi as well as his brother-in-law and fellow ministerial aide Bob Virk after making a deal with the RCMP to co-operate with them in return for immunity from prosecution. "I'm just really grateful and I'm humbled by the panel's decision and looking forward to the privilege of being a lawyer," Bornmann tells Law Times. "I'm keen to start working and on becoming the best lawyer I can be." Since the decision, Bornmann has to returned the Orillia, Ont.-based Community Legal Clinic. He had worked there since June 2007 as a stu- dent-at-law until the criminal proceed- ings wrapped up. Basi and Virk fi nally pleaded guilty AVAILABLE WITH ARCHIVAL CD-ROM ORDER # 983547-64486 $129 Softcover + CD-ROM June 2011 approx. 3,500 pages 978-0-7798-3547-8 ORDER # 983546-64486 $111 Softcover only June 2011 approx. 3,500 pages 978-0-7798-3546-1 Shipping and handling are extra. Prices subject to change without notice and subject to applicable taxes. SPECIAL BONUS OFFER Every purchase of this title includes a free download of the eBook version for your BlackBerry® smartphone ORDER # A22727-EDV-64486 AVAILABLE RISK-FREE FOR 30 DAYS Order online at www.carswell.com Call Toll-Free: 1-800-387-5164 In Toronto: 416-609-3800 in October 2010 to two counts each of breach of trust and accepting rewards or benefi ts. Th ey each received senten- ces of two years' house arrest for the of- fences, which paved the way for Born- mann's hearing to begin. "My hope and my plan is to con- tinue in the legal aid clinic system," Bornmann says. In testimony at the hearing, Born- mann described his past behaviour as arrogant and immoral and said he had fallen into a pattern of "exchanging fa- vours" in his dual role as lobbyist and power broker. As well as the cash paid to Basi, Bornmann arranged for OmniTRAX to cover his and Virk's expenses for a trip with their families to Denver to watch a football game and meet com- pany executives. Bornmann also put in a good word for the two men with fed- eral Liberal contacts he knew from his involvement in former prime minister Paul Martin's leadership campaign. In exchange, Basi and Virk gave Bornmann confi dential information about BC Rail's fi nancial aff airs, bids from OmniTRAX's competitors, and details gleaned from their discussions with government offi cials. Bornmann told the panel that in December 2003, his life became "a nightmare" when RCMP offi cers raid- ed his offi ce. He quickly sealed a deal with prosecutors to gain immunity in Untitled-5 1 11-08-31 10:36 AM www.lawtimesnews.com former B.C. lobbyist who ad- mitted to bribing a public of- fi cial says he's ready to get on exchange for appearing as a Crown wit- ness in the case. But the notoriety of the case came back to haunt him in 2005 after he graduated from the University of Brit- ish Columbia's law school and he was passed over for articling positions at prominent B.C. fi rms once they learn- ed of his involvement in the scandal. Bornmann managed to land an artic- ling position at McCarthy Tétrault LLP in Toronto in January 2006 but didn't fully disclose the extent of his role in the scandal. After the fi rm found out, it agreed with Bornmann that he should resign after completing just six months of his articles. Bornmann, who later completed his articles at the legal clinic in Simcoe County, told the panel the experience had a transformative eff ect on him. "It has been absolutely cathartic," he said. "If I had to use a single word for my time at the clinic, I would say it has been saving. I mean, there are so many layers of regret and shame to my con- duct, conduct that has led me here to- day. I get sick thinking about it." After completing his articles, Born- mann stayed on as a student-at-law under supervision. In addition to his legal work, he manages the web site for the clinic's employment law program. He also was involved in developing its Portal to Justice web site that helps pinpoint legal issues and sources of as- sistance for unrepresented litigants who fall outside the clinic's mandate. Colleagues at the clinic who testifi ed on Bornmann's behalf said they were impressed with his commitment. At the same time, the majority of the pan- el was convinced that he had turned himself around. Panel chairman Th omas Conway, for example, wrote that Bornmann's resig- nation from McCarthys had brought him to a fork in the road. After occa- sional relapses "into his old ways," he had been "forced to confront the dis- grace" that he had brought on himself and his family. His remorse appeared "genuine and profound," according to Conway. "He could leave behind his ambition of becoming a lawyer and pursue a dif- ferent line of work or he could persist, which at that time was clearly the harder path to take," wrote Conway. "After more than four years of a consistent his- tory of hard work, ethical conduct, and a commitment to professional service to vulnerable and disadvantaged cli- ents, Bornmann has earned the privilege of being admitted as a lawyer in good standing of the law society." But the third panel member, An- drew Oliver, was less convinced of Bornmann's transformation in his dis- senting decision. While Bornmann tes- tifi ed that his shame for his actions had prompted his off er to co-operate with police, Oliver disagreed. Th ose statements "are clearly self- serving and constitute an ex post facto rationalization of reprehensible behav- io ur," Oliver wrote. "Th at the Born- mann of 2005 should have had an epiphany about himself, his behaviour, and the society in which he wanted to live is simply not credible. Th e reality is that he had been caught in his ille- gal schemes and that the only way of saving his own skin was to throw his soon-to-be former friends under the proverbial bus."

• Cover
• E-disclosure
• Bilingual Furor
• Focus On Class Actions