Law Times

PAGE 4 NEWS June 1, 2009 • Law Times Bryant will 'always have some connection to the law' Continued from page 1 obligation is to serve the public, and that means helping out and sometimes saving the bacon of the attorney general. I'm obvi- ously eternally grateful for that." It was a "bittersweet" departure when Premier Dalton McGuinty shuffled his cabinet in October 2007 and moved him to the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs. "A lot had been accomplished by the government in the justice portfolio," he says. "I wanted to do more, obviously. It was bitter- sweet in that the Aboriginal Af- fairs portfolio is something I had devoted a lot of my pre-political professional life to — in my stud- ies and in my practice. I wanted to have the opportunity to work on that intensively and full time. So I relished that opportunity. "However, the attorney gen- eral job was very difficult to let go of, in that never in a million years would I have volunteered it. But I had a sense that a change in portfolios might be in the best interests of the government and of myself. And I was thrilled that it was Bentley appointed, because he had been so helpful to me in my term as attorney general. And I felt that he was absolutely the only person who should do it, and I'm very glad that the pre- mier felt the same way." While Bryant is not yet return- ing to practice, he expects he will use his legal training with Invest Toronto, which he describes as "a bully pulpit for economic growth for Toronto." He says his advo- cacy skills will be vital in pushing for new investment in the city. As a CEO, he adds, "The strategic approach you take as an advocate, as a litigator, will apply here." Bryant says he "will always have a desire to practise law," but adds that he can't see him- self wearing a gown and appear- ing before a court after having appointed judges as AG. "Truth be told, I'm not sure what the future holds on that front, but I'll always have some connection to the law. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up at least teaching, through a law faculty, a class," he says. "I'm surrounded by lawyer friends and my bril- liant lawyer wife [Gowling Laf- leur Henderson LLP entertain- ment law partner Susan Abra- movitch], so certainly I'll never be that far from the law." Bryant also weighed in on the state of the profession, saying the economic downturn precipitated by missteps within the financial sector reiterates the importance of lawyers' code of conduct and professional obligations. He says those principles "have allowed us as a profession to avoid the pitfalls of the hor- rible judgment, in hindsight, that was exercised by people in the financial sector. In some ways, I think that we're a mod- el for those parts of commerce that appear to be broken." However, Bryant believes the "economic reset" following the recession will have a significant impact on the legal industry's de- livery and billing of services. "I don't know exactly how that will unfold. But already we're see- ing, I think, some changes." He also believes the legal ex- pertise and justice system in To- ronto and throughout Ontario is a marketable resource that he plans to exploit at Invest Toronto. Chief Justice Warren Winkler has voiced a similar view; one Bryant says has shaped his approach. "We have a justice system that's second to none, certainly in terms of its credibility and in- dependence, and the same with the legal profession," says Bryant. "Looking to other jurisdictions in the world, and even the United States, I think you'd rather be a defendant in Ontario on a class action where you're going to get a fair shake and an independent judge, versus some of the rocket- docket activities that take place in some states in the United States, where the judges are elected and the lawyers will have literally do- nated to their campaigns." He says, "We have, in typical Canadian fashion, not marketed the value-add that our justice and legal system brings to Canada. I will certainly be trumpeting the virtues of that, and it will be something that I think will en- hance our financial sector, already ranked the best in the world in terms of the banking system." LT Bill C-25 prison 'has it wrong' Continued from page 1 legal rights and the mechanics of the existing credit system, the Correctional Service officers predicted overcrowd- ing and more violence due to lengthier sentences. The lawyers appearing with Alexander were William Trudell, chairman of the Canadian Coun- cil of Criminal Defence Lawyers, Dyanoosh Youssefi and Matthew McGarvey, representing the Law Union of Ontario, and Andras Schreck, director of the Criminal Lawyers' Association of Ontario. Anthony Doob, professor of criminology at the University of Toronto, demonstrated that the legislation will actually result in offenders held in custody serving longer prison time than offend- ers who are released before trial — often because they have the financial ability to make bail. That is because time served be- Starting from $62.50 per month More value for your money! 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Doob presented different scenarios to show the same ar- ithmetical rules apply for longer sentences. "The bill has it wrong," said Doob. "Bill C-25 would enshrine in legislation a logical or arithme- tic error. The bill would automat- ically defeat its presumed purpose of ensuring that offenders who spend time in pre-trial detention serve the same time as those who deserve the same sentences but who were not detained prior to being sentenced." Alexander tells Law Times po- litical pressure for passage of the bill, with a federal election on the horizon. is based on public misunderstanding of two-for- one credit for time served prior to sentencing. "When the pub- lic hears the phrase two-for-one, they think [offenders] are getting a break they don't deserve and they get upset," he says. Trudell wrote Nicholson and MPs from all three opposition parties, urging them to study the bill more thoroughly. 1.800.263.2037 Canada Law Book is a Division of The Cartwright Group Ltd. Best case.indd 1 www.lawtimesnews.com LT0406 4/2/09 10:11:33 AM "They should just step back a little bit," Trudell tells Law Times. LT

• Cover
• Self-regulation At Stake
• Tizzy In Lotusland
• Focus On Criminal Law