Law Times

LAW TIMES / AUGUST 11-18, 2008 NEWS Toronto prosecutor wins book award BY DIANE SLAWYCH For Law Times he 20 book publishers who rejected Lisa Joyal's manuscript may consider being a little less hasty the next time she approaches them. The 45-year-old Toronto law- T yer recently won a Nautilus Book Award (silver 2008) for children's fiction for her novel Swahili for Be- ginners (Sumach Press). The Nautilus Awards were created to recognize world- changing books, and to celebrate their contribution to positive social change, spiritual growth, conscious living, and responsi- ble leadership. Awards are given in 20 categories, in both adult trade and children's publishing. year in the life of a 13-year-old girl named Georgie who resides in the High Park neighbourhood of To- ronto and her pen-pal friendship with a girl named Ellie who lives in a small village in Tanzania. Joyal, an assistant Crown at- Swahili for Beginners is about a in Law Times several years ago. "She followed the same process and said there weren't any shortcuts. She told me not to give up and keep writing those letters." Despite the fact that Joyal's torney, says it took her about three years to find a publisher willing to take a chance on a first-time author. "One thinks the hard part is writing, and that's true it is, but it's also hard to find a publisher to publish the book," she tells Law Times. During the arduous process, she consulted another Toronto lawyer, Manjusha Pawagi, whose children's book The Girl Who Hated Books (Second Story Press) was featured Lawyer entitled to new hearing Continued from page 1 explanation has been provided for this delay in notifying Mr. Igbino- sun that the investigation had been reopened." PAC in February 2005 approved a notice of application against Igbinosun. from the case. With his second lawyer now retained, Igbinosun brought a stay application on Feb. 27, 2006. The motion was dismissed on April 27, 2006, with the panel chairman dissenting. Igbinosun's second lawyer in June 2006 notified the law society tri- bunals office that he would bring a motion to be removed as counsel, according to the written ruling. The matter continued, and on Sept. 14, 2006, Igbinosun brought a motion for a four-month adjournment, which was dismissed. Igbinosun retained a third lawyer, whose participation was contingent Scheduling conflicts forced his first lawyer on the matter to withdraw on a successful adjournment. On Sept. 18, 2006, the new lawyer appeared before the hearing panel and made a series of motions for adjournment, including a request to continue later the same day so he could deal with a previously scheduled pretrial, said the judgment. All of those motions were denied, and the lawyer removed himself from the record, and Igbinosun was asked by the panel to proceed. The panel agreed to delay the matter until later in the day so Igbinosun could get documents from his office. When he returned, he said he felt un- able to represent himself and wouldn't participate in the hearing. The panel reconvened the following morning, without Igbinosun, said the judgment. Then they heard submissions from law society coun- sel, and found Igbinosun guilty of professional misconduct for sexually assaulting all three of the complainants. The hearing panel decided to immediately determine the penalty, while law society counsel was unprepared to do so and told the panel that Igbino- sun was entitled to a 10-day notice period and had not received a bill of costs. The hearing panel told the law society to give him "as much notice as possible," according to the Divisional Court judgment. Igbinosun was notified of the finding, and on the afternoon of Sept. 20, 2006, the panel went ahead in the matter without Igbinosun. The hearing panel proceeded to disbar him and order costs. Igbinosun was granted a stay on the hearing panel order on Oct. 13, 2006. The appeal took place on on June 26 and 27 and Aug. 31, 2007, during which time Igbinosun was represented by the last lawyer he had retained at the hearing panel. The appeal was dismissed on Oct. 30, 2007. In the Divisional Court judgment, Molloy stated that part of the ap- peal panel's decision was "inexplicable." At one point the panel found that Igbinosun had not been given adequate notice of the penalty hear- ing, but later stated the opposite, said Molloy. "There was a clear breach of natural justice in proceeding to the penalty phase without adequate notice to Mr. Igbinosun." She added there was no need for the penalty phase to move ahead so quickly. "This was a very serious matter, with potentially dire consequences for Mr. Igbinosun," wrote Molloy, adding "the penalty imposed cannot stand." Molloy then addressed the panel's Sept. 18, 2006 refusal to adjourn, and stated she found the appeal panel's reasons to be "perplexing" and "mystify- ing." She said the appeal panel decision did not analyze this aspect. Molloy found that the panel erred in its decision that Igbinosun was not denied natural justice through the hearing panel's refusal to adjourn on Sept. 18, 2006. Molloy set aside the hearing panel's findings and the penalty it ordered, and said Igbinosun is entitled to a new hearing. In his dissenting opinion, Pitt stated, "I believe and find that the grounds of "completely unreasonable delay" if the law society returns the matter to a hearing panel. tribunal's exercise of discretion in denying the stay on the grounds of delay was unreasonable." Tremayne-Lloyd says she will bring a motion of stay on the LT Untitled-1 1www.lawtimesnews.com 8/1/08 10:23:17 AM novel has been out since Octo- ber, the author says she continues to receive rejection letters. One had arrived just a week before an interview with Law Times. "I wrote to that publisher two years ago and they sent me a standard form letter saying they weren't interested but wished me luck. I'm grateful that Sumach took a chance," says Joyal. Toronto-based Sumach Press, which bills itself as a publisher of "dynamic feminist writing," also has a line of books for young adults, and found Joyal's novel to be a perfect fit. "We have an interest in girls as a main protagonist, doing interest- ing things. That appealed to us and it was a story that combined ur- ban downtown plus the outreach to international issues that are of interest to a lot of teens in North America," says Lois Pike, market- ing co-ordinator at Sumach Press. Joyal's impetus for writing the novel was based, in part, on a de- sire to see strong female characters in a work of fiction. "As a kid, my friends and I "The people and the places were so fascinating but the lack of re- sources in some regions to meet basic human needs, like food, water, and shelter was sometimes overwhelming to see first-hand." Joyal, a mother of two, says Lisa Joyal says people think the difficult part is writing, but 'it's also hard to find a publisher.' never felt there were a lot books about girls as the lead character. We were reading a lot of stories about boys," she recollects. "It's all different now; bookstores are filled with books about strong girls and I wanted to contribute to those sorts of books." In creating the character of Ellie, Joyal was inspired by a visit to Africa. 'My husband and I . . . spent months [going] through Namib- ia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and a bit in Kenya and travelling in Africa touched me very deeply," she says. she's planning to donate money from book royalties to various African aid projects. Prior to joining the Crown's office, where she's been for the past nine years, Joyal worked with children as trial Crown in Peel Region for six years. "When it comes to the criminal justice system, we as criminal law- yers tend to observe the vulnerabil- ity of children. We encounter chil- dren as witnesses, complainants, or defendants," she explains. "Chil- dren's fiction writing is a wonderful escape from that world. It allows me to focus on the strength and power of children." Encouraged by an award and four positive reviews, Joyal says she hopes to publish more books in the future. "I've already written another one — for babies and toddlers. I need to begin the process all over again to find a publisher and I don't expect it to be any easier. It's a different genre and so I have to research the market all over again." LT PAGE 5 Improve your business IQ with Philips Speech Processing. 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