Law Times

LAW TIMES / MAY 26, 2008 NEWS PAGE 3 Lawyers mentor 24 inner-city high school students BY ROBERT TODD Law Times this year in hopes of enriching the profession's cultural diversity down the road. Counsel at Blake Cassels & L awyers at a Toronto firm mentored students from inner-city high schools Graydon LLP mentored 24 stu- dents this year through the Law in Action Within Schools program, a partnership created in 2005 be- tween the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and the Toronto District School Board. The pro- gram, funded by the Law Founda- tion of Ontario, offers inner-city high school students a mix of aca- demic and extra curricular activi- ties that expose them to the law. Many face obstacles in life and likely wouldn't otherwise see the law as a career option. Tariq Remtulla, an associ- ate who helped organize Blakes' work with LAWS, says the firm decided to up its participa- tion after accepting a summer student through the program. "We realized it might be a good program for the students to allow them to have an opportunity to come to a law firm," says Remtul- la. "Many of them may not have a relative or a friend who has a con- nection to the legal profession." Remtulla — who notes that more lawyers volunteered Adult cases are dragging along BY ROBERT TODD Law Times longer than before. The agency reports that, on average, adult criminal court cases took eight months to wrap up in 2006-2007, versus six months five years earlier. The agency suggested cases may be tak- ing longer on average due to an increase in the proportion that involve multiple charges. In 2006-2007, 60 per cent of cases involved multiple charges, while five years earlier that number was at 57 per cent, and 53 per cent a decade earlier. The agency also reported that fewer cases are being disposed of in adult criminal courts. In 2006-2007, about 372,000 cases were disposed of, a seven-per-cent decrease from five years earlier. The agency pointed to "increased case complexity and dura- S tion, as well as a long-term downward trend in police-reported crime statistics" as an explanation for fewer disposed-of cases. Cindy Wasser, past chairwoman of the Ontario Bar Associa- tion's criminal justice section, says court rules requiring more documentary filings are clogging up the process. She says coun- sel are often asked by judges to file new, written materials when new issues come up during the course of a trial, which leads to adjournments while those materials are being prepared. Wasser says Crowns assigned at the start of a case often are replaced when the trial nears. "The initial Crown may not be thinking with the adrenaline flowing, and saying, 'If I was prosecuting this, I would need one, two, and three.' And the trial Crown gets in and says, 'Oh no, I'm missing one, two, and three.' And that creates problems," she says, adding that many defence counsel also are failing to approach cases with urgency early on. Criminal Lawyers' Association president Frank Addario says the issue of lengthened adult criminal court cases is "in dire need of a methodologically sound, controlled study." Speaking anecdotally in the absence of such a study, "The po- lice are addicted to the mega-bust involving multiple defendants who are linked together for trial," says Addario in an e-mail re- sponse to questions. "The police could charge fewer peripheral players and the Crown could use its power to sever individuals much more liberally. This would lead to shorter, more manage- able trials." LT Marketplace EMPLOYMENT WANTED Services - Available law clerk. Proficient in estates, real estate, litigation, ADR, corporate/commercial and labour and employ- ment. Part/full time. Messages (416) 621-2485. 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At the final session, the pairs got together last week for a recep- tion before heading off to a To- ronto Blue Jays baseball game. She'nikia Clarke, a Grade 11 student at Central Technical School, who was partnered with a Blakes lawyer through LAWS, says a career in law has always been a dream of hers — possibly because her uncle works as a chief of police in Jamaica, where her family emigrated from about 10 years ago. Clarke says the program re- inforced her goal to become a lawyer. "The program itself shaped me as a person," says Clarke, who worked last summer in the On- tario Ministry of Health's legal de- partment through LAWS. "It just makes me want it so much more." Blakes associate Shashu Lawyer Shashu Clacken (right) and her LAWS mentoree, Toronto's Central Technical School Grade 12 student Laxman Gnanendran (left) get together at a recent reception. Photo: Robert Todd Clacken says she wanted to be involved in the mentorship pro- gram to give students knowledge she lacked while en route to be- coming a lawyer. "I saw it as an opportunity to tell them things that, looking back, I thought I should have known at the time," she says. "Learning about the choices in terms of uni- versities, majors, in terms of just making a decision about financial aid or when to drop a course." Renu Mandhane, an assistant dean at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law who helps oversee LAWS, says the best way to get students from diverse communi- ties into law is by exposing them to the profession during their high school years. "A lot of the research shows it's too late by the time they reach the end of undergrad," says Mandhane, who adds that it's vital to have di- versity in the legal profession. "Lawyers provide essential ser- vices to our population, and as our population changes, the face of the profession should change to adequately reflect and respond to the different people that we're hoping to serve. As Ontario changes, we want the profession to keep stride with those changes." LT THE VERDICT IS IN! TORONTO AUDIENCES DEMAND MORE! Critically Acclaimed Drama Returns Critically Acc " COMPELLING!" Accllaimed Drama Returns " A JOY TO WATCH!" "Exhilarating!" ASSOCIATED PRESS

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