Law Times

Page 16 September 5, 2016 • Law timeS www.lawtimesnews.com DOER JOINS DENTONS IN TORONTO The former Canadian ambas- sador to the United States and a past premier of Manitoba, Gary Doer, has joined Dentons in its Toronto office. In the role of senior business adviser, Doer will be working with all of the firm's offices across Can- ada (including Calgary, Edmon- ton, Ottawa, Montreal and Van- couver), throughout the United States and around the world. "I think advocacy through an international law firm, particularly with assets in the United States, could be a real advantage for Can- adians and for Americans to get stuff done," says Doer. Doer served as Canada's ambassador to the United States from October 2009 to March 2016. Prior to that, Doer was the 20 th premier of Manitoba, from 1999 to 2009, leading the New Democratic Party to win three consecutive majority governments. "I was involved as a premier in the European trade discussions and one of the big issues for Europe was procurement for subnation- al governments. I was very involved in that process and very aware of what the benefits are for Canada. I was very involved in the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) negotiations, which gives some certainty and parameters to state-owned enterprises in dealing with free mar- ket countries like Canada, the United States and Mexico," says Doer. He will work with Dentons' Canada-U.S. trans-border practice. Doer will also be deeply involved in the firm's global public policy initiatives. "We are honoured to welcome Gary to Dentons — his arrival fur- ther strengthens the unmatched talent and scope of our team of busi- ness and public policy advisors," said Chris Pinnington, Dentons' Canada chief executive officer, in a statement. ATWOOD TO SPEAK AT LEAF EVENT Noted Canadian writer Mar- garet Atwood will be the key- note speaker at the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund's Person's Day Breakfast. The event will take place Oct. 19, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., at the Sheraton Centre in Toronto. To learn more about the event, contact c.daniel@leaf.ca or 416-595-7170. Tickets can be purchased online at www.leaf. ca/pdbtoronto2016/. CABL EVENTS ON THE HORIZON The Canadian Association of Black Lawyers will have its sixth annual conference Oct. 14, in partnership with the Law Society of Upper Canada. The conference will take place at the LSUC's Donald Lamont Learning Centre, at 130 Queen Street West in Toronto. That evening at 6 p.m., there will be a 20 th anniversary opening night reception, at the Fairmont Royal York's Upper Canada Ballroom. On Oct. 15, CABL will have its 20 th anniversary gala at the Fair- mont Royal York's Concert Hall Ballroom. More information and updates on these events are available at www.cabl.ca. YES, I AGREE 56 % 44 % NO, I DO NOT AGREE LAW TIMES POLL A Law Times series has explored how technology is changing how lawyers operate. Readers were asked if they thought they would use a legal app in their practice in the next two years. About 56 per cent said yes, and that embracing new technolo- gies helped them harness infor- mation in new ways. About 44 per cent said no, while new technologies are im- portant, some of the new tools proposed are not relevant to their work and not useful in their day- to-day practice. LT u Bizarre Briefs By Viola James u The InsIde story Former ambassador and premier Gary Doer will work with Dentons' Canada-U.S. trans- border practice. • 40 issues a year covering Ontario's legal landscape • FREE digital edition and unlimited online access to past issues • FREE Canadian Legal Newswire, a weekly e-newsletter from the editors of Law Times and Canadian Lawyer Juror ruling prompts call to look at Criminal Code BY TALI FOLKINS Law Times ith the Ontario Court of Appeal having ruled on jurors' use of extrinsic informa- tion in a recent case, the president of the Criminal Lawyers' Association says it may be necessary to amend the Criminal Code in order to get a better handle on the issue. "You can't say if jurors are or are not doing this at any level that is ap- preciable because you only find out in the rare case where a juror hap- pens to mention something," says Anthony Moustacalis. "Maybe jurors really do obey the judge's instructions. In my experi- ence, it seems that they generally do. But do I really know? The an- swer is no. Maybe they're Googling stuff all the time." The only way to know for sure and assess the necessity of any changes to the jury system, accord- ing to Moustacalis, is to amend the Criminal Code to allow research- ers to interview jury members anonymously about their experi- ences. "The fact of the matter is that people are people and they might not always remember the limits of what they're allowed to do or they might stray," he says. The comments follow the ap- peal court's ruling in R. v. Farinacci, a case that demonstrated the ease with which jurors can now find information about the defendant outside of the evidence presented during the trial. In their ruling on June 3, a panel of three judges re- fused to overturn the convictions of two brothers for possession of the proceeds of crime and conspiracy to traffic in cocaine. The brothers, Lucas Farinacci and Leonard Fari- nacci Jr., had argued their right to a fair trial had been compromised because jurors in the case, with the help of Google and other sources, had come across information about them that hadn't come up in court. The appeal came about as a result of a chance event at a coffee shop. Prior to sentencing but after the brothers' conviction, someone at the coffee shop overheard one of the ju- rors, in a conversation with a friend, mention that another me mber of Zero-tolerance conundrum Lawyers say pendulum has swung too far against accused in domestic violence cases BY TALI FOLKINS Law Times he justice system has taken the idea of zero toler- ance in domestic assault to such an extreme that it's unfair to defendants and no longer works in the best interests of Ontario families, says a 40- year veteran of criminal law. It's an opinion, however, vociferously opposed by at least one lawyer who helps victims of domestic violence. Leo Adler, of Adler Bytensky Prutschi Shikhman, says the issue of domestic assault has become "political football" over the last 25 to 30 years with largely undesirable results. While Adler emphasizes he doesn't want to diminish the tragedy of family violence, he says the situation has now reached a point where police called to family violence situa- tions are unduly afraid to release the defendant even in cases that don't appear serious. "Nobody wants to be the person who says, 'O.K., I'm going to release you,' because you might be the one in a million or whatever the statistic is who might end up killing your spouse," says Adler. "In a lot of these cases, there's no sign of violence, there's no sign of anything having occurred. You simply have the word of the complainant. And the person gets arrested and I can tell you that again in the majority of cases, the police don't even bother to try to take a statement from the accused, usually the male. . . . They don't ask because it doesn't make a difference because they're going to arrest you no matter what." Bail hearings in domestic violence cases, he says, are "a l- ways run on the presumption of guilt" and, if the court does grant bail, it's generally under strict conditions with the de- fendant required to live with a surety. The result, according to Adler, is often a divided family with the added financial strain OBA LAUDED Association honoured for mental-health efforts P4 CAMPAIGN SPENDING Bencher candidate calls for expense limits P6 FOCUS ON Legal Innovation P8 'In a lot of these cases, there's no sign of violence, there's no sign of anything having occurred,' says Leo Adler. Photo: Robin Kuniski See Silence, page 2 See Bail, page 2 There's no way to know if jurors are doing their own research on cases, says Anthony Moustacalis. PM #40762529 & $#&!&jmmm$cYa[bbWh$Yec t7PM/P +VOF Follow LAW TIMES on www.twitter.com/lawtimes L AW TIMES T W ing on ges re- ictions n of the piracy others, d Fari- ight to omised ith the ources, about court. a result e shop. er the e at the the ju- friend, ber of of um estic vio io vi v len len ence case case case cas ca case se case case se ca cas as n c ses FOCUS ON OCUS ON FO FO FOCUS OCU OCUS ON FOCUS ON CUS O CUS OCUS ON C ON O F egal Innovation egal Innovation egal Innovation Le Le L P8 P8 Adler. Photo: Robin Kuniski Photo: Robin Kuniski page 2 ag PM #4076 PM #40762529 M #40762529 & $#&!& $#&!& $#&!& & jmmm$cYa[bbWh$Yec mm$cYa[bbWh$ c mm$cYa[bb mmmcYa[bbWhYec mmcYa[bbWhYec cYa[bbWhY bbW mcYa[bbWhY mcYa[bbWhYe mcYa[bbWhYec Ya[bbWh a h a[bbWhYec mmcYa[bbWhYec mcY + O +VOF + +VOF +VOF VOF +VOF +VOF VOF F S Juror ruling prompts call to look at Criminal Code BY TALI FOLKINS Law Times ith the Ontario Court of Appeal having ruled on jurors' use of extrinsic informa- tion in a recent case, the president of the Criminal Lawyers' Association says it may be necessary to amend the Criminal Code in order to get a better handle on the issue. "You can't say if jurors are or are not doing this at any level that is ap- preciable because you only find out in the rare case where a juror hap- pens to mention something," says Anthony Moustacalis. "Maybe jurors really do obey the judge's instructions. In my experi- ence, it seems that they generally do. But do I really know? The an- swer is no. Maybe they're Googling stuff all the time." The only way to know for sure and assess the necessity of any changes to the jury system, accord- ing to Moustacalis, is to amend the Criminal Code to allow research- ers to interview jury members anonymously about their experi- ences. "The fact of the matter is that people are people and they might not always remember the limits of what they're allowed to do or they might stray," he says. The comments follow the ap- peal court's ruling in R. v. Farinacci, a case that demonstrated the ease with which jurors can now find information about the defendant outside of the evidence presented during the trial. In their ruling on June 3, a panel of three judges re- fused to overturn the convictions of two brothers for possession of the proceeds of crime and conspiracy to traffic in cocaine. The brothers, Lucas Farinacci and Leonard Fari- nacci Jr., had argued their right to a fair trial had been compromised because jurors in the case, with the help of Google and other sources, had come across information about them that hadn't come up in court. The appeal came about as a result of a chance event at a coffee shop. Prior to sentencing but after the brothers' conviction, someone at the coffee shop overheard one of the ju- rors, in a conversation with a friend, mention that another me mber of Zero-tolerance conundrum Lawyers say pendulum has swung too far against accused in domestic violence cases BY TALI FOLKINS Law Times he justice system has taken the idea of zero toler- ance in domestic assault to such an extreme that it's unfair to defendants and no longer works in the best interests of Ontario families, says a 40- year veteran of criminal law. It's an opinion, however, vociferously opposed by at least one lawyer who helps victims of domestic violence. Leo Adler, of Adler Bytensky Prutschi Shikhman, says the issue of domestic assault has become "political football" over the last 25 to 30 years with largely undesirable results. While Adler emphasizes he doesn't want to diminish the tragedy of family violence, he says the situation has now reached a point where police called to family violence situa- tions are unduly afraid to release the defendant even in cases that don't appear serious. "Nobody wants to be the person who says, 'O.K., I'm going to release you,' because you might be the one in a million or whatever the statistic is who might end up killing your spouse," says Adler. "In a lot of these cases, there's no sign of violence, there's no sign of anything having occurred. You simply have the word of the complainant. And the person gets arrested and I can tell you that again in the majority of cases, the police don't even bother to try to take a statement from the accused, usually the male. . . . They don't ask because it doesn't make a difference because they're going to arrest you no matter what." Bail hearings in domestic violence cases, he says, are "a l- ways run on the presumption of guilt" and, if the court does grant bail, it's generally under strict conditions with the de- fendant required to live with a surety. The result, according to Adler, is often a divided family with the added financial strain OBA LAUDED Association honoured for mental-health efforts P4 CAMPAIGN SPENDING Bencher candidate calls for expense limits P6 FOCUS ON Legal Innovation P8 'In a lot of these cases, there's no sign of violence, there's no sign of anything having occurred,' says Leo Adler. Photo: Robin Kuniski See Silence, page 2 See Bail, page 2 There's no way to know if jurors are doing their own research on cases, says Anthony Moustacalis. PM #40762529 & $#&!&jmmm$cYa[bbWh$Yec t7PM/P +VOF Follow LAW TIMES on www.twitter.com/lawtimes L AW TIMES T W Subscribe to Law Times today for $199* and receive: Canlawyer.lawtimes@thomsonreuters.com | 416.609.3800 | 1.800.387.5164 Access a free preview at: bitly.com/LawTimes-FreePreview Order online at: www.lawtimesnews.com/subscribe *Plus applicable taxes How the legal community in Ontario gets its news @lawtimes Untitled-7 1 2016-08-30 2:01 PM "My new Legal Services Extreme Expedite app just reported me to the Law Society for texting too slowly!" VIVA LA SEX TOY REVOLUTION! AUSTIN, Texas — To protest a new state law that makes the carrying of concealed hand- guns legal in college classrooms, students at the University of Texas on Wednesday openly dis- played sex toys, an act considered illegal under local indecency laws. "We are fighting absurdity with absurdity," said Jessica Jin, leader of the protest called "Cocks Not Glocks: Campus (Dildo) Carry," where hun- dreds of sex toys were given away at the rally on Wednesday that coincided with a return to classes at the university's f lagship campus. "Texas has decided it is not at all obnoxious or illegal to allow deadly concealed weapons on campus. But walking around with a dildo could land you in trouble," Jin said. On Aug. 1, a so-called "campus carry" law backed by the state's Republican political lead- ers went into effect that allows concealed hand- gun licence holders aged 21 and older to bring handguns into classrooms and other univer- sity facilities. The lawmakers said campus carry protects the rights of gun owners and could pre- vent a mass shooting on campus. Hundreds of university faculty and staff lobbied unsuccess- fully to block campus carry, arguing the com- bination of youth, academic stress, alcohol and firearms could make for a deadly combination. A U.S. district judge on Monday denied a motion from three University of Texas profes- sors who wanted to ban guns in their classroom after the state gave some students that right un- der the law that went into effect last month. Protest organizers shouted slogans such as: "If you are packing heat, we are packing meat," and handed out hundreds of sex toys, many do- nated by area stores. They also handed out plas- tic zip ties so that protesters could strap the sex toys on to their backpacks in a sign of defiance against campus carry. "It's scary to think that at any moment you could be next to a person carrying a gun. And if they go off their rocker, like a lot of people do in college, it is game over for anyone nearby," said Bianca Montgomery, a second-year student. The university said the protest appeared to be pro- tected political speech and did not halt the rush for dildos when organizers gave them out for free. PIPING HOT DRONE PIZZA DELIVERY? WELLINGTON/SYDNEY, New Zealand — A New Zealand pizza chain aims to become the world's first company to offer a commercial drone delivery service, a milestone in the once- unthinkable quest to save time and money with an airborne supply chain dispensing with people. Some of the world's biggest companies have plans to make deliveries by drone and aviation authorities in the United States, Britain, Austra- lia and New Zealand have been relaxing rules to allow air deliveries. Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd. conducted a demonstration pizza delivery by drone in Auckland, and afterwards it said it aimed to be the first company to launch a regular drone ser- vice, later this year. With a small population of 4.4 million, New Zealand last year became one of the world's first countries to clear commercial drone deliveries. "Our enabling laws and regulation means we have the ideal environment," New Zealand Transport Minister Simon Bridges said after the Domino's test f light. But Philip Solaris, director of another drone company, X-craft Enterprises, said that while New Zealand has accommodating regulations on drones, Domino's would be held back by a rule requiring drones to be kept in sight at all times. "I can't truly see how commercially viable that idea is because you would have to literally have somebody walking along to keep it in the line of sight, watching it at all times," Solaris said. LT

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