Law Times

LAw times • August 6, 2012 Canada's first family law moot set for 2013 BY SIOBHAN McCLELLAND For Law Times L aw school The Walsh Family Moot will take place on March 16, 2013, at the Osgoode Hall courthouse in Toronto. The annual event is named aſter former Superior Court justice George Walsh, who was involved in family law reform and alter- native dispute resolution. Organizers say the moot has the po- tential to introduce the next generation of counsel to an important practice area in need of more lawyers. "The purpose of the moot is to raise the consciousness of family law at law schools," says Patti Cross, past president and chairwoman of the working group of the Association of Family and Con- ciliation Courts' Ontario chapter that' family law." dents will seriously consider family law as a career option. "Part of [the purpose of the moot] is to recognize that family law is a very important part of the justice system. Cross notes she's hoping more stu- more mooting choices as the first family law moot in Canada takes place next year. students will have to enter family law right now. With the greying of the bar, she says it' cult, especially outside the urban area, to find family law lawyers. That' the case with child protection lawyers. "Many people are just not familiar with this area of law and it makes it difficult for them to think about this as a real ca- reer choice, pating this year with hopes the moot will expand in the future. "We're going to start with Ontario and we hope to grow to a Canada-wide moot," says Cross. The moot is open to second- and third- Five Ontario law schools are partici- " she says. hosting the moot. "We want more people thinking about s Cross says it's hard to get more people s really diffi- s especially " NEWS PAGE 3 in family law and taking on more family law files, I think that it would be serving society better. "If we can get more students interested year law students. It will deal with custody, access, and support issues. While it won't address child-protection issues this year, Cross hopes it'll be a focus in future years. Students will compete for awards for best factum and best oral argument. Cross says a number of experienced family law practitioners are donating money. However, organizers are still looking for sponsors for the event. Students interested in participating LT Lawyer wins tax dispute at SCC BY KENDYL SEBESTA Law Times Court overruled a strict interpretation of s. 31. It found lawyer and horse-racing busi- nessman John Craig could combine his farming and non-farming income to over- come a farm-loss deduction limit of $8,750 annually under the act. "It seems to me that, as long as the tax- that changes the circumstances in which taxpayers can combine farming and non- farming income in order to avoid farm-loss deduction limits under s. 31 of the Income Tax Act. Writing in Canada v. Craig, the Supreme T payer devotes considerable time and re- sources to the farming business, the fact that another source of income produces greater income than the farm does not mean that such a combination is not a chief source of income for the taxpayer, Rothstein wrote in his Aug. 1 decision with justices Louis LeBel, Marie Deschamps, Rosalie Abella, Thomas Cromwell, Michael Moldaver, and Andromache Karakatsanis concurring. Craig had deducted more than $200,000 " Justice Marshall he Supreme Court of Canada has delivered good news to a Toronto- area lawyer and horse-racing busi- nessman with a decision last week in Gunn v. Canada. The Gunn test allowed taxpayers to combine farming with their pri- mary income to become a chief source of in- come and thereby avoid the deduction limit under the act. The Supreme Court hadn't taken a look at its highly criticized ruling in Moldowan for some time. In this case, it overruled it in favour of a more flexible interpretation of the act. David Piccolo, a Toronto tax and busi- ness lawyer, says Moldowan was a particu- larly sticky decision and likely warranted the simplification. "It looks as if the judge found that frame- work was inconsistent with Stewart [v. Cana- da], which essentially said if you' saying we can't really engage in that type of analysis. hobby farm, that loss would not be deduct- ible, likely still give the Canada Revenue Agency enough teeth to question those losses if nec- essary. "Perhaps the taxpayer won the battle, But Piccolo says the court's ruling will re running a " says Piccolo. "The court seems to be " MITIGATE THE RISK OF eDISCOVERY will need to notify their schools' moot- ing committees early this fall. CASELOGISTIX CaseLogistix offers an unsurpassed, intuitive user interface, so you spend less time learning and more time being productive. HOW CASELOGISTIX HELPS YOU MITIGATE RISK • Robust and granular security lets you restrict data and documents to the appropriate users • Native Review lets you get to the heart of a document, going beyond the surface content and into the richness and fidelity of the native file • Unicode compliance provides confidence that all documents can be accurately analyzed in the context of the case in losses from his horse-racing business from his other income during the 2000 and 2001 tax year. Based on the test established in Moldowan v. The Queen for farm loss, the minister of national revenue limited Craig' deductions on the grounds that his horse- racing business wasn't his chief source of income. The minister had argued the Moldowan s test should apply instead of the Federal Court of Appeal' s flexible interpretation of farm loss but at first glance the act still gives the CRA enough room to question whether or not calculations are being done correctly. There could still be some personal element in the farming activities but there will always be that question of whether or not that calcula- tion of loss is done correctly. The test is really whether or not a reasonable businessperson would continue to spend that money while incurring that loss." The Federal Court of Appeal had ruled last year that a combination of Craig's in- come as a lawyer and the income from his horse-racing business made farming his chief source of income. That made the re- strictions on his tax deduction under s. 31 inapplicable under the Gunn test. LT www.lawtimesnews.com For more information visit www.westlawcanada.com or call 1-866-609-5811

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