Law Times

Page 16 May 29, 2017 • Law TiMes www.lawtimesnews.com AGARWAL WINS CBA PRO BONO AWARD Ranjan Agarwal, a partner at Bennett Jones LLP in Toronto, is the recipient of the 2017 Cana- dian Bar Association Young Lawyers Pro Bono Award. The annual award recognizes outstanding pro bono legal ser- vices to the community by a young lawyer in Canada. Agarwal's dedication to pro bono legal work includes "put- ting in countless hours on some of Canada's most high-profile public interest litigation, as well as working on cases that will nev- er make the headlines," said the CBA in a press release. Agarwal, who is also adjunct professor at the University of Toronto and president of the South Asian Bar Association of Toronto, donated the $500 Pro Bono Award prize to Pro Bono Ontario and has made a matching donation. "I am slightly embarrassed to win an award for pro bono, when so many members of our bar, like those at Pro Bono Ontario and the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario, have devoted themselves full time to the cause of access to justice," Agarwal told Law Times in an email. "But I am so pleased that the CBA National Young Lawyers Forum has chosen to recognize pro bono and access to justice when making their annual award — we all must do more to meet unmet legal needs, and I hope this award can encourage other lawyers to do so." BROWN WINS AWARD OF EXCELLENCE Elizabeth M. Brown of Hicks Morley LLP is the winner of the Ontario Bar Association Award of Excellence in Pen- sions and Benefits Law. Brown's contributions spe- cifically to pension and benefits issues in the context of corpo- rate insolvencies, human rights issues relating to pension and benefits plans, emerging plan designs and alternate funding models are widely recognized by all industry stakeholders includ- ing employers, lawyers and ac- tuaries, said the OBA in a press release. Brown will be honoured at an award dinner on June 14 in Toronto. CALL FOR APPLICATIONS FOR OBA FELLOWSHIPS The Ontario Bar Association Foundation has begun accept- ing applications for two fellow- ships for the 2017-18 year. The Fellowship in Re- search is open to full-time faculty teaching at a Canadian university or college, and the Fellowship in Studies is open to all OBA members who do not otherwise qualify for the fellow- ship open to full-time faculty. The deadline for applications is July 3. Applications are to be sub- mitted by email, in PDF or Word format, simultaneously to An- ton Katz at anton@amklaw.ca and Valerie Dallas at vdallas@ oba.org. 61 % NO, I DO NOT AGREE YES, I AGREE 39 % LAW TIMES POLL A recent Court of Appeal de- cision acknowledged a "new re- ality" of civil litigation in which courts are seeing a significant number of self-represented liti- gants. This week, readers were asked if the courts are doing a good job of addressing the needs of self-represented litigants. About 39 per cent of re- spondents said yes, judges are doing a good job of ensuring trial fairness. But 61 per cent said no, courts have only just begun to consider the many issues surrounding self-repre- sented litigants. LT u Bizarre Briefs By Viola James u The InsIde story Ranjan Agarwal is the recipient of the 2017 Canadian Bar Association Young Lawyers Pro Bono Award. "She says we can't conquer anywhere around here until we've paid the Land Transfer Tax." SHOW ME THE MONEY WASHINGTON — At first glance, the $100 bills looked real. By the third glance, they were clearly worthless. A Maryland college student has learned an expensive lesson about the ease with which criminals can scam unsuspecting victims using fake "movie money," which is used in shoots. Hannah Buehrle told NBC Washington she wanted to sell her iPhone 6 to help pay for a weekend trip to the beach. On May 15, she advertised the phone on the Letgo app. A man who identified himself as Xavier agreed to buy the phone for $450. According to Montgomery County Police, Xavier told the victim he only had five $100 bills and would give her the $500 if she would give him $50 in return. Xavier gave Buehrle five hundreds in a bank envelope; she gave him the iPhone 6 and $50. After the transaction, when Buehrle tried to deposit the $100 bills in her ATM, nothing hap- pened. "I looked at the bottom of one of the bills — it said 'for prop use only,'" she told NBC Washing- ton. Real currency in the U.S. contains linen, making it feel different from prop money, which is made of paper. Authentic $100 bills have the words "federal reserve note," while prop money reads "For mo- tion picture use only." SHOW ME THE MONKEY BAY CITY, Mich. — It's not unusual for secu- rity personnel at the Bay County Court Facility to see visitors attempt to sneak odd items past them, but this was a new one on the courthouse: a squirrel monkey stowed away in a woman's purse. Linda Stevenson visited the courthouse May 18 and put her purse on the X-ray machine at the building's security station, according to MLive.com. "I pushed the button for it to go through when it started making noises," said Bay Coun- ty Sheriff 's Court Security Deputy Pat McIver. "I was like, 'What was that?' She goes, 'Oh, that's my monkey.'" The X-ray captured an image of the tiny monkey's skeleton in Stevenson's purse. "I said, 'I need to see your monkey,'" McIver said. "She unzipped her purse, the monkey stuck its head out and looked around, and then she zipped it back up." McIver told Stevenson she could not bring the monkey into the building. She returned him to her car, then quickly conducted her small claims-related business inside the courthouse. Stevenson made headlines last year for her ef- forts to acquire the monkey, which a Bay City ordinance does not allow. In February 2016, Stevenson appeared be- fore the Bay City Commission and asked the ordinance be altered so she could have a pet squirrel monkey. Commissioners opted not to amend the ordinance. So Stevenson had Apollo registered as an emotional service animal. Be- cause of this designation, she thought it would be OK for her to bring him into the courthouse. "I didn't have a monkey-sitter and I thought I'd only be a few minutes," she said. SHOW ME THE MORMONS STATUE SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Police are search- ing for thieves who stole a US$125,000 statue of Mormons Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. The founder of the LDS church and the man who led Mormons west to Utah were paired in the statue stolen last week from Salt Lake City, according to KUTV. Surveillance footage caught three men and a woman loading the 360-kilogram statue on a trailer and taking it away. Police also responded to several tips from people who saw the statue being removed. The statue was discovered unharmed. LT LEGALFEEDS.CA POWERED BY MAJOR COURT RULINGS • DAILY UPDATES NEWS ROUNDUP • EVENTS NEWS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Untitled-9 1 2017-05-18 3:34 PM

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