Category Archives: Bar Leadership Skills

What is Rep*ar*tee?

repartee

Take part in the relaunch of OBA’s charity!

OBA Foundation is the new name for ALERT (the Advancement of Legal Education and Research Trust).   Established in 1987, we’ve supported many great legal research and education projects over more than 25 years.

To announce the launch of the OBA Foundation Chief Justice of Ontario Fellowships in Legal Ethics and Professionalism, which will be funded and administered by the OBA Foundation, we’re having a party!   “Repartee” is our inaugural fundraiser, taking place on June 13, 2013 from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm, at 20 Toronto Street, Toronto.  Tickets are $35.00 per person.  “Repartee” will include a silent auction and live auction, featuring some terrific items and services donated by lawyers, law firms and businesses.   Continue reading →

Why the Rock needs a Law School

Archetypally, Newfoundlanders are the lawyers of Canada: proud, passionate, and fiercely loyal in temperament despite historically being the butt of bad jokes.

Now, once again, Memorial University is considering a law school.  (Click on the Memorial logo – above right – to read the story.)

A law school is a living monument to hope and the rule of law.  It is a statement that localism can co-exist with an international perspective.  It is so many things, but above all: a recognition that the lawyers trained in a distinct community can, through national mobility, add to the legal diversity and dialogue of a wide and vast country.  A law school on the Rock will be good for Newfoundland and Labrador, but lawyers trained in Newfoundland and Labrador will also be good for Canada.

Terms of use / Mentions légales

Does Linguistic Diversity Matter in Law?

During a bilingual hearing in the Court of Appeal, an unrepresented party made an objection to the use of the court-appointed translator.  When this occurred, the presiding judge on the panel asked whether the parties were content to hold the hearing in French only.

It turned out the only one who demurred was the lawyer from the Crown, who was not a party but who had standing as an intervenor because of a Charter issue.  Eager to avoid an adjournment, I turned around, spoke to the lawyer in French and ascertained that he could in fact speak French.  I avoided the adjournment.  The hearing continued in French only, and the young lawyer from the Crown Law Office prevailed against me.  (Belende v. Patel [Eng.]; Belende c. Patel [Fr.]) Continue reading →

My Choice for “Best New Blog” in the #clawbies2012 Awards

My Choice for CLawBies 2012 Best New Blog?  The Law Society of Upper Canada’s Treasurer’s Blog.

Not because the idea of a Treasurer’s blog is “cool.”  (Do we even want that?  No one outside of Ontario know he is actually the President of the Law Society, and we cling on to the misnomer to prevent the leader from being described with such epithets.)

Not because the Law Society under Tom Conway has embraced social media.  (He’s still a one-man-band.  We’ll wait for the chorus of  ”lifer” benchers to sign up on Twitter.)

Not because it reaches out to a new generation of lawyers, who must become engaged.  (I don’t think that generation logs on to the Law Society site, except to record their CPD hours – at least they do that.) Continue reading →