Firm Now Accepting Crypto-Currency Law Community Represented In Order Of Ontario Appointees New OBA Executive Director Judicial Vacancy In Windsor Law Times Poll
Toronto law firm Wildeboer Dellelce LLP now accepts payment of legal fees by way of crypto-currency.
Clients can use Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin to pay up to 25 per cent of outstanding legal bills, to a maximum of $25,000 per month.
“[S]ome of them may be holding crypto-currency and if that would make it easier for them to pay, under this mechanism, we want to be able to provide them with that opportunity,” says Danny Kharazmi, an associate with the firm. The firm started accepting virtual currency as a form of payment on Feb. 1.
He says there’s already been interest from clients asking about the process and how to start using crypto-currency.
Twenty-three people have been appointed to the Order of Ontario, the province’s highest honour.
Five of those appointees are members of Ontario’s legal community.
Those honoured include: Elizabeth Sheehy, a criminal law scholar and law professor at the University of Ottawa; Allan Rock, former federal attorney general, former UN ambassador and law professor at the University of Ottawa; Michael Geist, a law professor and Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa; Sandra Chapnik, a former judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and distinguished visiting professor at Ryerson University; and Dr. Peter Chang, a lawyer and psychiatrist.
Elizabeth Hall will be the Ontario Bar Association’s new executive director.
Hall was the OBA’s director of policy and public affairs for five years ending in 2015 and has worked as the chief of staff for a number of provincial cabinet ministers, including the attorney general.
Hall will start her duties as executive director on Feb. 20, replacing Steve Pengelly, who is set to retire after working for the OBA for more than 10 years.
The Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee is accepting applications for a judicial position in Windsor for the Ontario Court of Justice. According to the Ontario Courts website, the position “involves presiding over criminal law matters and also involves travel within the regional boundaries as assigned.”
For more information, contact the Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee at 416-326-4060. Applications are due by Feb. 16.
In this week’s poll, Law Times is asking readers if they support the Law Society of Ontario being more involved in legal aid going forward, after an announcement that said it’s looking to reinvigorate its role when it comes to legal aid. Fifty-two per cent said yes, it would be good to improve communications between the private bar and Legal Aid Ontario.
Forty-eight per cent said no, this is not a good move for the regulator and does not honour the differing mandates of the law society and LAO.
