HICKS MORLEY LANDS THREE HEENAN BLAIKIE PARTNERSThree labour and employment lawyers have left Heenan Blaikie LLP for Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP.
The three new partners at Hicks Morley are Henry Dinsdale, Jeffrey Goodman, and Michael Smyth. They all work from the firm’s Toronto office.
“This is an exciting new development for the firm,” said Hicks Morley managing partner Stephen Shamie.
“The addition of our three new partners reinforces Hicks Morley’s long-standing commitment to provide firm clients with unparalleled depth and experience in the areas of law in which we practise. Henry, Jeffrey, and Michael are leading practitioners in the field of labour and employment law and will be a great addition to our already terrific team of professionals.”
A lawyer since 1989, Dinsdale works with federally and provincially regulated employers to provide advice on matters such as collective bargaining and employee terminations.
Goodman, a lawyer since 1990, focuses on representing corporations and insurers in employment litigation, class actions, and human rights, labour, and occupational health and safety matters.
Smyth advises federally and provincially regulated employers on grievances, arbitrations, discipline, terminations, human rights, certification applications, restructuring, collective bargaining, and employment contracts. He has been a lawyer since 1992.
PATRIOTIC LAWYER PLANNING GIANT FLAGA patriotic Windsor, Ont., lawyer wants to erect a massive Canadian flag on the city’s waterfront.
According to CBC News, Peter Hrastovec wants to erect a 45-metre “beacon” visible on both sides of the border.
“It’s going to be something like a beacon, that you can see from a long distance, not just across the border to our friends to the north of us, as we say, but up and along the riverfront,” Hrastovec told CBC News.
According to CBC News, Hrastovec is seeking private donations for a project he estimates will cost $250,000.
NEW PARTNER AT DICKINSON WRIGHTDickinson Wright LLP has a new partner at its Toronto office.
Axel Kindbom, chairman of the firm’s professional development committee in Toronto, became a partner effective Jan. 1.
He practises corporate/commercial law and acts for public and private companies on mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, distressed investments and restructurings, venture capital finance, government funding, and private equity.
QUEBEC JUDGES BARRED FROM NEW CASES Quebec courts have barred two judges from new cases in light of an ongoing police investigation.
After days of media reports that two judges were the object of an ongoing investigation by the Surêté du Québec, the Court of Quebec issued a terse four-paragraph statement on Jan. 7 saying it’s now looking into the conduct of one of the two magistrates: Rouyn-Noranda provincial court Judge Marc Grimard.
“For the time being, no new files will be assigned to Judge Grimard,” the court said in a statement.
The Canadian Judicial Council issued a statement the following day. It said it would be reviewing the conduct of the other judge named in the case, Quebec Superior Court Justice Michel Girouard.
“The review concerns his conduct prior to his appointment to the bench and includes an allegation that the judge would have participated in a transaction to purchase an illicit substance from a police informant,” reads the CJC statement.
The allegations stem from a 2010 police bust of a drug trafficking ring in Quebec’s rugged Abitibi region.
A police informant has accused both men of being regular customers for cocaine.
POLL RESULTSThe results of the latest Law Times
online poll are in.
The vast majority of Law Times readers who participated in the poll believe the Ontario government isn’t doing enough to equip the justice system with electronic services.
The poll asked readers, “Has the Ontario government dropped the ball on providing electronic services in the justice system given the latest revelation that it may not implement the Crown Management Information System?”
According to the results, 90.5 per cent of respondents said yes.
The poll followed recent Law Times stories on the government’s slow progress in launching comprehensive technological services in the courts.
