LSUC GIVES HONORARY LLDThe Law Society of Upper Canada has given former bencher Thomas Heintzman an honorary LLD.
Heintzman practised as a litigation counsel with McCarthy Tétrault LLP from 1968 to 2012 and has been credited with having worked on some of the country’s most important cases, having argued before the Supreme Court of Canada 19 times.
“I’m very humbled, flattered and grateful for the profession’s recognition of me,” he says.
Heintzman also served as the president of the Canadian Bar Association, as well as the president of the Ontario Bar Association, and he was appointed to the Order of Canada in 1998.
Heintzman says he left McCarthy Tétrault in 2012 to do arbitration and mediation work, which he says he could not do at a big firm. He now works out of Arbitration Place, an arbitration chambers on Bay Street in downtown Toronto. As a bencher, Heintzman was the chairman of the governance committee, and he was involved in changes to bencher elections and implementing term limits.
The law society gives the honorary degree “in recognition of outstanding achievements in service and benefit to the legal profession.”
Heintzman was given the honorary LLD at a Call to the Bar ceremony in Toronto on Jan. 27.
CALL FOR APPLICATIONSThe Law Foundation of Ontario has put a call out for applications for its responsive grants program.
The program has funded hundreds of access to justice projects administered by non-profit community groups that look to harness innovation to provide legal information to those in need that might not have access.
The Law Foundation has two rounds of grants in the program.
The first provides grants of up to $100,000 and the second gives smaller amounts of up to $15,000.
The deadline to submit applications is March 31.
LERNERS LLP ADDS INSURANCE LAWYERSInsurance lawyers Jamieson Halfnight and Anne Juntunen have joined Lerners LLP.
The two lawyers left Halfnight & McKinlay Professional Corporation to join Lerners’ Toronto office.
Halfnight has represented insurance companies and policy holders at every level of trial and appellate courts across the country. He has served as a chairman of the Advocates’ Society’s insurance committee and has also been a director of the society.
Juntunen has worked with Halfnight for four years after moving to Toronto from Atlanta.
LAW TIMES POLLLawyers say many will be denied legal representation in Ontario’s courts due to cuts made by Legal Aid Ontario to plug a $26-million deficit, but officials say this is not the case.
Readers were asked if they believe the deficit will mean more self-represented litigants.
Roughly 86 per cent said yes, this deficit is troubling and will clearly impact the number of self-represented litigants in Ontario courts.
The remaining 14 per cent said no, while the deficit needs attention, it will not impact the number of self-represented litigants in Ontario’s courts.
