ONTARIO COURT JUDGES APPOINTEDThe provincial government has named two new judges of the Ontario Court of Justice as well as a case management master.
Taking a seat on the bench in Brampton, Ont., is Sonia Khemani, a lawyer called to the bar in 2001. A private practitioner specializing in child welfare litigation in Mississauga, Ont., for the past three years, she previously worked as legal counsel for the Peel Children’s Aid Society.
Also presiding in Brampton is Anthony Sullivan, a lawyer who has been a sole practitioner in Toronto practising family, immigration, and refugee law for the past 27 years.
At the Superior Court of Justice, the province has named Janet Mills a case management master. An arbitrator and mediator for the past three years, Mills was previously a registrar in bankruptcy for the Superior Court.
All of the appointments are effective today. They came as the province also announced the upcoming appointment of two regional senior judges of the Ontario Court. Justice Patrick Boucher takes on the role in the northeast region as of July 15 while Justice Joyce Elder becomes the regional senior judge for the northwest region on Aug. 12.
LEGAL FACES AMONG APPOINTMENTS TO ORDER OF CANADASeveral members of the legal profession were among those named to the Order of Canada last week.
Among those named as officers of the Order of Canada was Allen Linden, a retired judge of the Federal Court of Appeal, as well as former Quebec Court of Appeal justice Louise Otis and former Ontario associate chief justice John Morden.
The legal names among the 100 Order of Canada appointees announced last week also included Stephen Toope, a former president of the University of British Columbia who had previously served as dean of the McGill University Faculty of Law.
CLA HEAD WEIGHS IN ON LAURA LISCIO CASECriminal Lawyers’ Association president Anthony Moustacalis has added his voice to those reacting to the withdrawal of charges against lawyer Laura Liscio.
“I am thrilled, but not surprised, that all charges against Laura Liscio were withdrawn yesterday,” said Moustacalis following the late-June withdrawal of the charges against Liscio.
Besides commending her lawyer, Stephen Bernstein, Moustacalis also lauded the Public Prosecution Service of Canada for quickly reviewing the case and concluding there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.
In February, police arrested Liscio and charged her with smuggling drugs into the courthouse in Brampton, Ont., after she delivered a change of clothing to a prisoner there. The case raised significant concern among the bar about the risks lawyers face in delivering court clothes to clients as well as the handling of Liscio’s arrest by police.
POLL RESULTSThe results of the latest
Law Times online poll are in.
According to the poll, the majority of respondents feel it’s time to do away with street checks by police. With the Ontario government considering how to regulate the practice, also known as carding, 58 per cent of poll participants want to abolish it.
A further 38 per cent would like to find a way to regulate carding to deal with the concerns raised over the years while less than five per cent want to keep things as they are.
