Law Society Medal Winners Announced New Blockchain Alliance Law Firm Welcomes Equity Partners Law Times Poll
The Law Society of Ontario has announced the recipients of the 2018 Law Society Medal. Lenny Abramowicz, one of the recipients, is executive director of the Association of Community Legal Clinics of Ontario. For the past three decades, he has worked to promote equal access to justice and equality for low-income Ontarians. Abramowicz says this award is a team effort for the work that’s been done in the field.
“I don’t see this as an individual recognition but as a recognition for the community clinics system and legal aid system overall,” he says.
Called to the bar in 1987, Abramowicz says there’s more to do on increasing access to justice and providing help to low-income communities and vulnerable individuals but the recognition from the Law Society is a positive step forward in the legal field.
“The type of work we do is important, and I think the law society is recognizing that more,” he says.
The other recipients for the 2018 Law Society Medal are: Kathleen Lickers, a Seneca from Six Nations of the Grand River, who’s recognized for her involvement in Indigenous affairs; John Andrew Olthuis, who represents First Nations peoples across the country in litigation and negotiation; Gilles LeVasseur, a Franco-Ontarian who has dedicated his career to the rights of Ontario’s francophone community; Carissima Mathen, a law professor at the University of Ottawa who has worked on issues such as women’s equality and public legal education; and Walter Martin Traub, who is considered one of Canada’s foremost experts in mortgage and real estate law.
Gowling WLG and Decentral Inc. have created an alliance to improve the legal and commercial applications of blockchain technology. The Toronto-based company will help Gowling WLG develop its inner blockchain foundation and client-facing tools and Gowling WLG will offer legal guidance on Decentral’s current practices and future projects, according to a press release. Future initiatives include engineering contract technology, drafting legal documents and establishing growing frameworks of Canada’s blockchain industry.
Jason Gudofsky and Debbie Salzberger have joined McCarthy Tétrault LLP’s National Competition & Foreign Investment Group in Toronto, which deals with mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, business practices and compliance issues. Before McCarthy Tétrault, Gudofsky and Salzberger worked at Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP.
In this week’s poll, Law Times reported that an Ontario judge has ruled he has jurisdiction to review decisions by student unions at three post-secondary institutions that denied official status to other student groups.
Law Times asked readers if they agreed with this finding.
Fifty per cent said that yes, the court has jurisdiction and it was right to uphold the decisions to deny status to the student groups.
Fifty per cent said no, upholding these decisions breached principles of natural justice and is contrary to Charter values.
