CLA GETS NEW PRESIDENT
The Criminal Lawyers’ Association will soon have a new president as current head Frank Addario prepares to step down.
During the association’s fall conference on Nov. 27, lawyer Paul Burstein will be acclaimed to take over the job, according to a CLA notice. In announcing the change, Addario said he would continue his involvement and emphasized the ongoing fight for more legal aid funding.
“As I have been saying since June, the government did not spend 22 years ignoring legal aid funding to cave in over night. The fight is going to be a long one.”
SCHOLARSHIP WINNER ANNOUNCED
Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP recently announced that the 2009 Black Business & Professional Association national scholarship for black law students has been awarded to University of Ottawa law student Danardo Jones.
Between 2006 and 2008, Jones was a senior mentor at the Carleton University Centre for Initiatives in Education, where he acted as a classroom liaison between students and professors.
As a result of his mentorship experiences, Jones was invited to present at the 2008 Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education conference.
In 2007, he launched Seeds of Prevention, his own non-profit volunteer organization in Ottawa. This organization is based on the notion of social justice and offers seminars that discuss the relationships between law and the black community.
The scholarships are awarded to black students attending a college or university in Canada in order to further academic excellence among black youth.
TWO LAWYERS APPOINTED TO BENCH
Two Ontario lawyers are set to join the bench with the recent announcement of a pair of federal judicial appointments.
R. Dan Cornell, a partner at Cornell Mortlock & Sillberg in Lindsay, Ont., has been appointed a judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Sudbury replacing Justice P. B. Kane, who was transferred to Ottawa to replace the recently deceased Justice A. de L. Panet.
Also, Cindy A.M. MacDonald, an associate with Girones Lawyers in Timmins, Ont., has been appointed a Superior Court judge in Cochrane. She replaces Justice D. Nadeau, who was transferred to North Bay to take the place of Justice G.T.S. Valin. Valin elected to become a supernumerary judge last March.
OSGOODE CONVENES CORPORATE FORUM
York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School is bringing together experts to discuss corporate law and human rights issues this week.
The event, called an Expert Consultation on Corporate Law and Human Rights: Opportunities and Challenges of Using Corporate Law to Encourage Corporations to Respect Human Rights, is being held Nov. 5 and 6 at Osgoode’s professional development centre and will bring together corporate lawyers, civil society representatives, academics, government regulators, and industry representatives in support of the corporate law tools project of Harvard University professor John Ruggie, special representative of the United Nations secretary general on business and human rights.
Experts will discuss how key corporate and securities law concepts such as incorporation and listing, directors’ duties, reporting, shareholder engagement, and other governance issues as expressed in national laws and guidelines may help companies to respect human rights.
The event is being supported by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights with the assistance of Export Development Canada and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
LEGATE RECEIVES CAREER HONOUR
Lawyer Barbara Legate received a career recognition award from the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association last week for outstanding work in personal injury law.
Legate received the honour at the association’s annual celebration of the personal injury bar event as a result of her trial advocacy on behalf of the injured as well as her extensive contribution to legal education.
Legate, of London, Ont., founded her own firm, Legate & Associates Professional Corp., in 1996.
