LFO SEEKS ‘CONNECTING REGION’The Law Foundation of Ontario is looking for applications from community organizations as part of its efforts to create what it calls a “connecting region” of legal services.
The organization envisions the entity as consisting of a group of legal and non-legal organizations coming together to create a means of delivering legal information, referrals, and services to linguistic minorities or residents of rural areas.
The LFO says successful organizations will receive funding to assist with their efforts to work with other members of the connecting region.
Applications must be submitted by Jan. 22, 2010. More details are available online at
www.lawfoundation.on.ca/
connecting_region_Invitation.php.
LSUC HOSTS KIDS AT OSGOODEThe Law Society of Upper Canada hopes to give Grade 9 students an outline of the path to becoming a lawyer or paralegal at its upcoming Take Our Kids to Work at Osgoode Hall event.
Students participating in the interactive program will act as the jury in a courtroom demonstration put on by lawyers and an Ontario Court of Justice judge.
Presenters at the event include Justice Mavin Wong of the Ontario Court of Justice; Erinn O’Marra, an assistant Crown attorney for the Region of Peel; Michael Lacy of Lacy Barristers; Alyssa Manning of Vandervennen Lehrer; Cettina Cornish, counsel at the LSUC; and Stephen McClyment, senior investigation counsel at the law society.
The event takes place from 2-3:30 p.m. on Nov. 4 at Osgoode Hall, 130 Queen St. W. The event also will be webcast. Participation must be reserved online by Oct. 29 at
ecom.lsuc.on.ca/kidstowork.
MCCARTHYS INTERVENESMcCarthy Tétrault LLP has helped a coalition of groups get leave to intervene before the Supreme Court of Canada in the case
Prime Minister of Canada, et al v. Omar Ahmed Khadr.
The firm said it acted pro bono on behalf of Lawyers Without Borders Canada, the Barreau du Québec, and the Groupe d’études en droits et libertés de l’Université Laval.
“We are proud to be participating in this very important Canadian debate, which addresses complex constitutional, human rights, and international law questions,” said Iain Scott, chairman and CEO of McCarthys in Toronto.
A Canadian citizen, Khadr was taken prisoner in Afghanistan at the age of 15 and has been detained since 2002 at the United States’ Guantanamo Bay military prison.
He has sought judicial review of the Canadian government’s policy and its decision not to seek his repatriation.
MOVES AT HEENAN BLAIKIEHeenan Blaikie LLP says recent moves to bulk up its national infrastructure, public-private partnership, and construction practices reflect the need to create “highly integrated, multidisciplinary legal teams.”
“The addition of four new senior lawyers in Toronto and Montreal enhances our leadership in the infrastructure space and adds considerably to our project development and financing capabilities,” said Ilan Dunsky, co-chairman of the firm’s infrastructure and public-private partnership practice group.
The firm has recently added lawyers Geza Banfai, Joel Watson, Roger Stuart, and Howard Krupat to the practice group.
