Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa delivers the provincial budget as Premier Kathleen Wynne looks on at Queen’s Park in Toronto on Thursday, April 23, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette Dealing another blow to Plaintiffs, on August 1, 2015, the amendments to Ontario Regulation 461/96, Court Proceedings for Automobile Accidents that Occur on or After November 1, 1996, came into effect. These amendments provide for an …
Association News Category Archives
The Reality of a Publicly Traded Law Firm – How is a Car Crash Victim Served when her Lawyer is Focused on Share Price?
Slater and Gordon is a massive publicly traded international law firm that recently made the financial news in Australia when its share price took a fall of more than forty percent. The company has been an aggressive proponent of Alternative Business Structures (ABS), a law firm structure that permits non-lawyers to own law firms. Critics of ABS have consistently maintained that the corporatization of law …
New Challenges for OTLA in 2015-16
Maia Bent was elected President of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association (OTLA) on May 22, 2015, at the association’s Annual General Meeting in Toronto. Ms. Bent has served on the association’s Board of Directors since 2008, and has been a member of its Executive Committee for the past three years. Ms. Bent will lead the organization during the 2015-16 year. Here is her inaugural blog …
The Wild, Wild West
Western edges out win in tight OTLA Cup competition The best in the west defeated the rest – but not without a fight. The OTLA Cup returned to be heard in Kingston where it began 23 years ago, but the University of Western Ontario is taking it home in 2015. And what a Cup it was! Ten competitors and five witnesses from five of Ontario’s …
The Bencher Election Voting Guide is now available
OTLA urges all members to vote for candidates that oppose implementation of ABS as proposed by the Law Society. The time to vote for the next Law Society Benchers draws near. In order to ensure that eligible lawyers are well-equipped when voting opens in April, OTLA has prepared a Voting Guide, complete with a list of candidates who oppose the implementation of Alternative Business Structures. OTLA …
Standards of Excellence: Defining legal professionalism, ethics and integrity
Toronto lawyer Joseph Groia, the first lawyer convicted for incivility on the basis of submissions made in court on behalf of a client, is taking his long-standing legal battle to Ontario’s top court. From the Toronto Star. Mr. Groia succesfully represented Mr. Felderhof, an officer and director of Bre-X, a Calgary-based mining company that had grown to a multi-billion dollar company largely based on its claim …