BARE BONES BRIEFS: Lawyer convicted of racketeering too closely connected to judges for court to sanction him | Corporate veil still eroding? | Bail for RCMP official sentenced to 14 years for leaking state secrets to organized crime | FC: Google not exempt from PIPEDA | IBA Annual Conference coming to Toronto

By Julius Melnitzer | April 22, 2024

MAJORITY OF APPEAL COURT RECUSE THEMSELVES FROM WELL-CONNECTED LAWYER’S CASE

The Chicago Tribune reports that Illinois’ Supreme Court was unable to act on an an interim license suspension application brought by the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission against Ed Burke, a Chicago lawyer and the city’s longest-serving alderman, convicted of racketeering, bribery, and attempted extortion in December. A majority of the court’s seven judges recused themselves, making the necessary quorum of four impossible to assemble. Although it’s not known which judges recused themselves, four were on the bench when Burke’s wife, Anne Burke, was on the court from 2006 until 2022. As it turned out, Burke quickly decided to retire.

Related Article: When lawyers are in trouble, to whom do they turn?

CORPORATE PARENTS’ LIABILITY FOR FOREIGN SUBSIDIARIES “MUCH BROADER” THAN THOUGHT

Writing in Practice Source, Daniel Leader of UK firm Leigh Day, maintains that two UK Supreme Court decisions, most recently Okpabi v. Shell, have confirmed that the scope of coporate parents’ liability for the actions of their foreign subsidiaries is “much broader than previously understood”. More particularly, the Supreme Court rejected the Court of Appeal’s restrictive test, which held that control was necessary for parent company liability.

“The [Supreme] Court made it clear that liability could also arise if there is supervision, advice and other forms of intervention which fall short of control,” Leader writes. “That could include global policy frameworks, which could be flawed and thereby give rise to harm. Significantly, the Supreme Court held that public undertakings by a parent company could also give rise to a legal duty if it fails to follow through. It would seem that the Supreme Court expects multinationals to honour their commitments.”

OCA GRANTS BAIL TO RCMP OFFICIAL WHO SPILLED SECRETS TO MAFIA

Justice Julie Thorburn of the Ontario Court of Appeal has granted bail pending appeal to Cameron Ortis, formerly Director General of the RCMP’s National Intelligence Coordination Centre. Ortis was sentenced to 14 years for breaching the Security of Information Act by communicating “special operational information” to high-level targets of international criminal investigations – despite the trial judge’s finding that there was no evidence that Ortis received any money or that any other motive existed for his actions.

FCA: GOOGLE SEARCH SUBJECT TO FEDERAL PRIVACY LAWS

The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld the Federal Court’s ruling that Google LLC’s operation of its search engine, Google Search, is subject to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. Google sought to invoke the exemption for organizations collecting personal information “for journalistic, artistic, or literary purposes and for no other purpose.” Google’s focus, in collecting information, the court reasoned, was not on “journalistic purpose” and certainly not solely for that purpose, but rather on the “dissemination of news”.

OPPORTUNITY SURROUNDS TORONTO’S HOSTING OF IBA CONFERENCE

An audience of over 5,000 representing 2,700 law firms, corporations, government and regulators from around the world are expected at the 2025 IBA Annual Conference scheduled for Toronto.

“In addition to bringing direct and indirect business tourism benefits, the Conference will be a huge opportunity for Toronto and all Canada to showcase and promote its strong legal sector covering all areas of commercial and other legal services,” says Barry Leon, a member arbitrator and mediator at Toronto’s Arbitration Place who is a former partner at Torys LLP and more recently a judge of the commercial division of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. “Also, it will be a huge opportunity to showcase Toronto and all Canada as an attractive place for business to invest, trade, and resolve disputes.”

To that end, Leon adds, it would be propitious for Ontario to implement the proposed Commercial Arbitration Act. “It was recommended over 3 years ago and has broad support as a way to help to reduce court backlogs and delay, and make Ontario more attractive as a place for arbitration, and in turn for businesses to trade and invest.”

Julius Melnitzer is a Toronto-based legal affairs writer, ghostwriter, writing coach and media trainer. Readers can reach him at [email protected] or https://legalwriter.net/contact.