Silent Stupidity
Fools believe silence is a void needing to be filled; the wise understand there’s no such thing as silence – Michael J. Sullivan, Age of Myth By Murray Gottheil | May 30, 2023 Client: Why do I want to pay for two lawyers to be in this meeting? Acceptable answers: Unacceptable answers: You might think that […]
Giselle Basanta on becoming one of only a few Black females leading a legal department in Canada
By Julius Melnitzer | May 18, 2023 There are very few Black females leading legal departments in Canada. Giselle Basanta, a latecomer to the law after the better part of two decades as a public servant, is one of them. She is only aware of four others. When George Brown College went looking for a […]
Bah, Humble
Photo by Amirr Zolfaqari at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | May 15, 2023 I spoke to a young lawyer the other day who hails from another country. I will call her Natalie. Natalie explained to me that where she comes from, the culture is such that self-promotion is frowned upon. In her country, people do not […]
What Danger Lurks in the Shadow of Brilliance?
Photo by Dustin Tray at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | May 11, 2023 Now that I have been retired for a few years, I sometimes wonder whether my experience as to how law firms work remains valid. Also, since I spent my days with medium-sized firms and not in Big Law, I occasionally worry that […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: Celebrities abound for BLG’s Guy Pratte’s new podcast | BJ’s Will Osler chairs Calgary Stampede | SCC has opportunity to resolve test for appealing domestic arbitral awards | SCC launches new electronic filing portal | Wildeboer’s 30th anniversary
By Julius Melnitzer | March 30, 2023 BLG’s Pratte launches Art of Persuasion podcast Borden Ladner Gervais LLP’s Guy Pratte, one of Canada’s top litigators will launch The Art of Persuasion, his new podcast, on April 21. The podcast will feature conversations with notable Canadians including former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, defence counsel Marie Henein, […]
Zoom trials: benefits outweigh hiccups
By Julius Melnitzer | March 28, 2023 Alf Kwinter of Toronto’s Singer Kwinter, a 77-year-old icon of the plaintiff’s personal injury bar who is in his 51st year of practice, has become an advocate of the virtual Zoom trial. “I was very surprised by how well it worked, so much so that the recent move […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: LSO panel splits on whether Black Lives Matter criticism is professional misconduct | Firm sues ‘underbilling’ associates | Remote lawyering: longer hours: CLIO survey | LSO suspends paralegal who cost clients $500,000 | CTA: compensation for passenger applies to all others on same flight
By Julius Melnitzer | March 8, 2023 IS AGGRESSIVE CRITICISM OF BLACK LIVES MATTER PROFESSIONAL MISCONDUCT? A Law Society Tribunal has split on whether social media posts criticizing Black Lives Matter, Pride Day and public health mask mandates amounted to professional misconduct. Lisa Simone, who was applying for a paralegal license, admitted the posts were […]
The difficult art of handling clients
By Julius Melnitzer | February 6, 2023 The art of managing one’s clients has befuddled many a lawyer. But Sean Dillman, an enterprising, tech-savvy, ex-general practitioner and co-manager of a law firm has come up with a novel approach: a client prepared for the lawyer experience, he says, will be much easier to manage. To […]
BARE BONES BRIEFS: Family lawyers make these professional misconduct mistakes | Clio offers escape from restrictive legaltech contracts | Wikipedia influences judges’ decisions: MIT study | Former CJO Strathy joins Arbitration Place | Medical device mass torts proliferating
By Julius Melnitzer | January 30, 2023 PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT MISTAKES FAMILY LAWYERS SHOULD AVOID In a Six Minute Family Lawyer Program, Bill Trudell, who defends lawyers before the Law Society of Ontario, outlined five Rules of Professional Conduct “that frequently are not followed and ones that may be of particular relevance to the family law […]
Law Society of Ontario accepts license surrender from lawyer Jerry Nesker who misused trust account
Bill Trudell says his client was trying to help a client and didn’t intend wrongdoing. By Julius Melnitzer | January 3, 2023 The Law Society Tribunal has allowed veteran Toronto lawyer Jerry Nesker to surrender his license after using his trust account to permit transfers of $150 million from abroad for purposes unrelated to the practice […]