Publications

  • Advocacy at the Crossroads

    Perhaps every generation of Canadian advocates has wondered whether and how great advocacy will survive the ascendancy of a new generation of advocates. Or maybe it's the oft-described collective narcissism of my generation, the baby boomers, that makes us convinced we are always at some sort of crossroads. But I think that whether you choose advocacy in the courtroom or in the boardroom, the challenges will be daunting. And I worry that those of us who practise civil litigation have already lost our way - that we must respond to the dramatic ways in which law and advocacy have changed in the last 20 years if advocacy is to continue to be the fuel of a fair and robust justice system.

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  • Alan Borovoy: The Social Reformer

    Alan Borovoy prefers to keep his daily routines simple and, well, routine. For years, he has eaten lunch most weekdays at the By the Way Cafe on Bloor Street in Toronto's Annex. Today is a little different. We are lunching at the Superior Restaurant at Yonge and Dundas, which is Borovoy's backup when meetings bring him downtown. He wordlessly orders his usual lunch with nothing more than a nod to the server. A plate of trout and grilled vegetables soon arrives.

    Borovoy's lean frame is evident in all the old family photos, but it likely has been nourished by his insistence on health conscious meals that vary little from day to day. Ensconced in the large leather banquette at the back of the Superior, Borovoy is diminutive: he would surely fit into the suit he wore when he graduated from law school almost 60 years ago. But, as he begins his story, his eyes widen, he speaks in near-perfect paragraphs and his presence enlarges to fill the ample space around him.

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  • As I make my way around our Society, the chorus of concern appears to be rapidly growing larger and louder. How do we save the civil justice system from collapsing under its own weight, with endless discovery, trial dates years into the future, and ever-spiralling costs?

    The problem is not new; nor is it the bar's dirty little secret. According to the Ministry of the Attorney General public consultations on the costs of civil litigation, "The public perception is that ... once litigants become enmeshed in the [civil justice] system, their destiny is out of control. Too late to get out, they discover that they simply cannot afford the game. They are not only paying to win or lose, they are also paying to wait."

  • On March 9, 2006, a diverse selection of participants from across the province attended the Society's day-long policy forum, Streamlining the Ontario Civil Justice System. The audience of 175 included Chief Justices Roy McMurtry, Heather Smith and Brian Lennox, Associate Chief Justice Douglas Cunningham, members of the judiciary from across the province, Attorney General Michael Bryant and members of his ministry, representatives from the Department of Justice, professors of law, and many of the province's most accomplished and experienced advocates.

    The Final Report from the forum -- in both print and CD formats -- has just been mailed to our members and to all who participated. I hope you will read it and give us your comments.   

  • For most of my more than 20 years in law, I would not have seen it coming: a room of 250 women litigators and jurists -- talented, accomplished and, for the most part, smiling -- hoping to press forward what one American writer has described as the "unfinished agenda: women in the legal profession." The occasion was "Skirting the Issues," The Advocates' Society's Networking Conference for Women in Litigation, the first of its kind in Canada.

    The enthusiastic response to the conference, which was the brainchild of our Director of Education, Jessica Grant, appears to reflect a widespread appetite to talk about the challenges that women face in establishing a successful career in advocacy, a desire to seek out mentors and fellow travellers and, call me a sentimentalist, a hankering for something resembling a community of female litigators, a community rarely in evidence except perhaps at the annual LEAF Breakfast.

  • My partner in law and life is forever telling me that lawyers do not like to talk about their feelings. I think he means male lawyers mostly, but surely times have changed. Surely we advocates can ask ourselves how we feel about what we spend so much time doing.

    I am flipping through my copy of Learned Friends, The Advocates' Society's tribute to 50 remarkable advocates, trying to decide whether to stuff it in the book bag bound for the cottage. I am struck by author Jack Batten's narrative thread: the unspoken but powerful truth that ties these advocates' stories together -- they all loved advocacy.

Endorsements

  •    Adriana  Doyle

  •    Andrew  Lewis

  •    Andrew  Lokan

  •    Barbara  Murchie

  •    Carl  Fleck

  •    Carol  Hartman

  •    Chris  Paliare

  •    Christopher  Bredt

  •    Danny  Kastner

  •    David  Scott

  •    Denise  Sayer

  •    Derry  Millar

  •    Donald  Eady

  •    Emily  Lawrence

  •    Gordon  Capern

  •    Heather  Ross

  •    Howard  Goldblatt

  •    Ian  Roland

  •    James  Scarfone

  •    Janet  Leiper

  •    Jean  Claude-Killey

  •    Jeffrey  Larry

  •    Jill  Presser

  •    Jodi  Martin

  •    John  Callaghan

  •    John  Monger

  •    Julian  Porter

  •    Karen  Jones

  •    Ken  Prehogan

  •    Ken  Rosenberg

  •    Kirk  Baert

  •    Larry  Banack

  •    Lily  Harmer

  •    Malcolm  Mercer

  •    Margaret  Waddell

  •    Mark  Sandler

  •    Massimo  Starnino

  •    Megan  Shortreed

  •    Michael  Fenrick

  •    Nasha  Nijhawan

  •    Nick  Coleman

  •    Nini  Jones

  •    Odette  Soriano

  •    Paul  Schabas

  •    Richard  Stephenson

  •    Robert  Centa

  •    Robert  Wadden

  •    Ross  Earnshaw

  •    Sari  Teitelbaum

  •    Susan  Brown

  •    Thomas  Heintzman

  •    Tina  Lie

  •    Tom  Conway

  •    Tracy  Wynne

  •    Wendy  Matheson

  •    William  McDowell

  •    Anna  Kinastowski

  •    Ava  Hillier

  •    Barbara  Grossman

  •    Bruce  Carr-Harris

  •    Dennis  Brown

  •    Earl  Cherniak

  •    Eldon  Bennett

  •    Gary  Graham

  •    Irwin  Fefergrad

  •    James  Easto

  •    Jacques  Emond

  •    Lisa  Brownstone

  •    Marie  Henein

  •    Mark  Contini

  •    Matthew  Gottlieb

  •    Neil  Finkelstein

  •    Patricia  Jackson

  •    Paul  Cavalluzzo

  •    Sandra  Forbes

  •    Sheila  Block

  •    Sheila  Holmes

  •    Stephen  Bale

  •    Stephen  Grant

  •    Aaron  Hershtal

  •    Adrian  Lang

  •    Alan  Lenczner

  •    Alan  Mark

  •    Angela  Rae

  •    Ben  Zarnett

  •    C.  Clifford Lax

  •    Charles  Scott

  •    Charles  Simcoe

  •    Christopher  Pibus

  •    Don  Shanks

  •    Emilio  Bisceglia

  •    Gale  Rubenstein

  •    Gavin  MacKenzie

  •    Gerald  A. Swaye

  •    Jane  Pepino

  •    Jane  Southren

  •    Janice  Payne

  •    John  A. McLeish

  •    John  E. Brooks

  •    John  F. Evans

  •    John  West

  •    Leslie  McIntosh

  •    Leslie  Wittlin

  •    Lonny  Rosen

  •    Margaret  Ross

  •    Marlys  Edwardh

  •    Meredith  Donohue

  •    Navin  Khanna

  •    Nicole  Tellier

  •    Patricia  M. Conway

  •    Patrick  Murphy

  •    Paulene  Pasieka

  •    Peter  Cronyn

  •    Peter  Thorup

  •    Reuben  M. Rosenblatt

  •    Roger  Oatley

  •    Ross  Wells

  •    Sarah  Kraicer

  •    Stephen  Shamie

  •    Susan  Rosen

  •    Thomas  J. Curry

  •    Tom  Sheppard

  •    Wendy  J. Earle

  •    William  Anderson

  •    David  Morritt

  •    Frisina  Filomena

  •    Dolman  Jennifer

  •    Stephen  J. Wojciechowski

  •    Suzana  Popovic-Montag

  •    William  Dunlop

  •    Shirley  Linton

  •    Patricia  Speight

  •    Michael  Eizenga

  •    Louis  Frapporti

  •    Lou  Milrad

  •    Jeffrey  Leon

  •    Frank  Addario

  •    Elizabeth  McIntyre

  •    Clifford  Cole

  •    Brian  Foster

  •    Allan  Sternberg

  •    Mark  Lerner