Dodek
Continued From Page 5
Recently, I had the great priv-
ilege to serve as a member of the
Federation of Law Societies’ sub-
committee on the future harm
exception to the lawyer’s duty of
confidentiality. We struggled
with one of the toughest issues for
lawyers and for regulators: when
should a lawyer breach the duty of
confidentiality to a client to reveal
the threat of some future harm? I
was impressed by how all the con-
cern expressed by all members of
the committee expressed over
both the public interest mandate
of law societies and the need to
provide lawyers in difficult situa-
tions with concrete guidance.
The report and recommenda-
tions of that committee are now
before the member law societies
for consideration.
Research Solutions
New Edition!
Ontario Superior Court Practice, 2011 Edition
The Honourable Mr. Justice Todd Archibald, The Honourable Gordon Killeen & James C. Morton
$85 + tax
Approx. 2,500 Pages
Hardcover + Softcover + CD-ROM
August 2010 • Annual
Standing Order Terms Apply*
ISBN: 9780433465478
The New Standard for Practising in the New Regime
The Osborne amendments to the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure have
been in place since January 1, 2010, and the courts have already ruled
on its implications. The new edition of Ontario Superior Court Practice
incorporates the latest case law into its commentary, to help you
understand how the changes will be interpreted and applied.
“I am pleased to recommend ONTARIO SUPERIOR
COURT PRACTICE as THE place to look for the
answers. It will save counsel and for that
matter, the court, time in dealing with practice
issues. The authors take a direct and no-
nonsense approach. The result is very helpful
in giving guidance to the profession. For
example, the tables on procedural time limits
and substantive limitations provisions are
clearly the product of a huge amount of work.
We take the benefit of this as they provide
answers to questions which are almost always
asked in a state of panic! I personally found
the Practice Notes with each of the provisions
of the Rules to be succinct, helpful and to the
point.”
Rob Bell
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Toronto
Features
• “Practice Notes” throughout highlight the governing principles
for interpreting and applying the legislation and rules, with footnote
references to the leading decisions, providing useful examples of the
principles in question
• Causes of action and damages table — comprehensive listing of over
50 of the most common civil claims and heads of damages, detailing the
necessary elements that must be pleaded – referenced by the leading
case law
• Substantive limitation periods table — setting out the Ontario
and federal statutory limitation periods. Plus, a highlight of relevant
procedural timelines under each rule as well as in table format and an
overview of the common law of limitation periods
• Solicitors Act annotated — full coverage of this important statute,
with the rules governing the assessment and collection of accounts as
reflected in the leading cases
• Appendices — providing quick reference to over 25 pertinent court
practice guidelines
• Forms book and forms CD-ROM — providing quick access to forms
most commonly resorted to
“This book is superb — exceeding my
expectations of a civil practice annual. There
are so many unique features: the textual
format emphasizing the governing principle
(with example cases), a table explaining the
elements of each cause of action and head of
damage, summaries of time sensitive matters
under each rule, just to name a few. Not just the
common but also the complex situations have
been anticipated and answered.”
Jacqueline King
Miller Thomson, Toronto
“The superior features of this rules book
— the “all at a glance” tables on causes of
actions and limitations periods, and succinct
explanation of points of law under each section
of the Rules — serve to provide quick answers
and guidance to questions we encounter in
our daily work. It’s definitely a handy tool for
contemporary law clerks.”
Deanna Watters, Law Clerk
Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP
Order Today!
www.lexisnexis.ca/bookstore 1-800-668-6481
Take advantage of the
† Examination!
address this subject invites government regulation. This is
exactly what happened to health
professionals in Ontario where
the government stepped in to
address a widespread public
perception that the medical
profession was not taking this
issue seriously enough. The
Ontario Legislature legislated a
mandatory revocation of a doctor’s licence for engaging in sex
with a patient irrespective of
whether sexual relations were
consensual or not. That prohibition was upheld by the
Ontario Court of Appeal.
To its credit, the CBA tried to
amend its code of conduct to
address this issue a number of
years ago but that effort was
unsuccessful. Most of the other
law societies seem content to follow a variation of the strategy
employed by many parents of
teenagers when it comes to sex:
don’t talk about the problem, in
the hope that they won’t have to
address it. Denial is not a particularly efficacious strategy for parents and it is unlikely to be any
more successful for law societies.
As a profession, we have been
incredibly resilient against scandals of the past decade. Philip
Slayton’s Lawyers Gone Bad
enraged the legal profession, titillated the public and rocketed to
the top of bestseller lists but it did
not register on the political radar
in any province. I strongly believe
that as a profession, we are one
scandal away from government
intervention. Sex with clients is
the most likely tripwire but access
to justice is probably the most
deserving.
According to the speeches of
leaders of the bar and the bench,
access to justice is the most
important issue facing our justice
system. I completely agree. However, when one reads codes of
conduct one is hard pressed to
find anything beyond exhortations and platitudes on the subject. In some American jurisdictions, there are soft or hard
targets for pro bono work for all
lawyers. In order to practice in
some courts, one must commit to
be on a referral list for pro bono
cases. Ideas to translate the principle of access to justice into
action abound. However, they are
not found in any codes of conduct. They should be.
The failure to address these
difficult issues ultimately jeopardizes self-regulation of the profession. If law societies don’t
address these issues through
codes of conduct, ultimately governments will. ;
Please quote Reservation Code 3306 when ordering.
ll be placed on standing order to receive future editions automatically on 30-day risk-free examination terms.
ther details are subject to change without notice. We pay shipping & handling if payment accompanies order.
c., used under licence. Butter worths and Halsbury’s are registered trademarks of Reed Elsevier (U.K.) Limited
s or registered trademarks of their respective companies. © 2010 LexisNexis Canada Inc. All rights reserved.
Adam Dodek is an associate
professor at the University of
Ottawa’s faculty of law.
We want to hear from you!
E-mail us at: tlw@lexisnexis.ca ;
