The Lawyers Weekly - September 2, 2011

n Steve Suarez has joined
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG)
as a partner in the firm’s Toronto
office. Suarez practises exclu-
sively in the area of income tax
law with a particular focus on the
natural resource sector, and
brings over 20 years of tax law
experience to BLG.
n;Marie-Hélène Jolicoeur has
joined Lavery LLP’s labour law
group in its Montreal office.
Jolicoeur specializes in the areas of
labour law, labour relations, health
law, occupational health and safety
and civil litigation. She is also act-
ively involved in the Jeune Chambre
de Commerce de Montréal, and
was recently appointed its vice-
president, corporate affairs and
secretary. Éric Gélinas has also
joined Lavery’s Montreal office in
its business law team as partner.
He has significant experience in
corporate tax matters related to
business succession and estate
planning, and has developed a
unique expertise in complex
domestic and international tax
reorganizations. Gélinas also
teaches taxation in the department
of accounting and taxation at the
Université de Sherbrooke’s busi-
ness school since 2010.
n;James Papadimitriou, Valérie
Mac-Seing and Sébastien
Thomas have joined McCarthy
Tétrault LLP as partners, in the
firm’s expanding real property and
planning group in Montreal.
For Gwen Hatch, the seeds
of her legal career were sown
when she was a young girl
growing up in Winnipeg. “I was
profoundly influenced by my
mother and grandmother in my
youth,” she told The Lawyers
Weekly. “They were both strong,
independent women.”
“I saw,” Hatch noted, “what
they were able to accomplish in
what was then a very male-dom-
inated society.”
Hatch, a partner with Tapper
Cuddy LLP in Winnipeg, emu-
lated her role models by graduat-
ing with an LL.B. from the Uni-
versity of Manitoba in 1981.
Today, she practises in the areas
of wills and estate litigation, and
family law.
“Those areas selected me,”
Hatch said. “I found, particularly
in family law, the individuals
appreciated having a female
family lawyer. A tremendous
amount of work came to me.”
As an experienced litigation
lawyer, Hatch, past president of the
Estate Planning Council of Winni-
peg, has also appeared as counsel in
numerous hearings, trials and
appeals including appeals to the
Supreme Court of Canada.
The past chair of the Mani-
toba Bar Association’s Wills and
Trusts Section also believes there
is a logical fit between estate law
and family law. “There really is a
natural overlap in these areas.
You’re dealing with families often
in conflict.”
“Listening is key to hearing
what people’s goals are,” Hatch
stressed. “They’re angry at the situ-
ation. They’re not angry at you.”
In addition to listening care-
fully, Hatch has written exten-
sively about family and estate
law. Most recently the winner of
the Gold Medal in English at the
University of Winnipeg, she had
three articles published in Estates
& Trusts Reports and in the first
three volumes of Estate Planning
Precedents: A Solicitor’s Manual.
One of those papers, “Pecore and

AWARDS

n;The Canadian Civil Liberties
Association (CCLA) has honoured
the achievements of Canadians
whose work enriches democracy
and inspires excellence in Can-
adian society. The CCLA honoured
Earl Cherniak for excellence in
advocacy. Cherniak is a partner at
Lerners LLP and his practice
focuses on product liability, class
actions, directors and officer’s lia-
bility, corporate and commercial
litigation, securities litigation and
appeals. He has previously served
as president of The Advocates’
Society. He is also a current
bencher of Ontario’s law society.

THE LAWYERS WEEKLY

VOL. 22, NO. 27 NE WS FOR THE LEGAL PROFESSION DECEMBER 6, 2002

Name:
Gwen Hatch
Law school:
University of Manitoba
Called to the Bar:
1982
Career highlights:
1981 Graduated with her
LL.B. from the University of
Manitoba
1999-2003 Served as
Course Head of the Wills &
Estates Bar Admission Course for
The Law Society of Manitoba
PHOTO B Y JIM PANABAKER

Gwen Hatch
2009 Presented “Pensions
and Spousal Support: The
Double Dip” at a special program
sponsored by the Court of
Queen’s Bench and others
its Legacy: Presumptions of
Resulting Trust and Advance-
ment,” looks at a decision that
Hatch concludes “examines, re-
evaluates and defines the roles of
rebuttable presumptions of
advancement and resulting trust
that are to be applied to gratuit-
ous transfers of assets.”
“Here’s a presumption that’s
being applied in both family law
and estate cases,” noted Hatch,
who originally presented a paper
on this topic during “Til Death
Do Us Part and Beyond,” a pro-
gram sponsored by the Court of
Queen’s Bench, The Law Society
of Manitoba, and the Manitoba
Bar Association.

Another emerging trend being watched closely by the University of Manitoba law school lecturer is the growing reliance on the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines in family law.

Two significant changes have
taken place since Hatch gradu-
ated with her law degree. Both are
clearly visible as soon as one
walks inside a law firm. “The pro-
fession has profoundly been
affected by technology,” said
Hatch. “That has to be controlled.”
The other profound change:
the inclusion and rise of women
in law. “We are seeing slowly
women assume leadership pos-
itions in the profession,” said
Hatch, noting that when she
graduated there were no female
justices on the Manitoba Court
of Queen’s Bench or in the court
of appeal. Today 17 of 44 justices
on the Queen’s bench and three
of the nine appeal court justices
are women.

2010 Authored three articles for Estates & Trusts Reports and Estate Planning Precedents: A Solicitor’s Manual

from it all, that’s what Hatch does — literally. The part-time deputy commissioner of the Manitoba Residential Tenancies Commission has a zest for travel. While Hawaii and New York top her lists of favourites, the Winnipeg lawyer has also visited China, India, and Australia.

Hatch also has one other passion: hockey. She’s a huge Vancouver Canucks fan, although her allegiance is about to end. “I anticipate changing my loyalty next year to Winnipeg’s NHL team,” said Hatch. “It’s very exciting for us. We’re very devoted to hockey in Manitoba.” n

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Correspondents

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® THE LAWYERS WEEKLY VOL. 22, NO. 27 NEWS FOR THE LEGAL PROFESSION DECEMBER 6, 2002

THE LAWYERS WEEKLY

Vol. 22, No. 27 NEWS FOR THE LEGAL PROFESSION December 6, 2002

THE LAWYERS WEEKLY

VOL. 22, NO. 27 NEWS FOR THE LEGAL PROFESSION DECEMBER 6, 2002

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