CRISTIN SCHMITZ OTTAWA

The highest paid lawyer in
Canada earned over $8 million
in 2010, more than 60 times the
median net income of lawyers
across the country
The top legal earner also
took home 20 per cent more
than the second highest paid
lawyer, according to data com-
piled by the federal government.

The salary information was culled from the confidential personal tax information of thousands of self-employed lawyers, which was recently handed over by the Canada Revenue Agency to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for use by the 2011 Judicial Compensation and Benefits Commission.

For comparison purposes,

the commission received a sanitized actuarial report (no names) from the DOJ itemizing, by age, location, and percentile, the annual net professional incomes of more than

20,000 self-employed lawyers (i.e. sole practitioners and equity partners in firms, not salaried lawyers) in each of the five years from 2006 to 2010

(the latest year available).

Given its unrivalled breadth and detail, the DOJ report presents an interesting portrait of private-sector lawyer incomes across Canada.

Among other things, it sets out by percentile the incomes of self-employed lawyers in Canada’s 10 largest cities who are between 36 and 69 years old— the age group from which judges are drawn (see tables, page 3).

See Incomes Page 3THE LAWYERS WEEKLY

Feds and

Vol. 22, No. 27 NEWS FOR THE LEGAL PROFESSION

Art imitates life on the small screen

December 6, 2002

judges in

PAGE 10

pay clash

CHINA

GEOFF KIRBYSON WINNIPEG

A Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench decision that acquitted a driver fighting a photo radar speeding ticket, has some lawyers suggesting it could lead to a traffic jam of motorists looking for the same result.

Evan Roitenberg, a lawyer at
Winnipeg-based Gindin Wolson
Simmonds Roitenberg, who
shall Miller, said red-light cam-
eras and mobile units have sur-
vived in Manitoba because people
haven’t challenged them properly
in court.

That could be about to change
as public anger, especially in
Winnipeg, over the issuing of
tickets for all sorts of moving
violations is reaching a boiling
point. The highest profile
example occurred in early March
when an older couple was pulled
over for allegedly using a cell-
phone while driving — even
though they claimed not to own
one, and even invited the officer
to search their vehicle.

“I think people are already taking the opportunity to challenge these tickets more and more. That’s what people have to do. If you think you’ve been aggrieved by what’s going on, fight back. But you need a properly structured legal argument to convince the hearing officer,”

Winnipeg lawyer Scott Newman says photo radar tickets can be challenged and the techonology is not irrefutable.

RUTH BONNEVILLE FOR THE LAWYERS WEEKLY

Photo radar under the gun

See Traffic Page 23 See Judges Page 2

CRISTIN SCHMITZ OTTAWA

The federal government is taking a hard line against the salary proposals of Canada’s federally appointed judges, who say they have not had a meaningful raise in eight years.

The two sides are poles apart: the judges are seeking a cumulative 20.5-per-cent pay increase over the next four years—more than triple what Ottawa wants to pay.

The government’s proposed 6.1-per-cent cumulative pay increase for the 1,117 federally appointed judges would cost taxpayers nearly $47.6-million — as compared with $165-million under the judges’ proposal, according to projections supplied by the government on March 19 to the Judicial Compensation and Benefits Commission.

The quadrennial commission, the fourth of its kind, will make advisory recommendations on judges’ remuneration by June 1, for the period from April 1, 2012 to April 1, 2016.

The independent commission, chaired by Osler counsel Brian Levitt, is facing starkly divergent submissions from the

THE LAWYERS WEEKLY

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

Trade mission signals Canada’s renewed focus

PAGE 14

RESEARCH

Job choice a major one, due diligence required

PAGE 20

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