THE LAWYERS WEEKLY
April 6, 2012 | 13

An oddity in Wills, Estates, Charities & Trusts Law Lawddities

To listen to Fredrik Heffer-
mehl, the Nobel Peace Prize
isn’t what it’s cracked up to be,
at least according to the wishes
of Alfred Nobel, who estab-
lished the prize through his
1895 will as way to honour
“champions of peace.”
Heffermehl, a lawyer and
author of the book The Nobel
Peace Prize: What Nobel Really

Lawddities

Wanted, alleges that the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s definition of peace has strayed from Nobel’s vision for the prize.

Today, it’s more a business
enterprise, a “glamorous social
event” made all the more ques-
tionable by some of its recent
recipients — he points to Al
Gore’s selection for the presti-
gious prize in 2007 as an
example, in an article in hist-
orytoday.com.

Al Gore won the Nobel Prize in 2007.

JOHN MCCONNICO / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Legal Oddities in (Blank) Law

Warning
for tax
lawyers

Tax
Continued From Page 11

Tree class action that was certified in 2010. In Banyan Tree, the plaintiffs circumvented the hurdle of establishing their reliance on the legal opinions prepared for the promoters by the court, finding that the opinions were prerequisites for the promotion and sale of the program and that the law firm in question intended that the promoters would rely on its opinion in deciding whether to promote the scheme.

In Cannon, Justice Strathy dis-
missed the law firms’ application
for summary judgment because
there was a genuine issue for trial
as to whether the firms owed a
duty of care to the donors, not-
withstanding the use of acknow-
ledgments by donors that they
received independent profes-
sional advice, warning language,
and exclusionary clauses. By per-
mitting the use of the lawyer’s
reputation and the references to
the legal opinion in the marketing
materials, as well as providing the
comfort letters, it was arguable
that the lawyer indicated his sup-
port for the tax scheme and, in
doing so, “became an integral part
of the sales pitch.”
Should Cannon proceed to
trial, it will be interesting to see
whether a duty of care is found to
be owed by the lawyers to the
donors. Meanwhile, the case
serves as a warning for tax law-
yers to avoid implicating them-
selves in the promotion and mar-
keting of charitable donation
structures that they provide legal
opinions on. n

Lawddities
Lawddities

(final)

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