UWO Law hosted the 2009 Labour Law Lecture & Conference on Equity in the Workplace: 25 Years After the Abella Report.

Hon. Justice Rosalie Abella of the Supreme Court of Canada delivered the keynote speech on Oct. 30, 2009. Kamila Pizon, a 3L at UWO Law, did a write-up on the speech available from Canadian Lawyer magazine and the school website.

The conference itself was held the following day, on Oct. 31, 2009.  Brian Burkett, partner at Heenan Blaikie LLP, provided the introduction and overview.

The first panel, on the evolution of employment equity, was chaired by The Honourable Madam Justice Rosalie Abella, and featured Carol Agocs of The University of Western Ontario, David Lepofsky, Chair of Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance, and Nan Weiner of NJ Weiner Consulting.

The second panel discussed policy perspectives on employment equity. It was chaired by Elizabeth MacPherson of the Canada Industrial Relations Board, and featured Patricia Hughes of the Law Commission of Ontario, Elizabeth McIsaac of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council, and Tom Patch of the University of British Columbia.

Raj Anand of WeirFoulds LLP provided a keynote luncheon speech.

The third panel provided some international perspectives on employment equity. Kevin Whitaker, Chair of the Ontario Labour Relations Board chaired the panel that consisted of Harish Jain of McMaster University, who spoke of successes in Malaysia, India and elsewhere, Natasha Martin of the Seattle University School of Law, who covered the implications of President Obama’s election, and Michael Stein of Harvard Law School.

Raj Anand of WeirFoulds LLP chaired the fourth panel, providing legal perspectives on employment equity.  Mary Cornish of Cavalluzzo Hayes Shilton McIntyre Cornish LLP provided a union side perspective, while Nitya Iyer of Heenan Blaikie LLP gave a manager side overview. Michael Lynk, Associate Dean at The University of Western Ontario, also added his insight.

Justice Rosalie Abella of the Supreme Court of Canada

Not much scarier than an angry Republican.

You can make your own Glenn Beck Halloween mask at home this year, using nothing more than a simple diaper.

The Mature Students Club hosted a mature mentors dinner with Peter Downing and Stephanie Ross.

Jennifer White, a lawyer specializing in Health Law at Baldwin Law, P.C., spoke at UWO law on the relevance and growth of health law as a discipline, the nature of services health lawyers can offer clients, and institutional health care clients and risk management.

The October 2009 issue of JDSupra Law Practice Digest included an article by Omar Ha-Redeye on reputation management.

The Bitter Lawyer covers a post about a fourth year of law school.

Omar Ha-Redeye participated in the 2009 Borden Ladner Gervais Labour and Employment Law moot and finished as a finalist, a second-place runner up in the competition.

This year’s competition addressed a hypothetical appeal of the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Evans v. Teamsters Union No. 31, which centered around wrongful dismissal and the duty to mitigate damages by returning to work for an employer.

Sandra Bekhor of Bekhor Management covers the launch of OMG! Law Talk on the Toronto Marketing Blog:

Check it out in this issue of Amicus Curiae on the UWO Law website or hyperlinked on Law is Cool:

Sam Solomon of Canadian Medicine and Parkhurst Exchange posted an article today mentioning reputation management and a recent post by Omar Ha-Redeye suggesting that this is a service that physicians should seriously consider.