The Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers (FACL) held their 2009 annual conference at UofT.

After a welcome by Jason Leung, the FACL President and Conference Co-Chair, Professor Anita Anand of UofT Law provided some opening remarks.

A judiciary panel chaired by Justice Maryka Omatsu, and consisted of The Honourable Justice Russell Juriansz of Court of Appeal of Ontario; the Honourable Justice Shaun Nakatsuru of the Ontario Court of Justice; and the Honourable Justice Manjusha Pawagi of the Ontario Court of Justice.  They addressed the subject of, “Is Justice (Colour) Blind?”  They addressed issues raised previously on Law is Cool, such as by Bertha Wilson’s paper Will Women Judges Really Make a Difference?, and the study by Yahya and Stribopoulos, Does a Judge’s Party of Appointment or Gender Matter to Case Outcomes? An Empirical

The Keynote Address was delivered by the Honourable Frank Iacobucci, former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, on residential schools.  A summary of the talk is found on Law is Cool and Slaw.

Honourable Frank Iacobucci, former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada

The afternoon consisted of a series of workshops on legal updates, which included Visha Sukdeo, Roslyn Tsao, Kathy Laird, Professor Poonam Puri, Carolyn Chambers, Teresa Cheung, Ron Choudhury, Jason Leung, and Dee Rajpal.

A subsequent workshop focussed on Bay Street Initiatives on Diversity, chaired by Fred Gerra , featured
Tariq Remtulla of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, May Cheng of Fasken Martineau Dumoulin LLP, Kate Broer of Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP, André Bacchus of Heenan Blaikie LLP, and Kevin O’Brien of Stikeman Elliott
LLP.

A concurrent panel, chaired by Deanna Santos, looked at the experiences of sole practitioners Jacqueline An, Ramon Andal, Peggy Chooi and Amer Mushtaq.

Picher worked on Barack Obama’s recent presidential campaign in the U.S. As an American citizen, he has a long history of political campaigning, including John Kerry’s Presidential campaign, working for former prime minister Paul Martin, and Ken Dryden’s Liberal Leadership in February 2007.

Before joining the Obama team, Picher completed his articles at Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP in Toronto in June 2008.

Omar Ha-Redeye at 17th BLSAC Conference

The 17th Annual BLSAC National Conference was held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from February 22-23, 2008.

The theme this year was Looking Forward, Looking Back: Black Canadian Achievements in Law.  The conference brought together students, academics, and legal professionals of diverse backgrounds to recognize past achievements and address present concerns of Black Canadians.

Peter W. Hogg spoke at the Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP luncheon on the Charter dialogue.  As of 2003, Peter Hogg was cited by the Supreme Court of Canada 166 times.

Hogg is frequently quoted in defence of the Charter which does not, as some detractors concerned about judicial activism charge, leave judges with the final say on legal issues.

He also responded to critics who have commented on his Charter dialogue theory.

This year featured the inaugural event of the Koskie Minsky LLP Diversity Moot. Another major firm, McCarthy Tétrault LLP, hosted a reception at their Vancouver office for the law students that arrived from across the country.  Finally, a gala reception closed off the event, hosted by Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP.

The welcome address was presented by Raphael Tachie (2007/2008 President, Black Law Students’ Association of Canada), followed by an Aboriginal welcome and an opening address by The Honorable Steven L. Point – Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia.

Arleen Huggins of Koskie Minsky LLP, spoke on “A Business Case for diversity.”  She said that successful firms are recognizing that their clients are increasingly diverse, and have expectations for firms to reflect the diversity of Canada.  It also provides fresh bases for client development.

Omar Ha-Redeye added that diversity also brings a competitive edge to firms adventurous enough to incorporate diversity because it avoids group think and fosters creativity.

Gail Robinson and Kathleen Dechant said in The Academy of Management Executive,

A phenomenal surge in the growth of emerging markets, extensive use of cross-functional, heterogeneous teams to produce creative solutions to business problems, an increased reliance on non-traditional workforce talent – the realities of today’s workplace clearly demonstrate that diversity management has become a critical aspect of operating a business.

A lunch panel discussed whether having minority judges on the bench make a difference.  Speakers included Justice Selwyn Romilly of the Supreme Court of British Columbia,  Justice Michael H. Tulloch of the Superior Court of Justice (Brampton), and  Justice Castor Williams of the Provincial Court (Nova Scotia).

The panel relied heavily on the late Bertha Wilson‘s material on a similar subject regarding women.

The intersecting barriers of race and gender were then discussed.  Often overlooked, even at this conference, is that minority males are typically more disadvantaged than minority females in the workplace.

A number of concurrent sessions also provided resources for law students searching for summer and articling positions, insights for high school students about what legal life was like, and advice for undergrads on how to enter law.

The conference ended on a positive note with the election of a new executive for the upcoming year.

Omar Ha-Redeye and Amelia Phillips-Lewis represented the University of Western Ontario as winners of the school’s Borden Ladner Gervais LLP Client Counselling Competition.

They were the top-seeded team through the preliminary rounds, with nearly 33% margin over second place, before being eliminated in the semi-finals.  Three Canadian teams made it to the regional semi-finals.

Canadian Competitors at Region 6: (From Left) Maria Barrett-Morris from Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP (UofO Coach), Ellie Persichilli and Jyll Hansen (UofO), Omar Ha-Redeye and Amelia Phillips-Lewis (UWO), Russ Groves and Danielle Bisnar (Osgoode).