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CROSS EXAMINED Over the last 20 years, Vancouver litigator Morris Soronow has spent three to six months each year volunteering in Israel. Paying it N ot every lawyer can say he has crawled through the belly of an Israeli army tank scrubbing out bilge. "Every 600 hours, they take the engine out for reconditioning," says Morris Soronow, a B.C. lawyer and liti- gator. "What is leſt is a lot of grease, oil, and sand and if this is not cleaned out, when the refurbished engine goes back in, it will gum it up." Cleaning tanks is just one of the volun- teer tasks Soronow has taken on during the two decades in which he's spent three to six months of the year in Israel work- ing for diff erent charities and causes. "Volunteering and charity are the rent we pay to be on the earth," he believes. forward B.C. lawyer finds long-distance commute to Israel rich with rewards BY JEAN SORENSEN While donating half of one's work year to volunteer eff orts may seem extraordinary, even more remarkable is that Soronow has been able to do it while keeping a thriving Vancouver law practice going. With his Israeli-born wife Anney, he now keeps a home in Tel Aviv and another in Vancou- ver, which serves as his home offi ce. Th e "rent" Soronow pays today is in the form of delivering food to the needy for the Tel Aviv Food Bank. "It's a little diff erent than here," he says, explaining individuals in need apply to the local food bank and municipality. If approved, they are supplied with delivered grocer- ies. "Most people [in need] don't have a vehicle," he says, adding he loads up his car three times a week and travels a deliv- ery route around the city. It's a day job that leaves him open to work during the evenings on legal fi les. "I only do civil litigation," he says, adding that if he did solicitor work, it would be impossible to work from Israel, as there is almost daily required fi lings of papers. But, technology, such as low-cost, long- distance calls, e-mail, Skype, and faxes, has made it possible to practise law even an ocean away from Canada. From 7 p.m. onward — that's 9 a.m. Vancouver time — he's on the phone or computer researching cases or talking to other lawyers. Most of the cases he handles now (he's shed his retail clients as his time in www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com SEPTEMBER 2009 15 JEAN SORENSEN