Canadian Lawyer

Prairies Tessler named to run Manitoba police oversight unit M anitoba has named its firstever executive director of the province���s new Independent Investigation Unit. With over 30 years of experience, Zane Tessler will run the unit, which will probe incidents and criminal allegations involving on- and off-duty police officers, including First Nations, RCMP, and municipal police. The IIU will conduct mandatory investigations whenever fatal force or serious injury occur, and will take over any other investigation into police misconduct as needed. ���Based on my years of experience and balance between defence work and Crown work, this just seemed to be a logical next step for me,��� Tessler tells Canadian Lawyer. Tessler���s most recent position was as supervising senior Crown attorney responsible for training new prosecutors. ���Zane Tessler has dedicated his career to the law, and with more than three decades of service as a Crown attorney and defence counsel, he has a wealth of knowledge and experience that will aid him tremendously as he sets up the new unit,��� said Justice Minister Andrew Swan in announcing the appointment. Tessler���s first order of business is to get the office ���up and running.��� He says: ���At these beginning stages, my mandate is to develop and create the office itself, put together the policies and procedures, hire staff and investigators, get office space, and basically create this unit from the ground up.��� He will also develop the qualifications for the unit���s investigators. ���Investigators can be current or former members of the RCMP or any police service in Canada. [They] can also be a civilian with the appropriate investigative experience,��� he says. They must have ���the right background and experience, dedication, and integrity��� because the unit will have ���highly specialized investigative needs.��� And Tessler���s long-standing legal background ���will provide additional oversight in these investigations.��� Tessler planned to spend the first few weeks after his March 5 appointment meeting with new colleagues in provinces where similar units already exist, such as in Ontario where the Special Investigations Unit was established in 1990. These independent units have ���worked in other provinces and I have no doubt it���s going to work in Manitoba,��� he says. He says this position is a ���once in a lifetime opportunity. . . . There���s a lot of responsibility that has been placed in my hands and I will give my very best efforts to ensure that the best possible office is created to re-enforce the confidence in police in Manitoba and the integrity of their police services.��� ���Anastasia Moskvitina anastasia.moskvitina@thomsonreuters.com News Feed Bust a Move! On April 6, 2013, a group of Lerners ���rm members will be participating in the Bust-A-Move Fundraiser- a celebration of breast health and a chance to make a real difference in the community. Bust a Move is a pledge-based event in which participants (each raising a minimum of $1,000) take part in a day of group ���tness designed for everyone from the couch potato to the ���tness buff. To join in the fun or to pledge team/participant, visit the Bust-A-Move website West Calgary law firm taps public purse for history book L ast year, when Macleod Dixon became part of the Norton Rose Group, it was the Calgary-based firm���s 100th anniversary. Macleod Dixon had long planned to mark its centenary with a corporate history and Norton Rose decided to let its Calgary office go ahead with the book, much to the relief of the team that had been working on it since 2009. The result of those labours, released earlier this year, is a 400-page richly illustrated history documenting Macleod Dixon���s journey from small-time, small-town player to becoming part of a multinational legal conglomerate. Though some of the book���s 2,000 copies are being given to public libraries in Alberta, The Macleod Dixon Century is aimed mainly at employees and customers and is not generally available to the public. In spite of that, Macleod Dixon sought and obtained a $25,000 grant for the publication from the provincially-funded Alberta Historical Resources Foundation. Senior partner Everett Bunnell, who helped oversee the project, defends the injection of public funds, calling the book ���a history of the legal 2013 Constitutional Case Conferences Mark Freiman is a panelist at Osgoode Hall Law School���s 2012 Constitutional Cases Conference taking place on April 12, 2013. Together with other constitutional practitioners and experts, Mark will discuss The Charter and Human Rights. http://lerners.ca/news/267/ Legislating Fiduciary Duties for Investment Advisors ��� Does it make sense? Brian Radnoff considers whether it makes sense to create statutory provisions that impose on investment advisors ���duciary duties in respect of all of their clients. Please visit the link for Brian���s full video. http://ow.ly/iJOEb Continued on page 10 www.CANADIAN www.lerners.ca L a w ye r m a g . c o m erners_CL_Apr_13.indd 1 April 2013 9 13-03-20 10:05 AM

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