Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m A p r I L 2 0 1 5 9 " I wanted to be a lawyer because I liked arguing. I liked it so much I'd argue either side of anything just for the hell of it, whether someone asked me or not. Anytime, anywhere," says Emma Tupper, a dedi- cated lawyer with a bright future, a ris- ing star at Thompson Price & Clearwa- ter law firm, within which she has been hoping to secure partnership soon. But that was before her beloved mother died. On her deathbed, she made Emma promise to take a trip to Africa. But what was supposed to be a month- long vacation became a six-month absence due to a devastating earthquake and a debilitating illness that trapped her in a remote village. Emma has now returned home only to find that her apartment's locks have been changed and her bank and e-mail accounts are de-activated. Everybody thought she had died in the earthquake and the world has moved on without her. She has a major life-reconstruction task ahead of her. She basically has to start from scratch. She also doesn't exist. Well, actually, she does, in the minds of readers who met her in the pages of Catherine McKenzie's latest novel Forgotten, published by HarperCollins. McKenzie is, like Emma, also a dedi- cated lawyer with a bright future . . . and a bright present: she is partner at Irving Mitchell Kalichman, a downtown Montreal litigation boutique and she is a best-selling novelist. In the novel, Emma has a pretty cyni- cal view of her practice, judging the hours as "brutal" and the work sometimes as "mind-numbing," and she lets her friend- ships disintegrate because her career is too demanding. To the tired and banal but unavoidable question of how much she is like Emma, McKenzie answers that she's not writing about herself. Her previous novels' characters were deliberately not lawyers, she says, to make sure nobody \ At L A N t I C \ C E N t r A L \ p r A I r I E s \ W E s t rEgIoNAL WrAp-up Law with a side of fiction Continued on page 10 Catherine mckenzie C E N t r A L refl ecting on your specialty refl ects well on you ENHANCE YOUR EXPERTISE – AND YOUR VALUE – WITH A PROFESSIONAL LLM FROM OSGOODE. Put the focus on what interests you most. With leading academics, top practitioners and senior judges among our internationally renowned faculty, our programs offer you the unparalleled fl exibility to study with a network of your peers while practising full time. Customize your studies to suit your needs, either on site at our convenient downtown Toronto facility, or via videoconference from anywhere around the world. NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR 2015/2016 STARTS IN 12 SPECIALIZATIONS: > Administrative Law > Alternative Dispute Resolution > Business Law > Civil Litigation and Dispute Resolution > Constitutional Law > Criminal Law and Procedure > Energy and Infrastructure Law > Family Law > Health Law > Labour Relations and Employment Law > Tax Law > General LLM A WORLD LEADER IN LAW SCHOOL LIFELONG LEARNING Professional legal education the way it was meant to be. To learn more or to register for an Information Session, visit www.osgoodepd.ca today. ntitled-1 1 2015-03-23 4:17 PM

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