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regional wrap-up ATLANTIC Barristers' society awards first race and the law essay prize D avid Steeves, who graduated this spring from Dalhousie Law School with an LLM, is the inaugural winner of the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society's race and the law essay prize. Steeves's winning essay, "Maniacal murderer or death dealing car: The case of Daniel Perry Sampson 1933-1935," explores the mysterious deaths of two young brothers whose bodies were found near railway tracks on the out- skirts of Halifax in 1933. Sampson, an African-Nova Scotian and veteran of the Great War, was arrested and tried ENSURING CLIENTS ARE WHO THEY SAY THEY ARE IN NOVA SCOTIA L ooking a client in the eyes and sealing the deal with a firm handshake is no longer sufficient in Nova Scotia. The provincial barristers' society has implemented new client identification and verification regulations. The regulations will come as no surprise to lawyers. "We've been planning for its implementation for some time," says John Rogers, chief executive offi- cer with Stewart McKelvey in Halifax. "We knew this was coming." What has arrived are comprehensive new rules that spell out in what circumstances lawyers are required to identify clients (there are only three exemptions) and what information has to be obtained from individual, organi- zational, and business clients. As well, the regulations highlight the difference between identification and verification. The latter is required only when a lawyer is acting for a client or giving instructions on behalf of a client regard- ing the receiving, payment, or transferring of funds. Due diligence requires more work. Indeed, says Rogers, "law firms like others in business recognize the policy reason behind the client identification regulations. In a perfect world, we'd rather not have to undertake the work required." To help ease the transition from handshake to documentation, the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society has prepared a num- ber of materials for members including verification agreement instructions, a sample verification agree- ment, FAQs, and a client ID overview chart that shows at a glance what information is required in what circumstances. — DM John Rogers 6 A UGUST 2009 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com For more information on the Nova Scotia client identification rules please see www.nsbs.org/clientidrules.php for the brutal murders. His passage through the courts included two sets of trials and appeals before Nova Scotia jurists as well as an appearance before the Supreme Court of Canada. Throughout, graphic details of the boys' deaths as well as Sampson's plea of insanity and his counsel's allega- tions of bias, procedural unfairness, and judicial error were fodder for the front pages of Halifax's four daily newspapers, making this one of the city's most notorious cases of the decade. "This account of an important moment in Nova Scotian legal and social history — one likely unfamiliar to most readers — was both educational and frankly, quite gripping," says Barbara Darby, a lawyer with Gillis & Associates in Bedford, N.S., and a member of the essay prize sub- committee. And lawyers still have something David Steeves to learn from the case — and the prize that brought it to light. "We hope that the paper prize can be a part of a process by which the society can draw more attention to issues of race and how race impacts on the practice and teaching of law in Nova Scotia," says Darby. The competition not only encourages students to engage in the topic, it helps to engage a much broader audience on issues of race and the law, says John Rogers, CEO of Stewart McKelvey, which sponsors the annual prize. "Publicity brought by the prize itself," he notes, "generates greater awareness." — DONALEE MOULTON donalee@quantumcommunications.ca