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he hopes the current offerings will get things moving in the right direction. After all, there is more at stake than a loss of access to justice, he says. "Lawyers actually contribute a lot to their com- munity outside of their legal work," says Fineblit. "Lawyers do a tremendous amount of community service work, and that disappears from a community. It makes a community less attractive to others who might want to move there, like other professionals who are already in short supply in some of these communities." In Ontario, the LSUC's efforts have included the creation of an articling registry, which has helped lawyers in rural areas better adver- tise openings. The society hoped to build on that effort with an articling symposium highlighting opportunities at small firms. The November event Lawyers' Professional Indemnity Company LAWPRO announces the following changes and appointments in the Claims Department. Executive Vice-President Duncan Gosnell is now responsible for the Claims and Underwriting & Customer Service departments at LAWPRO. A member of the LAWPRO executive group since 1995, Mr. Gosnell has been instrumental in developing the under- writing and customer service functions at the company. For much of the past year, he had been acting Vice-President, Claims as well as overseeing the Underwriting and Customer Service Department as Executive Vice-President. The claims function at LAWPRO will consist of two departments, each headed by a vice-president. Jerzy Adamowicz is Vice-President of the new Specialty Claims department, responsible for a number of areas including, among others, TitlePLUS and Excess Insur- ance claims and claims involving coverage issues. Mr. Adamowicz holds LL.B and LL.M degrees from universities in Israel, and has extensive experience as a practitioner, counsel and claims examiner in both Israel and Canada. He has held several managerial positions in the LAWPRO Claims department since 1994, most recently as Claims Director. Jack Daiter is Vice-President of the new Primary Professional Liability Claims department, responsible for most of LAWPRO's primary professional liability claims. After obtaining his LL.B (Ottawa) and LL.M (Osgoode) degrees, Mr. Daiter gained extensive experience in private practice before joining LAWPRO as a claims examiner in 1997. He was appointed a Claims Manager in 2007 and Claims Director in 2009. As well, he has taught courses in ADR and has spoken on risk management issues to a variety of student and professional audiences. LAWPRO provides malpractice insurance and risk and practice management programs to more than 22,400 Ontario lawyers, and title insurance in all Canadian jurisdictions. LAWPRO's TitlePLUS title insurance program is the only all-Canadian title insurance product on the market today. included a panel discussion and inter- active workshop titled, "Life in a small firm or small community," followed by a career fair and networking reception. Robert Zochodne is an Oshawa, Ont., lawyer and chairman of the County & District Law Presidents' Association, an organization that largely represents lawyers practising in solo and small- firm settings in small communities. He believes job symposiums like this will play a big role in bringing fresh blood to the bar in smaller communities. Many law students from smaller towns remain unaware of the kind of opportunities available in their own backyards, sug- gests Zochodne, and symposiums offer the direct contact with senior lawyers they need in order to get a clear pic- ture of what's out there. "There is a large group of law students who don't really want to go to the large firms," says Zochodne. "They want to go back to their communities, and this is a way to help them make that happen." The sales pitch that people like Zochodne make to future lawyers about life as a lawyer in a small town might make you wonder why there's a shortage at all. Take Amber Biemans, who practises in Humboldt, Sask., and became a partner in her law firm at 28 years old. Biemans ended up in the town of about 6,000, located an hour and a half from Saskatoon, when she was called to the bar in 2006. Even then, the town was in dire need of more lawyers, as her job search demon- strated. "I just stopped in and I said, 'Do you guys think you need another lawyer?'" recalls Biemans, who grew up in a town about 30 minutes from Humboldt. "As 36 NO VEMBER / DECEMBER 2010 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com LawPRO.indd 1 10/25/10 2:03:46 PM Veronica Ukrainetz Ukrainetz Law Corp. Vernon, B.C.