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regional wrap-up IRVING WINS MEDAL FOR PRO BONO WORK Tuesday and Wednesday night he heads to one of two walk- in legal clinics, including one he founded, to provide free legal advice to the downtrodden or people caught up in legal snafus. Irving's pro bono efforts have now been officially recog- B nized after he became the inaugural winner of the St. Yves Medal, an honour to be awarded annually by Pro Bono y day, Colin Irving is a corporate lawyer mainly defend- ing big company cases at Irving Mitchell Kalichman LLP, a boutique litigation firm in Montreal. But each Québec. The non-profit organization was founded in 2009 as a clearing house for cases it approves and works on with the support of close to 11,000 hours donated annually by 17 law firms throughout the province. "Ordinary people can't afford to go to trial and it's a prob- lem for us all," said Irving, accepting the award named after the patron saint of all professions related to justice and the law, at a Barreau du Québec event to recognize outstanding lawyers in different fields of practice. — KL Harassment complaints against Ontario lawyers spike D iscrimination and harassment complaints against Ontario lawyers hit a record high in the first half of 2010, a spike Law Society of Upper Canada benchers are calling "disturbing." In her latest report, LSUC discrimi- nation and harassment counsel Cynthia Petersen recorded 40 complaints against lawyers, law students, and paralegals, the most in any six-month period since the program began in 1999. In 2007, there were just 35 complaints. It rose to 43 in 2008 and went up again to 66 in 2009. Several benchers expressed con- cern about the trend, including Paul Schabas, who at a recent meeting called on the LSUC to disseminate the "dis- turbing information" more widely than just Convocation. "It would seem to me that when we get this kind of infor- mation, which is troubling, that it's something that we ought to make the membership aware of as well." Most of the complaints, just over half of which alleged discrimination on the basis of sex, were from women. One was from a lawyer who complained her employment was terminated when This month pro le 10 NO VEMBER / DECEMBER 2010 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com she announced plans to take maternity leave. In another case, a closeted gay male liti- gant reported that opposing counsel had maliciously outed him in order to intimidate him. Other complaints alleged discrimination on the basis of race, disability, and age. Despite the statistics, Cynthia Petersen Petersen says she isn't wor- ried. "On the contrary, I actually think it's a good sign because I don't think it's an indication of increased discrimina- tion and harassment by lawyers," she says. "I think it shows a greater con- fidence in the program, awareness of the program, and willingness to use it, which I think is a good sign." Petersen's office accepts anonymous complaints and gives advice to people who feel they've suffered discrimination by lawyers, paralegals, or law students. Although it receives its funding from the law society, it operates independently. Sixty per cent of the complaints came from other members of the bar, a fact that supports Petersen's suspicions about greater awareness among lawyers. During the last seven years, legal professionals reported only 43 per cent of the com- plaints, compared to 57 per cent from members of the public. "People are feeling more empowered to assert their rights when some- thing happens to them, whereas previously they might have felt insecure about confronting the issue or doing something about it," says Petersen. That's particularly true of law stu- dents, who are often reluctant to com- plain about a more senior member of the bar for fear it may affect their career prospects. Eight students made complaints in this six-month period, another record high. For her part, Petersen says she's happy to act as a sounding board for lawyers worried about discrimination. "Even lawyers sometimes aren't aware of what their rights are in the circum- stances. I give them information so they can make informed choices." — MICHAEL MCKIERNAN mmckiernan@clbmedia.ca Canadian Lawyer profiles Cohen Hamilton Steger & Co. Inc. "Experts in damages quantifi cation, business valuation and forensic accounting." Please check out their video at www.canadianlawyermag.com