Canadian Lawyer - sample

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m M A Y 2 0 1 7 35 insurance companies who control the purse strings know this information — shouldn't the prospective client?" Leonard Kunka, partner at Thom- son Rogers in Toronto, says the LSUC's recommendations on the issue so far are "steps in the right direction." "I hope that it's going to be suffi- cient to get rid of some of the problems that we were suffering because it's not good for the profession as a whole or image of all personal injury lawyers in general," he notes. For Russell Howe, also name part- ner at Boland Howe, it's good news the LSUC is getting invested in the advertis- ing issue, though he echoes the enforce- ment concern. It's nice to have strong regulations on paper, but "somebody has to make it known there's a conse- quence for violating that rule." Howe says his firm is "a pretty tradi- tional, conservative firm" when it comes to advertising generally. "You won't catch us on the back of the bus," he says. Jason Singer of Singer Kwinter in Toronto recognizes it's "a big challenge to enforce these rules or be proactive in many circumstances." But he thinks that, ultimately, the more people are aware of what they can or cannot do, the more likely lawyers are going to comply. Though the spotlight is on Ontario at the moment, Raymond Wagner, founder of Wagners in Halifax, says, "Like a cancer, it seems to be moving away from Ontario and expanding into the rest of the country," noting that firms in other parts of the country are not immune. "Likely we're going to see more of it, as advertising is a big part of the overhead budget for firms now," he says. "Some of the advertising we see when we travel is of concern, but it hasn't emerged as a hot item for our bar society at this time." Howe says that, despite the "sexier issues" such as the rogue law firms with bad advertising, the constant battle with a long-time foe over accident benefits doesn't seem to be abating any time soon. "The insurance companies and the government do their big changes quietly and on a regulatory basis and sneak stuff through," he says, pulling no punches on the subject. "The consumer is getting robbed by a regulatory scheme — by the governments and the insurance indus- tries — and nobody's talking about it. So that's the real problem for personal injury lawyers," he says. "One of the ongoing concerns — and it's been a concern for a number of years — is the insurance industry," says Kunka. "They are obviously working very hard to continually try to erode benefits and reduce the amount they have to pay out on claims and that con- tinues to provide a real challenge for personal injury lawyers." Kunka says all personal injury lawyers deal with catastrophic claims and claw- backs change how they're able to assist people, noting hard choices have to be made by counsel and clients if there's not enough money to cover both occupation- al and speech therapy, for example. "It's a real challenge for personal injury lawyers to properly care for people who have been seriously or catastrophically injured," he says. THANK YOU! Named by Canadian Lawyer Magazine as a Top Personal Injury Boutique Law Firm in Canada since 2011, we are proud that our dedication to helping individuals and their families rebuild their lives has once again earned us a position on the 2017–2018 Top 10 List! We are honoured to be a Top 10 Law Firm in Canada and thank you for your continued trust and recognition as a national leader in personal injury law. Offices in Toronto & Brampton Referral Fees Respected Tel: 1-866-285-6927 www.singerkwinter.com Untitled-5 1 2017-04-13 3:26 PM

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