Aboriginals Elected to Law Society's Governing Body

[hmacdonn@lsuc.on.ca]

Turtle Island Native Network
http://www.turtleisland.org


First Aboriginal Woman Elected to Law Society's Governing Body

May 8, 2003

Ballots have been counted in The Law Society of Upper Canada's 2003
Bencher Election to determine who sits on the Law Society's governing
body - referred to as Convocation - for the next four years.

Ontario lawyers have elected their new governing body of 40 benchers
including its first female Aboriginal member: Tracey O'Donnell, from
North Bay.

Also returning to the Law Society's governing body is Metis lawyer Todd
Ducharme, who has also been elected as a Regional Bencher for Toronto.
Regional benchers are the candidates who received the highest number of
votes from voters in their own electoral region.

More information about the election, including the complete list of new
benchers can be found on the Law Society's web site at
http://www.lsuc.on.ca/news/updates/may0 ... erelec.jsp

and also in the news release.

Also please feel free to contact me with any questions at 416-947-7605 or by e-mail at

hmacdonn@lsuc.on.ca

Best regards,

Heather MacDonnell

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – May 6, 2003

Ontario lawyers elect governing body

Ballots have been counted in the Law Society of Upper Canada’s 2003 bencher election to determine who sits on the Law Society’s governing body – referred to as Convocation – for the next four years.

Ontario lawyers elect 40 benchers – 20 from inside Toronto and 20 from outside Toronto. Eight of the 40 are regional benchers, who are the candidates who received the highest number of votes from voters in their own electoral region.

The remaining 32 benchers include the 13 candidates from outside Toronto who received the most votes from all voters and the 19 candidates from inside Toronto who received the most votes from all voters.

The regions are: Northwest (NW), Northeast (NE), East (E), Central East (CE), Central West (CW), Central South (CS), Southwest (SW) and Toronto.

The following is the list of all 40 newly elected benchers. For those benchers from outside Toronto, their region and home community is listed following their name. A total of 12,363 valid ballots were cast (roughly 37 per cent of over 33,000 lawyers eligible to vote).

Toronto
*Todd Ducharme - Aboriginal
Earl A. Cherniak, Q.C.
Gary Lloyd Gottlieb
Gavin MacKenzie
Clayton Ruby
Neil Finkelstein
Julian H. Porter, Q.C.
Bob Aaron
Larry Banack
Alan D. Gold
Frank N. Marrocco, Q.C.
Thomas Giles Heintzman, Q.C.
Paul D. Copeland
Derry Millar
Laurie Pattillo
Beth Symes
John A. Campion
Ronald D. Manes
Laurie H. Pawlitza
Carole Curtis

Outside Toronto
*Alan G. Silverstein (CE) Vaughan
*Gerald Abraham Swaye, Q.C. (CS) Hamilton
*Peter N. Bourque (CW) Orangeville
*Abe Feinstein, Q.C. (E) Ottawa
*Robert C. Topp (NE) Sudbury
*Ross W. Murray, Q.C. (NW) Thunder Bay
*James R. Caskey, Q.C. (SW) London
Constance Backhouse (E) Ottawa
Kim A. Carpenter-Gunn (CS) Hamilton
Heather J. Ross (SW) Goderich
George Hunter (E) Ottawa
Holly A. Harris (E) Ottawa
Joanne St. Lewis (E) Ottawa
Judith M. Potter (SW) London
Bradley H. Wright (E) Ottawa
Tracey O’Donnell (NE) North Bay - Aboriginal
William J. Simpson, Q.C. (E) Ottawa
Rob Martin (SW) London
Gordon Z. Bobesich (CW) Mississauga
Bonnie R. Warkentin (E) Kingston

*The eight regional benchers included in the above list of 40 are:
Todd Ducharme – Toronto
Alan G. Silverstein – Central East
Gerald Abraham Swaye, Q.C. – Central South
Peter N. Bourque – Central West
Abe Feinstein, Q.C. – East
Robert C. Topp – North East
Ross W. Murray, Q.C. – North West
James R. Caskey, Q.C. – South West

In addition to the 40 elected benchers, the Law Society’s governing body, Convocation, also includes eight lay benchers, non-lawyers appointed by the province. There are also a number of ex-officio benchers.

Benchers meet regularly to formulate policy on matters related to the governance of the legal profession. They also participate on Law Society committees and sit on hearing panels to hear conduct, capacity and competence proceedings.

The head of the Law Society is called the Treasurer, who presides over Convocation. The next Treasurer will be elected by the new benchers in June.

“As the regulator of Ontario’s lawyers, our mandate is to govern the legal profession in the public interest by ensuring the people of Ontario are served by lawyers who meet high standards of learning, competence and professional conduct, and by upholding the independence, integrity and honour of the legal profession for the purpose of advancing the cause of justice and the rule of law,” said Professor Vern Krishna, the current Law Society Treasurer.

For more information and background on bencher elections, see the Law Society web site www.lsuc.on.ca and click on “2003 Bencher Election” under “Hot Topics”, or go directly to the voters’ guide at http://www.lsuc.on.ca/about/pdf/bencher_votersguide.pdf.

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For more information, contact:

Lucy Rybka-Becker
416 947-7619
lrybka@lsuc.on.ca

Sean O’Connor
416 947-3317
soconnor@lsuc.on.ca