Blog Round Up: November 5th-November 12th 2010

Techno Lawyer outlines the top 5 reasons associates hate partners.   I just want a partner to hate! #stillhasno2Ljob (via Sweet Hot Justice).

Public hearings on police conduct during the Toronto G20 have been taking place this week.  Read all about it at the CBC, or check out one woman's story of having been "kettled" on the Sunday of G20 weekend at the Globe and Mail.  Plus Ipso Facto has our own exclusive story about what it was like to be a legal observer at the G20.

The University of Windsor School of Law has responded to Professor Emily Carasco's allegations in a factum submitted to the Human Rights Tribunal, in it claiming that she has a reputation of being vindictive and vengeful.  I just wish we could make a cake full of rainbows and smiles and we would all eat it and be happy.

The lawyer behind the now infamous "So You Want to go to Law School" YouTube video has been revealed.  Now I know who to send my complaints about the crappy auto-tuned voices to.

Today is Random Act of Kindness day!  So much better than "Kick-a-homeless-bum-in-the-street-day".

Missed Ipso Facto this week?  Click here for this week's episode.

The Blog Round Up: October 9th-18th 2010

First up: sorry that the blog round up is tardy this week!  To make up for it you will be getting two blog round ups to quell your thirst for legal news and tidbits.  Now, on to the fun stuff.

The National Post reports that a police officer dubbed "Officer Bubbles" during the G20 protests in Toronto because of this video, which led a popular YouTube cartoon of him, is suing YouTube for a cool $1.2 million and the identification of the creator of the latter video.  The cartoon has been removed from YouTube until the lawsuit is resolved.  I don't know why he's so mad.  His nickname is soooooo cute!!!

The judge in the Colonel Williams hearing has lifted a ban on laptops and smartphones for journalists who are present at the proceedings, allowing them to update readers live via Twitter and Facebook.  But will the judge be able to keep the sentencing under 140 characters?

 A Boston College School of Law 3L wrote the Dean asking for his money back, sparking the old question; is school a product that we pay for, or does it have more intangible benefits?

Asylum found 10 of the worst law firm ad's out there.  My fav?  The CGI rappers who just want their insurance to pay up (via Precedent Magazine).

And advance polls are open for Windsor municipal elections!  Go vote!

Missed the last episode of Ipso Facto?  As always, find us on www.cjam.ca (you can find us on the program schedule on Wednesday's at 8 AM).

Ipso Facto Feature: G20 Legal Observers

The G20 summit has come and gone and while most Torontonians would like their city to go back to “normal”, many of us who were involved in the protests or affected by them are still reeling from the weekend and trying to make sense of what happened.

For much of the weekend I acted as a volunteer legal observer. I along with over 50 other lawyers, law students, and non-lawyers became the on-street eyes and ears of the legal defence team which was set up by the Movement Defence Committee to support all demonstrators throughout the week.

Our role was three-fold. First, to provide know-your-rights information to demonstrators and distribute the telephone number that could be called in case of arrest.  Second, to gather information about people who were being arrested, such as their name, description, any friends or witnesses, their charge and the name and badge number of the arresting police officer. This information would later be written up in an arrest report and given to the legal defence team who could then start tracking the arrested person through the system and provide legal support. Third, our role was to bear witness to any police brutality or misconduct.

At all times, our solidarity was with the demonstrators without judgment.  Regardless of whether one was a peaceful protestor, a passerby, or a member of the so-called Black Bloc, our job was to support the demonstrators without judgment as to their tactics or strategies of protest.

On Saturday, June 26, there I was with my partner in our bright orange legal observer hats, soaking wet from the rain, walking around Queen’s Park handing out legal information and the arrest number before the big civil society march got underway. People were singing and dancing, making speeches, handing out food, hugging comrades, and getting ready to march in protest of the G20. There were almost no police officers to be found.

As the day went on, I bore witness to unprecedented events in Canadian history: tear gas was used for the first time in Toronto, the largest mass arrests in our nation’s history, traumatizing police brutality, and scenes from a post-apocalyptic movie with the infamous burning police cars and smashed in windows of Queen West and Yonge St.

I was there at Queen and John when a breakaway group first tried to make their push south to the security fence and were met by a line of riot police who promptly and without warning started smashing heads. My partner and I saw protestors quickly emerging from the mess with blood on their face and a woman with a potentially broken arm.

Shortly after that, my partner and I witnessed an arrest of two individuals in an alleyway north of Queen on Spadina. Out of sight from the rest of the protest, a car had been pulled over by three unmarked vans and uniformed and undercover police officers together were arresting two individuals. Four other officers created a barrier wall so that we could not get close enough to get proper descriptions or names of the people. We took notes, describing everything we could.

My experience as a legal observer at the G20 summit came at unique time for me as I transition from being a law student to working as an articling student.  It has helped me meet other progressive law students and lawyers and provided some much needed “real life” experience.

Although the G20 might be officially over, the consequences of that weekend are just starting to emerge.  Calls for a public inquiry into police misconduct and potential class action and civil suits against the police are starting to take shape. In some cases, the presence of legal observers during the protests helped to keep police action in check. In other cases, our presence on those days will allow us to play a positive role in the aftermath.

Guest contributor Robert Tarantino is an alum of the University of Windsor Faculty of Law.  For more of our G20 coverage, check out our feature episode from October 6th 2010 on www.cjam.ca

Photos by Meg Banks.

G20: 3 Months after

For a weekend in June of 2010, Toronto-a city known for being welcoming and friendly-transformed.  Images of police accosting activists and balaclava clad anarchists smashing store window fronts filled TV screens and covered the front pages of Canada's newspapers.  Separated from the chaos outside by a long chain link fence was the G20, in Toronto for thier semi-annual meeting of the largest economic players in the world.

3 months later and we are still no closer to sorting out the confusion that came out of the G20 Toronto weekend.  All the players involved with the G20 have come under fire for their actions and it's become difficult to determine where blame should be directed, or if their should be any blame at all.  Legally, we may be seeing the repercussions of the event for a long time.  Charges against activists are still on-going, the actions of the Toronto Police Force are under review, and the Charter challenges that may arise out of the G20 arrests may impact how Canada deals with mass demonstrations in the future.

This week on Ipso Facto we are going to discuss the legal impact of the G20 with guests Nathalie Des Rosiers, general counsel of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, and with a member of the Toronto Community Mobilization Network.  Join us on Wednesday October 6th, 2010 at 8 AM.