Wednesday, July 1, 2009 12:00 AM
Dad gets some kudos too: Bill Gates Sr. honoured
Patricia Best
Bill Gates's father, William H. Gates Sr., is set to receive the highest honour awarded by the American Bar Association at its annual meeting in Chicago a month from now. The 83-year-old is winning the ABA Medal, not only for his lengthy career in law, but also for his post-retirement activities as a philanthropist and author. Not mentioned by the ABA is perhaps the senior Mr. Gates's greatest gift to the legal profession - son Bill, who, as the driving force of Microsoft, has indirectly provided more work for antitrust practitioners than mega-American corporations such as IBM, AT&T, Kodak and Standard Oil.
The senior Mr. Gates began his career in private practice in Seattle, eventually forming a firm with two partners, now known as K&L Gates, one of the world's largest law firms with 1,900 lawyers in 32 offices. He retired in 1998 after 48 years in practice and now co-chairs the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; he has written two books, including the intriguingly titled Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes.
Respect the rules
As Canadian reporters covering high-profile trials in the United States can attest, federal courts there are fanatics about enforcing judge's bans on recording devices in the courtroom. Earlier this week, during the sentencing hearing for Bernard Madoff in New York, District Court Judge Denny Chin came down hard on one Ivy Silberstein for apparently recording the proceedings, in violation of the judge's rules.
Court officers seized the device, made a copy of the recording, and Ms. Silberstein was issued a summons. The judge ordered the device be returned to her after the recording was deleted.
So who is Ivy Silberstein? Dubbed "Poison Ivy" by the New York tabloids, the heavily tattooed party promoter is a member of radio star Howard Stern's "wack pack."
Women on board
Few Canadian female executives sit on foreign boards of directors, but Sheelagh Whittaker is now one of them. She has been appointed a non-executive director at Standard Life PLC, the U.K.-based parent of Standard Life Assurance Co. of Canada, and will join three executive directors and six other non-executive directors.
Her career in Canada has included stints at CBC and Canadian Satellite Communications Inc., and senior executive positions with Electronic Data Systems, and board seats at Imperial Oil and Royal Bank.
