Lawyers are rats? No they aren't ... Wait, yes they are
A loved one should give the Canadian Bar Association some marketing advice. There's no question the spin doctors at the CBA had their work cut out for them when Philip Slayton's new book Lawyers Gone Bad became fodder for Maclean's screaming cover "Lawyers are Rats" last week.
No profession likes to see mockups of its practitioners pictured under such headlines as "I take bribes," or "I pad my bills" or even "I sleep with my clients." The tabloid presentation was based on real-life stories that Mr. Slayton thoroughly documents in his book.
Was Maclean's cover over the top? You bet. But the CBA assured the controversy got national coverage by issuing a hot-under-the-robe press release that "condemned in the strongest possible way" the Maclean's story, which it said painted "a distorted" picture of the profession.
The CBA's incensed reaction fuelled bloggers and commentators all week and Bar Talk can't help observing that Mr. Slayton was being thanked by more than a few online conversationalists for exposing what they called the profession's less-than-perfect regulation of itself. Our favourite observation was noticed on the lawandstyle.ca blog from a correspondent called Old Prof: "I'm impressed that so many people are willing to give up billable hours to respond to Maclean's for this worthy cause. Shows that lawyers are kind and generous. And the joke that ends 'his lips are moving' is entirely untrue."
On The Move
Hugh McKinnon has been hunting again. The amiable Toronto chairman of Bennett Jones LLP has bagged two new partners to add to the stable of lawyers he has recently raided from Toronto competitors.
Real estate specialist James McDermott was lured away from Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP. Mr. McDermott was an adviser to the MaRS Project, which is trying to transform Toronto's hospital district into a vast medical research complex and is directed by the University of Toronto and the University Health Network of hospitals. Corporate law and business trust specialist Ian Goldberg joins from Heenan Blaikie LLP. The duo brings the lawyer count at Bennett Jones in Toronto to 123, making it the firm's second largest office after Calgary, with 172.