The Friday Brief: Managing Editor’s must-read items from this week

Matthew Grace

Here are my picks for the top stories we published this week.

Court approval of $1.5 billion-plus compensation, fees of $62 million has new twists for ‘mega fund’ cases
The Federal Court’s recent approval of a 1.47 billion-plus settlement — and up to $62 million for the ongoing legal work of Gowling WLG, the law firm exclusively handling the national Indian day schools class action — provides some new twists in “mega fund” cases, including in the area of compensation for legal counsel.

Voluntary SOP has future in Ontario, says group of law society’s diversity initiative
An organizer for a group advocating to preserve the controversial Statement of Principles issued by the Law Society of Ontario (LSO) is confident some form of the diversity initiative will remain intact for the future.

Ontario Court of Appeal ruling in drug case ‘a strong statement denouncing racial profiling,’ lawyer says
Police cannot rely on race in any way to arrest or detain someone, the Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled.

Incoming CBA vice-president passionate about organization’s advocacy work
The Canadian Bar Association’s (CBA) incoming vice-president, Brad Regehr, will be the first Indigenous person to hold the position of president when Vivene Salmon’s term ends in 2020. His goal as VP is to support Salmon’s goals for the organization, but looking ahead, Regehr would like to increase continuing professional development and focus on reconciliation.

Why I’m calling for complete repeal of statement of principles
In his column, Sam Goldstein writes: “People have asked me why I did not support the compromise motion at the June 27 meeting of Convocation that would have made the Law Society of Ontario’s (LSO) controversial requirement that all licensees adopt a statement of principles (SOP) endorsing the society’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives voluntary.”

Matthew Grace is the Managing Editor of The Lawyer’s Daily.