Articles

As we all know, this office depends upon the brilliance, dedication, acuity and fair-mindedness of the individuals who everyday provide legal services to the government. And each day, we are reminded that we depend on one another to do our best.

The 2012 Tom Marshall Award, sponsored by the OBA’s Public Sector Lawyers section, was presented to three worthy recipients in front of approximately 100 people at a special dinner in May.

Mary Dawson, the federal Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, was the keynote speaker at a luncheon seminar hosted by the OBA Public Sector Lawyers’ Section on November 15, 2012.

On October 24, 2012, the Ontario Bar Association held a welcome reception for articling students and law students interested in the Public Service.

The world is changing, and changing profoundly…What does this mean for the public service?

Here at the Public Sector Newsletter we are fortunate to have a cartoonist – one who’s had a unique lens on being a public sector lawyer given that his dad works in the Ontario Public Service.

On March 26, 2012, the Public Sector Lawyers’ Section hosted a lunch program regarding the Adjudicative Tribunals Accountability, Governance and Appointments Act entitled:“Hot Topics Under ATAGAA (the Tribunals Act):Has the Legislation Made a Difference in the Quality and Effectiveness of Outcomes”.

Q1: Is this the job you aspired to when you applied to law school? I had no clear idea what I would end up doing when I finished. The key achievement was getting into law school, and eventually becoming a lawyer....

On March 7, 2012, the Ontario Bar Association held a Continuing Legal Education seminar entitled “Etiquette and Ethics: Public Inquiries and Investigations in the Public Sector”. The seminar, chaired by David Demirkan and Voy Stelmaszynski, included two panel presentations and a discussant.

It was Colin Powell, the former US Secretary of State who said: “Bad news isn’t like wine. It doesn’t get better with age”. In the aftermath of the Great Recession of 2008-09, Western governments of all political stripes have finally come to terms with what they’ve ignored for far too long...