Teresa Donnelly
This episode of Jumping Off the Ivory Tower features Julie’s conversation with Teresa Donnelly, the Treasurer of the Law Society of Ontario and the leader of Ontario’s legal profession elected by its “Convocation” or parliament.
Teresa has a background as a prosecutor with the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, where she was a member of the Sexual Violence Advisory Group whose work focused on sexual violence prosecutions and on improving the victim’s experience in the criminal justice system. Her commitment to a fairer criminal justice system and her consciousness of the impact of trauma on mental health – for lawyers as well as survivors of violence – are reflected both in her conversation with Julie and in her priorities as Treasurer. Teresa is also the leader of the Ontario profession at a time where there is a special focus on regulation, and some moves towards expansion of licensing: a sandbox for innovative tech legal services, paralegals offering some family services alongside lawyers (the subject of ongoing argument and resistance from the Family Bar), and just what the role of the regulator should be in controlling the space in which legal services are offered.
“Law Society of Ontario approves regulatory sandbox for legal tech” (CBA National Magazine)
“Letter in Support of Paralegals” (NSRLP)
In Other News
Shannon Meikle
Welcome to another new Other News “correspondent”: NSRLP Research Assistant and law student Shannon Meikle!
This week Shannon discusses: a new Family Violence law tort that has been established at the Ontario Superior Court thanks to an SRL who argued she deserved additional damages for the spousal abuse she suffered throughout her marriage; and, a new petition before the House of Commons that seeks to hold judges accountable for their mistakes.
Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia, 2022 ONSC 1303 (CanLII)
“New Tort of Family Violence in Ontario” (Slaw)
Petition to the House of Commons on judge oversight (Parliament of Canada)
Jumping Off the Ivory Tower is produced and hosted by Julie Macfarlane and Dayna Cornwall; production and editing by Brauntë Petric; Other News produced and hosted by Shannon Meikle; promotion by Moya McAlister and the NSRLP team.
Why perpetuate this mystery that “systemic change” requires monumental and historic changes?
The TRUE sources of the issues (still) remains in the toxic workplace culture at places like LawPro, who seem to be the (actual) driving force for treating our public courts as though they are a private members club, (and for places like slaw, for actively promoting ableism?)