Two different endings marked the beginning of this year’s CBA Legal Conference, held in Ottawa from August 12-14.
On the Thursday Council meeting that preceded the conference, Council members voted themselves out of existence when they voted to adopt the new CBA governance model that was the result of the Re-Think process. See elsewhere in this newsletter for more about that.
The second ending was more of a prelude to the end: a tribute to CEO John Hoyles, who is retiring this November after 20 years on the job. The tribute included a video prepared by former Senior Communications Director Steve Hanson, and a moving speech from Sally Hoyles, who for 19 years has been sharing her anniversary with “400 of our closest friends” at the annual summer conference. Check out the piece on nationalmagazine.ca.
It wasn’t all about endings, however – the Chief Justice talked about judicial delays when she addressed Council on Thursday; on Friday, the Justice Minister addressed the opening plenary; three members of the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs chose the conference as the venue to launch their interim report on delays in the justice system; we launched CBA Connect, a program that connects young lawyers and law students with the people, events, knowledge, skills and tools they need to enjoy a fulfilling career. And then there was The Pitch, the first-ever legal tech innovation competition hosted by LegalX and the CBA, which capped off Friday’s offerings with a bang. The slickly produced hour-and a half event played to a packed room and universal acclaim. And then Sam Roberts played an intimate acoustic gig ahead of the Young Lawyers’ Late-Night Bash.
Dr. Larry Richard kicked off Saturday with a keynote speech offering advice on improving engagement among employees, Shopify’s Harley Finkelstein and Joe Frasca came for lunch with the CCCA crowd, and author Susan Pinker gave all of us who spend more time with our devices than with other humans something to think about: rich social connections, she says, help us live longer. The featured speakers were in addition to two days’ worth of PD sessions on the three themes of the conference: building a better career, building a better practice and building a better person. After new President René Basque accepted the chain of office on Sunday, the conference wrapped up with two sessions moderated by former journalist, and current editor-in-chief of Policy Options, Jennifer Ditchburn. The first, Litigating in the Court of Public Opinion, featured Senator Mike Duffy’s lawyer, Don Bayne, and Crown counsel Jocelyn Speyer, talking about their experience with high-profile cases. The second was a big draw for the audience – Ditchburn interviewed Judy Smith, on whom the character of TV crisis-management expert Olivia Pope is based.
See nationalmagazine.ca for all of the blogs from the conference, and check out our flickr site for photos from the event.