Beverley McLachlin, Peter MacKay, Graham Fraser to attend CBA Legal Conference in Saskatoon, Aug. 17-20

  • July 31, 2013

OTTAWA — Newly appointed federal Justice Minister Peter MacKay will attend the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) Legal Conference next month in Saskatoon. He will deliver greetings at the Opening Plenary on Sunday, Aug. 18, and participate in a dialogue with CBA members on Monday, Aug. 19 at 1:45 p.m. at Saskatoon’s TCU Place, in Salon AB.

During the course of Saturday, Aug. 17 and Sunday, Aug. 18, CBA Council — the Association’s decision and policy-making body — will debate resolutions on key subjects including protecting privilege at the Canadian border, judicial appointments and sharing information based on torture.

The Chief Justice of Canada, Beverley McLachlin, will address Council on Saturday, Aug. 17 at 10:30 a.m., in TCU Place, Gallery C&D. Following her comments she will hold an informal media briefing session open to accredited media.

The Commissioner of Official Languages, Graham Fraser, will address CBA Council on Sunday, Aug. 18 at 9:40 a.m. at TCU Place, Gallery C&D, and release a study on bilingualism and the judiciary.

Breakout sessions are scheduled for Sunday afternoon, Aug. 18, Monday, Aug. 19 and Tuesday, Aug. 20. Programs deal with subjects including how to deal with self-represented litigants, aboriginal sentencing, mastering the “cloud” and virtual law firms and what happens to your data after death.

A separate stream of programming is being offered by the CBA’s Canadian Corporate Counsel Association aimed at in-house counsel. Sessions include paperless boardrooms, dealing with difficult clients and the latest on apps.

Most of the programs at the 2013 CBA Legal Conference take place at Saskatoon’s TCU Place. Sessions are open to accredited media. Accreditation may be obtained by contacting Hannah Bernstein.

The Canadian Bar Association is dedicated to support for the rule of law, and improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 37,000 lawyers, notaries, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members.

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