NEWSLETTER - June 2008 - The Lord Reading Law Society

NEWSLETTER – June 2008

Mark Schrager, President
Allen Mendelsohn & Dorith Toledano, Editor(s)

MESSAGE FROM THE OUTGOING PRESIDENT

Mark Schrager

Dear Colleagues and Honourable Judges:

This will be my last newsletter as my term as president ends at the June 18th, 2008 meeting when Ronald Levy will become president of the Lord Reading Law Society. I will nevertheless continue to be involved with the planning of the 60th Anniversary Celebration to be held on September 18th, 2008.

I will also continue to work on the construction of the website with our contractor with a view to an official launch at the September 18th celebration. As well as enhancing communication amongst our membership, the new website will become a readily accessible archive of all the written material we generate so that our history is documented and available.

We have a very unique organization. Indeed, to honour us in this our 60th year as the collective voice of Jewish jurists in Quebec, the Bar of Montreal has bestowed on the Lord Reading Law Society the Medal of the Bar of Montreal to recognize “The Lord Reading Law Society’s passion for social justice, its tradition of legal excellence, its contribution to the judiciary and to the Montreal Bar.”

I have tried during the last year to continue to promote our traditions and specifically to encourage younger members of the Society to become involved in its operation. Our speakers’ programme must be maintained at the highest level to ensure the greatest levels of attendance by our members and guests. Our involvement in issues affecting the interests of Jewish members of the Bar must be timely and effective in order to continue for another 60 years!

Many thanks to the members of our Executive and Board who have been of particular help to me in managing the affairs of the Society over the last year.

Mark Schrager
President 2007-2008
The Lord Reading Law Society

MESSAGE FROM THE INCOMING PRESIDENT

Ronald H. Levy

Dear Colleagues and Honourable Judges:

This coming year will truly be an auspicious one for the Society.

We will be celebrating our 60th year as the collective voice of Jewish jurists of Quebec. In addition, as Mark Schrager mentions in his message, the Society is to be recognized with the award of the Medal of the Montreal Bar which will be bestowed on September 4th, 2008 during the annual Rentrée judiciaire ceremony.

C’est avec humilité que j’accepte l’honneur d’être le « dauphin » de L’Association de Droit Lord Reading et, lors de la prochaine réunion qui aura lieu le 18 juin prochain, je partagerai avec vous les noms des membres de l’exécutif.

In your names I salute our immediate past President, Mr. Mark Schrager and his executive for the stellar work that they have done in furthering the goals of the Society. It is my intention to build on the strength and passion which Mark and previous Presidents have brought to the task and, hopefully, to deal with important legal and topical issues that merit our attention.

Please feel free to communicate with me with respect to any ideas or comments that you have at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)= 0){out += unescape(l[i].replace(/^ss*/, ‘&#’));}while (–j >= 0){/**/if (el[j].getAttribute(‘eeEncEmail_IiKdItbjiu’)){el[j].innerHTML = out;}}/*]]]]>*/]]>.

I wish a restorative summer to us all.

Yours very truly,
Ronald H. Levy
Incoming President

Madam Justice Abella In Her Own Words

Allen Mendelsohn

On March 31st, The Honourable Madam Justice Rosalie Abella delighted the Lord Reading crowd with a speech that was alternatively hilariously funny and brilliantly poignant. Unable to properly summarize the elequence Madam Justice brought to the evening, I instead offer a series of memorable quotes from the evening.

The reason I have tears in my eyes is that I don’t have any grandchildren.

I was here as part of the 50th anniversary… and you haven’t changed a bit!

(re the presence of four women on the Supreme Court) I want to assure you each of those five men is there on merit.

(turning to the Declaration of Human Rights) Without justice, there is no hope.

We have not finished connecting history’s dots.

May the next 60 years go from strength to strength.

Upcoming dinner meetings

June 18, 2008 – Our Closing Program for the Season:
Guest Speaker: Edward L. Greenspan, Q.C., L.L.D. D.C.L.
Topic: “A Stranger in a Surprisingly Strange Land, the Conrad Black Trial”
Download the Dinner Invitation

September 18, 2008 – 60th Anniversary Celebration