NEWSLETTER: October 2025

Editors – Allen Mendelsohn, Larry Markowitz and Stephanie Perlis

President’s Message

Alyssa Yufe, President

(cliquez ici pour lire le mot de la présidente en français)

Dear Colleagues, Honourable Judges, Members and Friends of the Society,

I am delighted to welcome you to the 77th season of the Lord Reading Law Society!

As a long-standing member of the Society, I am proud of the Society’s rich past and am honoured to be entrusted with the presidency of such a venerable association, known for its many meaningful contributions to Quebec’s legal community.

I hope that you enjoyed your summer and spending Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur with your families and loved ones. After the celebration of Succot, Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, we are excited to reconvene for our first event of the season on October 16, the Alan B. Gold Advocacy Lecture. This will be the first of five dinners we will be holding this year, where we will invite interesting and engaging speakers to enlighten, educate and inspire us.

It will be wonderful to see you all on the 16th as we welcome retired Supreme Court of Canada Justice The Honourable Marshall Rothstein C.C., KC, for his talk entitled, In Camera, Out Loud: Recollections from a Retired Supreme Court Judge. You can register for the event here.

I would like to thank our very generous sponsors for the evening for their support:

Osler for being the principal sponsor and for ensuring that their Vancouver-based partner Justice Rothstein could be with us in person for the evening.

Spiegel Ryan for sponsoring the attendance of 18 law students at this event, allowing us to make our dinners accessible, prioritizing our goals of mentorship, continuity and campus support.

Davies, for returning as the traditional sponsor of the Alan B. Gold lecture.

Membership and Exclusive Events

This season, we will continue to hold lunch and learn events as well as additional events, which are exclusive to our members. For example, in June 2025, we held events in collaboration with Stand With Us Canada and the Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue which involved a lunch and learn and evening lecture with Natasha Hausdorff, a prominent lawyer specializing in International Law, and a Kabbalat Shabbat Dinner lecture which featured Rawan Osman, a Syrian-Lebanese activist dedicated to advancing peace and fostering dialogue between the Arab world and Israel.

We also anticipate holding a young (and young at heart!) Lord Reading Members hockey game in January.

In this regard, and in the in the interests of preventing any more traumatic cases of Fear of Missing Out (“FOMO”) I encourage you to sign up for membership for the season. This will allow you to not only benefit from discounted ticket prices, but it will grant access to members-only events.

Do not hesitate! You can sign up for your membership here.

Save the Dates and Plan for these events!

November 26, 2025 – I am delighted to announce that our Human Rights Lecture will feature Mark Sandler, LL.B., LL.D. (honoris causa), founder and Chair of the Alliance of Canadians Combatting Antisemitism (ALCCA), a diverse coalition of 40+ community organizations and groups that collaboratively address antisemitism through advocacy, education and respectful dialogue. Mr. Sandler is a former member of the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, a former National Chair and Senior Counsel of B’nai Brith’s League for Human Rights. He has also devised legal remedies to combat hate, trained police and prosecutors on hate crimes, and has promoted respectful Muslim-Jewish, Sikh-Jewish and Black-Jewish dialogues.

February 2026 – We anticipate holding a dinner lecture featuring the Honourable Federal Court of Appeal Justice Peter Pamel and the Honourable Justice Alan Diner of the Federal Court entitled “Everything You Wanted to Know About the Federal Court”.

Stay tuned for more exciting details and announcements regarding our January and Spring events!

*****

I want to sincerely thank my Executive and Past Presidents and all of our Board members and volunteers who continue to uphold and support the Society. Your time, input and contributions are indispensable and are greatly appreciated.

I would be remiss if I did not mention what I am sure many of us cannot stop thinking about: The continued captivity of 48 of our brothers and sisters in Gaza. As we enter the Succot holiday and have just experienced the second anniversary of October 7, we call for the immediate release of our hostages and pray for peace to finally come to the region.

I look forward to seeing you next Thursday to open what should be another great season of Lord Reading!

Sincerely,

Alyssa Yufe, President 2025-26
The Lord Reading Law Society
president@lordreading.org

Addressing the Past: Justice Babak Barin Discusses Holocaust-era Asset Claims at the Henry Steinberg Memorial Lecture

Larry Markowitz

On May 6th, 2025, two days prior to the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day, the Lord Reading Law Society had the great privilege of hosting Superior Court Justice Babak Barin as the keynote speaker for this year’s Steinberg Memorial Lecture, named in honour of the late Justice Henry Steinberg of the Québec Court of Appeal.

Justice Barin’s talk, entitled The Claims Resolution Tribunal for Dormant Accounts in Switzerland: An Insider’s Account, shed light on one of the most significant restitution initiatives of the post-Holocaust era. The Claims Resolution Tribunal (CRT), he explained, was established in the 1990s to adjudicate claims to Swiss bank accounts that had remained dormant since World War II—many of which were believed to belong to victims of Nazi persecution.

Justice Barin began by sharing his own remarkable life story: Born in Iran, he lived through the Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War. These early experiences, marked by upheaval and loss, profoundly shaped his worldview and instilled in him a lasting commitment to justice and human rights. He later joined the CRT as a young legal professional, drawn to the tribunal’s unique blend of legal, historical, and ethical dimensions.

Justice Barin detailed how the CRT was created following international pressure and a settlement agreement with Swiss banks. The tribunal’s mission was not only to return unclaimed funds to the rightful heirs of Holocaust victims but also to provide a moral reckoning for past injustices.

Despite the formidable challenges—especially the passage of time and a scarcity of documentation—the CRT developed flexible standards of proof, employing genealogical and historical research. Justice Barin recounted emotionally powerful stories of how, in some cases, the CRT helped reconnect geographically distant members of long-separated families and gave survivors or their descendants a sense of closure, even when some claims were ultimately denied.

Throughout his talk, Justice Barin emphasized that the CRT’s significance went far beyond financial restitution. At its heart, the tribunal was a vehicle for moral recognition, historical accountability, and emotional healing. Its process demanded compassion, meticulous diligence, and a deep respect for the dignity of those affected.

He also reflected on the broader lessons that the CRT experience imparted. These lessons continue to inform his own judicial approach today. Upon his appointment to the Superior Court, he carried forward the principles of empathy, humility, and justice rooted in lived experience. “I strive to see the world through what I have in my heart,” he remarked, reminding the audience that legal work is ultimately about people, not just precedent.

Justice Barin’s lecture resonated deeply with the Lord Reading audience. His reflections served as a poignant reminder of the enduring importance of legal institutions in redressing historical wrongs and upholding human dignity. In illuminating the work of the CRT, Justice Barin also illuminated the enduring power of law—not merely to adjudicate, but to heal.

For a full set of pictures from the event, please click here.

Mazel Tov to Lord Reading Members Reaching an Anniversary at the Barreau!

The Society celebrates our long-standing members and friends who have reached important milestones at the Barreau:

60 years – Ralph Lipper, Malcolm McLeod

50 years – Avrum Fishman, Robert Issenman, Peter Marcovitz, Simon Potter, Ad.E, Society Past President Ian M. Solloway

The Society salutes your longevity and your contributions to the legal profession!

Society Humour

News from the Mishpocha

Mazel Tov

To Society First Vice-President Matthew Shadley and his partner Fanny on the birth of their baby girl, Romy Elizabeth Shadley!
To Society Past President Reisa Teitelbaum on being named a member to the Commission québécoise des libérations conditionnelles
To Society Past President Sharon G. Druker, Ad. E. on being named one of Canada’s top 25 most influential lawyers, recognized for all of her volunteer work, formidable community contributions as well as mentorship, excellence, leadership at the firm level and in her area of practice

Sincere Condolences

To Society Board member Mason Brenhouse on the passing of his father Clark
To Stephanie Perlis, recent Society Board member and indispensable member of the Society’s Communications Team on the passing of her father Ralph
To Society Past President Inna Nekhim on the passing of her father-in-law Semyon Korenblit and grandmother Lyubov Sokolskaya
To the family of long-time society member and friend the Honourable Justice Israel ( Sonny) Mass
To the family of Society member Pierre E. Moreau
To the family of Society member Mark E. Wener
To the family of Lord Reading past speaker (January 15, 2020) Ken Dryden