Keep Current: A review of provincial Section meetings.

by Fran Hodgkins

Section News
Don’t Miss the Great Debate!
Is there a place for Work Life Balance in the practice of law? Join the Work Life Balance Section at the Vancouver Club on October 29, 2009 at 12:30 p.m. to find out! Jordan Furlong, Editor of CBA’s National magazine will moderate our teams of debaters with Mitchell H. Gropper, QC of Farris Vaughan Wills & Murphy LLP and Peter Ritchie, QC of Ritchie Sanford defending work life balance in the practice of law, and Nicole Howell of Hamilton Howell and Vista Pourbahrami of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP arguing contra.

Do You Have 12 Hours?
Attendance at CBA Section presentations, either in-person, by teleconference or webinar, counts toward your mandatory reportable Professional Development requirement of 12 hours by the Law Society. Check your hours online at www.cba.org/bc under Professional Development.

Chatter with Chairs Helena Clift Law Practice Management Chair 09/10 “I think Sections are important for young practitioners to gain confidence, assume responsibility, and give back to the CBA and the legal community at large by serving on Section executives. Being a Section member creates a sense of community and collegiality, both seemingly threatened commodities in the law today.”

Alternate Dispute Resolution-Okanagan Meeting: June 10, 2009 Speaker: Ron Smith Topic: The Distance Mediation Project of the B.C. Mediator Roster Society		Commercial and Real Estate-Okanagan Meeting: August 4, 2009 Speakers: Derek Sanders and Simone Brunton Topic: Business Valuation for Purchase/Sale Transactions Photo L-R: Michael Litchfield and Derek Sanders
Business Law Meeting: June 4, 2009 Speaker: Joel Nitikman, Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP Topic: Top Ten Tax Tips for Solicitors, 2009		Wills and Trusts-Victoria Meeting: June 2, 2009 Speaker: F. Kenneth Walton, QC Topic: Clauses for Power of Attorneys & Wills

Alternate Dispute Resolution-Okanagan
On May 31, 2009 a pilot project called “The Distance Mediation Project” was established by the B.C. Mediator Roster Society and funded by the Law Foundation to provide free family mediation services when one party resides in a non-urban area of British Columbia with a population less than 10,000 and where regular services are unavailable. Mr. Smith discussed how a committee created by the B.C. Mediator Roster Society will undertake a feasibility study to determine whether similar civil law mediation programs used around the world can be applied to family law, and will perform a sample study of 38 family law mediations in B.C. The types of media that clients have access to, such as Skype, Mediation room, Juripax or simple teleconferencing, will decide the forum for the mediation.

Business Law
Mr. Nitikman presented and summarized in detail each of the 10 Tax Tips for lawyers 2009 and explained a “lesson to be learned” at the end of each tip. This popular annual luncheon event with guest speaker Joel Nitikman was well-attended by 50 members in-person and another 13 by Webinar. His top ten list with ten lessons to be learned included:

1. GST and ITC’s – who is “acquiring” the supply;
2. Partnerships – or not;
3. Principal Residence Trusts;
4. 87(4)/Husky Oil;
5. GST/CCAA/BIA/323;
6. Transfer Pricing into Canada;
7. Part IV and Divorce;
8. PFIC’s;
9. LOB; and
10. 256(9) Elections.

Commercial and Real Estate-Okanagan
Mr. Sanders and Ms. Brunton, both Chartered Accountants and Chartered Business Valuators presented on the topic of Business Valuation and the use of Chartered Business Valuators in the Purchase and Sale of a business. The presentation began with a discussion of value drivers for business and an overview of various methods of valuation. Also discussed was the various levels of valuation reports and in what circumstances a valuation should be prepared. The presentation was well received by the Section who followed up with various questions relating to the use of valuators in particular purchase and sale transactions.

Wills and Trusts-Victoria
Thirty members attended the last dinner meeting of the 2008/2009 Section year to hear Mr. Ken Walton, QC discuss and present two papers on “Some Thoughts on Power of Attorney” and “The Neutrality of the Estate Executor.” The interplay between the Adult Guardianship Act, Patients Property Act, the Representation Agreement Act, and the Power of Attorney Act was discussed with respect to property and health care directives. In particular, discussion included circumstances when a committee is appointed when the patient has named a Representative and/or a Power of Attorney. A good opportunity to determine a person’s committee choice is when taking instructions for a will, as the document may then be witnessed and executed in the same manner as the will is executed. On the second topic, Mr. Walton indicated that in Wills Variation litigation the executor is to take a neutral position as stated in current law. He discussed the merits of insertion of clauses which would allow an executor to defend variation claims. Discussion ensued regarding whether the executor/estate would be liable for costs if he defended claims, and/or be personally liable to the beneficiaries for defending. The state of law is that court may review testator’s wishes to determine respective equities. To offer the testator an estate planning mechanism, such as setting up trusts, is an alternative to directing the executor to defend a claim in the testator’s will.

This article was published in the August 2009 issue of BarTalk. © 2009 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.