Blog
Meet CABA Member: Shameen Woods
From Skadden to Octagon – Scott Gaffield
CABA member Scott Gaffield (Yale, USC, UCLA) has left the Los Angeles office of Skadden Arps to join Octagon as Senior Counsel. Octagon is the world’s largest sponsorship consulting practice and a pioneer and leader in athlete and personality representation and management. With more than 900 employees globally, Octagon manages/influences billions in worldwide sponsorship rights fees and activation and works with hundreds of blue-chip corporate clients, more than 800 Athletes & Personalities clients, and manages more than 5,000 events per year. Leading stakeholders in the sports and entertainment world continue to look to Octagon to provide leadership in understanding fans’ passions and how these insights can build more effective, efficient and measureable marketing programs. www.octagon.com
Scott is also a volunteer consultant at the nonprofit organization Bizroots, Inc. which helps inner-city entrepreneurs build, grow and develop successful businesses in the L.A. area.
On behalf of the Canadian American Bar Association – and as a fellow Skadden alumnus – we wish Scott the best in his new career.
David McFarlane
President
Canadian/American Attorneys – Business/Social Events
To all of the members of the Canadian American Bar Association (CABA), Happy Canada Day/Independence Day Weekend!!!
We have several upcoming social/business networking events in the U.S. and Canada that you will want to attend and meet other attorneys who are in-house, in private practice or government. We also have several other matters to report, including our open membership to Canadian attorneys with an American affiliation and our sponsorship of numerous Canadian and American law firms.
CANADIAN CONSUL GENERAL EVENT – LOS ANGELES
Last week CABA sponsored an event at the Canadian Consul General’s Residence in Los Angeles to celebrate Canada Day and a new Cirque du Soleil Los Vegas type showed opening up in LA for a multi-year run at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles (home to the Academy Awards). Pictures from the event will be posted on our website at www.canambar.com. We had a good turn out from local members.
TORONTO SOCIAL EVENT
On Thursday August 4th CABA will sponsor, at the Martini Bar at the Pantages Hotel in Toronto, a social event of CABA members and their guests from 5-8 p.m. (www.pantageshotel.com/martini-bar). The event coincides with the ABA conference being held in Toronto that week and we are looking forward to getting a good turn-out from ABA members as well. If any law firm is interested in co-hosting the event, please write to me at President@canambar.com. The event is free so come on out! Hosts are CABA’s Canadian Representative Daniel Bourque (Senior Corporate Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer, Xerox Canada) and CABA Treasurer and Secretary Sarah Robertson (Partner, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, New York). Further information can be obtained from Sarah at secretary@canambar.com
LOS ANGELES SOCIAL EVENT
On Thursday July 21, at the City Club in downtown L.A. (down the street from the Disney Concert Hall), CABA and Canadians Abroad will be hosting a wine and heavy appetizers event for both groups. The best views of Los Angeles and Hollywood can be seen from this top floor of the Wells Fargo Center. Tickets at $15 can be obtained through the Canadians Abroad website (www.canadiansabroad.com) or contact me at President@canambar.com.
NEW YORK CITY and COSTA MESA (Orange County)
We are planning social/networking events in NYC and Costa Mesa California this fall. Further information to follow.
SHORT FILM WINNER BY CABA MEMBER
Congratulations to Valerie Lynn Hanna who wrote, produced and starred in the short film “Jinx No More” which won an Award of Excellence as well as Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay prizes in the television category of the LA Movie Awards II!!! The film also received an Award of Merit from the Accolade International Film and Television Awards in the short film category. Valerie currently resides in Los Angeles and runs her own law practice.
PASSING OF CABA MEMBER – KEITH KUHN
We are sad to report the death of one of our members. Keith Kuhn was born on September 26, 1957 in Buffalo, NY and passed away November 15, 2010 in Seattle, WA. Keith was an attorney with the firm Lee Smart, PS, Inc. and was admitted to the Bars of B.C., Ontario, New York and Washington. He attended McMaster University (B.A. 1979) and U.B.C Law (L.L.B. 1993). Keith is survived by his wife Nicole, and children Ethan, Naomi, Levi and Asher. An education fund for his 4 children has been established and donations can be made to the “Keith J. Kuhn Memorial Fund” at any US Bank Branch.
CORPORATE SPONSORS
To date CABA has 13 law firm sponsors and one law school (Dalhousie). Since our last announcement Gowlings, Gilberts, McMillan, Miller Canfield and Stikeman Elliott have joined to sponsor us. Corporate sponsorships are $300 annually and provide 4 free attorney memberships plus promotion with your logo and link on our website and materials. For further information please see our website at www.canambar.com.
LAW STUDENT ESSAY COMPETITION
CABA sponsors an annual $500 essay competition that is open to any law student in Canada or the U.S. as well as articling students in Canada. If any law firm is interested in co-sponsoring the prize, the award will reflect that sponsorship. If interested please contact me at President@canambar.com
OUR NEW WEBSITE
As members please feel free to post on our website – articles, notices, job opening, board appointments, promotions, law firm news, awards etc. In checking your personal profile on our website, if you notice that the information (or your picture) is out of date, please contact me and I will have it updated. Please note that only members who have currently paid their $35 annual due (or are a member of a law firm who is one of our co-sponsors) will have access to the members area starting August 1, 2011.
Enjoy the holiday weekend!!
David McFarlane – President, Canadian American Bar Association
Supreme Court of Canada Clerk – CABA Member
Congratulations to CABA member Stephanie Lafrance for her appointment as Incoming Law Clerk to the Honorable Mr. Justice Ian Binnie at Supreme Court of Canada!!!
Stephanie will be starting with the SCC in September 2011. Justice Binnie has recently announced his retirement from the Court so unless his time is extended during the nomination process, Stephanie may be Clerking for another Judge as well during her time at the Court.
Best wishes Stephanie from all of us at CABA – and, as a former Partner at Osler Hoskin & Harcourt, from Oslers too!
David McFarlane
President, Canadian American Bar Assocation
Immigrants are said to cost Canada too much!!
On May 17, 2011 the Frasier Institute, a public policy Think Thank in Canada, published a study about immigration claiming, as its headline, that immigrants to Canada cost the country 23 Billion per year. The report says newcomers pay about half as much in income taxes as other Canadians, but absorb nearly the same value of government services, costing taxpayers roughly $6,051 per immigrant and amounting to a total annual cost of somewhere between $16.3-billion and $23.6-billion. This report is being criticized already as telling only one side of the story.
From my perspective, the study is flawed in that it groups all immigrants to Canada. As an immigration lawyer, I see first-hand how there are many different types of immigrants to Canada. You have the skilled workers who come to the country though a very narrow and carefully designed selection process, often with a job secured already. These newcomers have money saved up, are well educated, and begin to pay taxes and integrate to Canadian society immediately. Their children, whether born abroad or in Canada, can be expected to follow in their parents’ footsteps, which means to secure college education and go to work. Thus, this trajectory does lend itself to the argument addressed by the Frasier report that children of immigrants are expected to “pay” Canada back for their parents’ reliance on the system.
On the other hand, another major category of immigrants to Canada are refugee claimants. These immigrants, which Canada has an obligation to accept and subsidize (at least preliminarily), may or may not have a high level of education. They often come from war-torn countries, where most of their recent years were spent in political activism, leading them to fear for their lives and flee their native land. Upon arrival to Canada, these newcomers are immediately heavily reliant on the social system, from shelters to house them, to cultural centers to orient them, they take English or French classes, and even seek medical care to help them recover from their possible injuries. They land in a completely new social order, adapting to the racial discrimination of the modern west, all the while trying to make a new life for themselves. This often results in them not working and relying on welfare. Should they work, they end up in low level blue collar jobs that may not rely on basic language skills (e.g. pumping gas). Unlike the children on skilled immigrants, children of refugees may not necessarily be expected to go far beyond their parents’ accomplishments in Canada, nor repay the country for its help.
I believe that any study looking at the impact of immigrants to the economy and social landscape of Canada must distinguish between the different immigrant streams. Very different and surprising findings could result from this approach.
David McFarlane Elected President of the Canadian American Bar Association (The Recorder, Nov. 24, 2010)
David McFarlane has been elected the 2011 president of the Canadian American Bar Association.CABA is an association of U.S. lawyers with strong ties to Canada: They are Canadian citizens,permanent residents of Canada and/or graduates of a Canadian university or law school. McFarlane joined Snell & Wilmer as counsel in September to help expand the firm’s downtown Los Angeles office. He focuses his practice on employee benefits, executive compensation and human resources law and graduated in 1986 from University of Windsor Law School in Ontario, Canada.
You can see the full article here.
Snell & Wilmer Attorney David McFarlane Elected as the 2011 President of the Canadian American Bar Association
(November 11, 2010) – Snell & Wilmer L.L.P. is pleased to announce that attorney David McFarlane has been elected the 2011 president of the Canadian American Bar Association (CABA). CABA is an association of U.S. lawyers with strong ties to Canada. All of its members are Canadian citizens, permanent residents of Canada, and/or graduates of a Canadian university or law school.
“CABA reflects a connection unique in the world – The close union of two nations with shared legal, cultural and economic histories,” said McFarlane. “While CABA’s history has been brief, our organization has grown quickly in membership, made its first annual award and held a law student essay competition, among other things. I am very excited to help the organization grow as their president.”
McFarlane joined Snell & Wilmer in September of this year to help expand the firm’s downtown Los Angeles office. He focuses his practice in employee benefits, executive compensation and human resources law. He has worked in these areas, in the United States and Canada, for more than two decades assisting many national and international high-profile clients with their employee benefits and executive compensation issues in corporate transactions, plan administration, regulatory compliance and bankruptcy.
He was a partner at Osler Hoskin & Harcourt in Toronto before joining Skadden Arps in Los Angeles in 1998. He has also previously clerked for a Judge in Ottawa, written two legal books in Canada and worked in politics on both sides of the border.
McFarlane earned his B.A. in Political Science from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, a B.A. and his J.D. from the University of Windsor Law School, Ontario, Canada, cum laude. About Snell & Wilmer L.L.P. Founded in 1938, Snell & Wilmer is a full-service business law firm with more than 400 attorneys practicing in nine locations throughout the western United States and in Mexico, including Los Angeles and Orange County, California; Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona; Denver, Colorado; Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Los Cabos, Mexico. The firm represents clients ranging from large, publicly traded corporations to small businesses, individuals and entrepreneurs. For more information, visit www.swlaw.com.
Contact: Sara McKibben,
Marketing Manager
smckibben@swlaw.com | 714-427-7043
Larry J. Behar P.A. appeared as keynote speaker at the Quebec-Florida Chamber of Commerce
THE LAW OFFI CES OF LARRY J . BEHAR, P.A.
888 Southeast Third Avenue Suite 400
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316
Phone (954) 524-8888
Fax (954) 524-0088
www.immmigrationflorida.com
Press Release
Contact: Tania Sibonney Phone: (954) 524-8888
Email: tania@immigrationflorida.com
LARRY J. BEHAR P.A. TO APPEAR AT THE BROWARD ALLIANCE 2009 DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE
Mr. Larry J. Behar P.A will appear at the June 25, 2009 Broward Alliance Development Conference, “Creative Development Tools for a New Economy,” being held at Nova Southeastern University. Mr. Behar will discuss the creation of Regional Centers for alternative foreign investor financing of real estate projects and the implementation of congressionally mandated structures.
Larry J. Behar P.A. to appear at the Broward Alliance 2009 Development Conference
THE LAW OFFI CES OF LARRY J . BEHAR, P.A.
888 Southeast Third Avenue Suite 400
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316
Phone (954) 524-8888
Fax (954) 524-0088
www.immmigrationflorida.com
Press Release
Contact: Tania Sibonney Phone: (954) 524-8888
Email: tania@immigrationflorida.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE LARRY J. BEHAR P.A. TO APPEAR AT THE BROWARD ALLIANCE 2009 DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE
Mr. Larry J. Behar P.A will appear at the June 25, 2009 Broward Alliance Development Conference, “Creative Development Tools for a New Economy,” being held at Nova Southeastern University. Mr. Behar will discuss the creation of Regional Centers for alternative foreign investor financing of real estate projects and the implementation of congressionally mandated structures.
Mr. Larry J. Behar, P.A.
