Threatening to undo Johnny Depp’s public relations efforts, Somali pirates have gone on a hijacking spree. Even freighters carrying food aid for their fellow Africans are not immune to their ransom efforts.

A few months ago when a Canadian research group exposed the GhostNet, a brazen cyber-espionage network, the story briefly made headlines. Most of us marvelled at the ingenuity and nefariousness of the alleged perpetrator, the Chinese government.

 

It was, in many ways, a chance encounter that took Robert Petit on a career path spanning Rwanda to Cambodia. 

 

Our cover story this month deals with Louis Pasquin, the first lawyer in Canada to be found guilty of gangsterism. During his trial, it was revealed Pasquin used his home to help a couple of drug dealers and even conspired with them to traffic drugs.

Canada has made great strides in the fight for equality rights for gays and lesbians but as a Law Society of Upper Canada panel heard last week, the battle continues for others in the LGBT community.

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Canada’s government keeps missing the mark when it comes to dealing with drugs.

 

The following is an excerpt from Patrick D. Kelly’s new book Rainmaking 101: How to Grow Your Client Base & Maximize Your Income:

 

Millions of people embark on professional careers as CPAs, engineers, insurance agents, financial advisers, bankers, lawyers, and corporate managers only to discover that being technically proficient is just one element of being successful. Few receive any formal training in selling their services and themselves. For most, developing business is a sink-or-swim proposition.

When Ishwar Sharma, a Toronto criminal and immigration lawyer practising in the heart of Little India, received a phone call from a practice management reviewer from the Law Society of Upper Canada to schedule an appointment, his heart began thumping. Sharma had misgivings and was filled with apprehension over the notion that an outsider working for the profession’s regulatory body was going to spend a day at his office, asking questions and sifting through books, files, and records to ensure his practice management was in compliance with established standards. “And there you are standing exposed,” says Sharma wryly.

In the last 12 years, Roger Kerans has resolved disputes worth more than $1 billion, either through mediation or arbitration.

Marketing practices targeted at Canadian-based consumers may soon be significantly curtailed by a bill aimed at protecting consumers from the bombardment of electronic messages, often referred to as "spam."