Legal Feeds Blog

Tuesday, 08 May 2012 12:29

Quebec judge’s murder trial begins

The trial of a retired Quebec City judge charged with his wife’s murder began Monday.

Retired Qubec City judge Jacques Delisle is the first judge in Canadian history to stand trial for first-degree murder Photo: Le Soleil

Jacques Delisle, 77, is the first judge in Canadian history to stand trial for first-degree murder. He pleaded not guilty at a hearing in March 2011.

Police officers found Marie-Nicole Rainville, Delisle’s wife of almost 50 years, dead of a gunshot wound to the head on Nov. 12, 2009. It was initially reported that the 71-year-old had committed suicide after suffering a stroke in 2007 that paralyzed one side of her body and confined her to a wheelchair.

Seven months later, Delisle was arrested and charged with premeditated murder.

A court document filed by Delisle’s lawyer stated that Rainville’s life had become “unbearable” and she had “expressed a desire to end her life.”

They had two children and three grandchildren and were apparently set to go on a cruise to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in the fall of 2010.

“I don’t think he would do anything which she would not want or to harm her,” one judge, who knew the couple well, told Canadian Lawyer at the time of his arrest.

Delisle was appointed to the Quebec Superior Court in 1983 and then sat on the Quebec Court of Appeal for 15 years. He stepped down from the bench six months before Rainville’s death.

The former judge, who was a hunter, was also charged with illegal possession of a firearm, which will be addressed in a separate trial.

Delisle’s arrest shocked Quebec’s legal community. Due to the sensitivity of the case, the province took extra precautions by presenting its evidence in an in camera hearing with a judge before the arrest warrant.

By the end of Monday’s proceedings, 12 jurors had been selected. In it’s opening arguments this morning, the Crown said ballistics tests proved there was no way Rainville could have shot herself.

The trial is expected to last four weeks.

A Call to Action Canada loses Deloitte

Deloitte has withdrawn as a signatory to A Call to Action Canada, the organization working to promote diversity in the legal profession.

Deloitte’s Ken Fredeen says the decision is all about resources and time.

At its fourth annual conference in Toronto today, co-founder Joy Casey announced that Deloitte and it’s general counsel in Canada, Ken Fredeen had withdrawn their support from ACTAC, but would remain as members of Legal Leaders for Diversity an organization of in-house counsel also promoting diversity in the legal departments of some of the largest corporations in the country. Fredeen is a co-founder of Legal Leaders for Diversity Canada.

Deloitte signed on with ACTAC in February 2010. To date there are 11 signatories to its mission statement. Meanwhile, Legal Leaders for Diversity now has 60 general counsel as members after one year.

“Ken has indicated he is very committed to Legal Leaders for Diversity and it is a question of priorities,” says Casey. “The decision of Deloitte to withdraw is unfortunate, and a little hard to understand.”

Phebe Neely Ciulla, senior manager, Deloitte North American Financial Advisory LLC was to be a featured speaker at the conference today, but withdrew as a result of Deloitte ending its membership with ACTAC.

Casey notes that unlike ACTAC’s mission statement, Legal Leaders for Diversity doesn’t stipulate consequences for law firms that don’t demonstrate a dedication to diversity.

As part of its mission statement that signatories sign, A Call to Action requires in-house counsel to: “. . . pledge to make decisions regarding which law firms represent our companies based in significant part on the diversity performance of the firms.” It also states that, “We intend to look for opportunities to direct work to firms which are controlled by, or have a substantial number of, partners who are women or minorities.”

Finally, the mission statement stipulates, “We further intend to end or limit our relationships with firms whose performance consistently evidences a lack of meaningful interest in being diverse.”

Fredeen says the decision is all about resources and time and not about ACTAC’s mandate to hold firms more accountable to diversity initiatives. “I and Deloitte have limited time and resources. I have never just lent my name to something, rather, when I commit I give it my all,” he said when contacted by Canadian Lawyer InHouse.

“The LLD approach has always been inclusive, meaning that we see the issue of a more inclusive legal profession to be one of co-operating and working together,” says Fredeen. “We have elevated the importance of diversity to lawyers and law firms. A natural consequence will be more business. The approaches of the LLD and ACTAC are different, but I will let others determine which approach has been more successful.”