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Contact: Mark Mahoney
Associate
Director of Media Services
New York State Bar Association
Phone: 518-487-5532
mmahoney@nysba.org
Jonathan Clancy
Associate
Director of Media Relations
Website and Technology
Ontario Bar Association
416-869-0513 ext.348
Toll free in Ontario: 1-800-668-8900
jclancy@oba.org
March 19, 2012
NEW YORK STATE AND ONTARIO BAR ASSOCIATIONS TO HOLD
HISTORIC CROSS-BORDER LEGAL SUMMIT
Conference to be held March 28-29 in Toronto and
Buffalo
The chief judges of New York state and the province of Ontario will
address an historic summit later this month which will focus on
cross-border legal opportunities for New York and Canadian
attorneys.
Co-sponsored by the New York State Bar Association and the Ontario
Bar Association, the first-of-its-kind conference will be held over two
days in two countries: March 28 in Toronto and March 29 in Buffalo.
The agenda includes 18 distinct programs addressing multiple
cross-border legal issues, including mergers and acquisitions,
immigration, employment law, child support, estate planning, tax law,
health care data privacy and alternative dispute resolution. Each of the
six, three-part sessions will cover three tracks: corporate law,
arbitration/litigation and general law.
New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman and Ontario Chief Justice
Warren K. Winkler will discuss “Professionalism and Access to
Justice” at the plenary session on Wednesday, March 28, from 3-5
p.m. in Toronto.
A second plenary session to be held Thursday, March 29, from 3-5 p.m.
in Buffalo will explore cross-border legal opportunities. Moderated by
Andrew D. Otis of New York City (Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt &
Mosle), the panelists include: Marta Moszczenska of Buffalo (Consul
General of Canada); Christopher J. Cummings of Toronto (Paul, Weiss,
Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison); James P. Duffy III of Mineola (Berg
and Duffy); Jon-David Giacomelli of Burlington, Ontario (Cambridge);
Lauren D. Rachlin of Buffalo (Hodgson Russ); and W. Brian Rose of
Toronto (Stikeman Elliott).
“Canada is our largest trading partner, with more than
half a trillion dollars in goods and services exchanged between the two
countries every year,” said New York State Bar Association
President Vincent E. Doyle III of Buffalo (Connors & Vilardo).
“As that relationship continues to grow, we will see increasing
opportunities for manufacturers, service providers and legal firms to
conduct business on both sides of the border.
“The needs of our clients are no longer contained by national
borders” said OBA President Paul Sweeny of Hamilton, Ont. (Evans,
Sweeny Bordin LLP). "This summit will allow us to build upon our
relationship, as well as hear and share solutions necessary to ensure
our clients receive seamless service. The panels will address
cross-border issues in a variety of areas, from class actions to mergers
and acquisitions to tax. We are honoured that the chief justices
of New York and Ontario will be joining us.”
The summit celebrates the common law system upon which the legal
system of each country is based. With the theme, “1 Legal System +
2 Jurisdictions = Infinite Opportunity,” it is designed to
illustrate to law firms on both sides of the border the unprecedented
scale of cross-border opportunities for the legal profession. The event
was planned jointly by the two bar associations, with the assistance of
the International Law Section of the New York State Bar Association.
In 2010, Canada exported $249.1 billion in goods and services to the
United States, while the United States exported $277.6 billion.
Approximately $1.4 billion in goods and services, as well as 400,000
people, cross the U.S. – Canadian border every day. (Source: U.S.
State Department: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2089.htm#relations
)
In 2011, the state of New York exported $13.9 billion in goods and
services to Canada, while Canada exported $23.9 billion to New York.
(Source: Industry Canada, Canadian Government. http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cis-sic.nsf/eng/home
)
For Ontario and New York law firms ¬¬-- particularly those
near the Canada-U.S. border -- many aspects of their business now have
an international component (Source: Lauren Rachlin interview with
NYSBA). It is routine for trust-and-estates planning, probate law,
matrimonial law, criminal law, international trade law and civil
litigation to extend across the border as businesses and people move
more freely between the countries thanks to the strengthening trade
relationship.
A recent Brookings Institute survey shows that New York is a major
exporter of goods and services to the world, with the New York City
metropolitan area ranking second in the nation in exports. The success
of exporting extends to upstate New York, with the Rochester and
Buffalo-Niagara Falls regions listed within the top 50 and the upstate
metropolitan areas of Albany-Schenectady-Troy, Syracuse and
Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown falling within the top 100. (Source:
Brookings Institute: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2012/0308_exports/0308_exports.pdf
)
The Toronto session will be held at the Ontario Bar Association, 20
Toronto St., Toronto. The Buffalo session will be held at the
Adam’s Mark Hotel, 120 Church St., Buffalo.
For further information about the summit, including registration and fee
information for attending attorneys, visit: www.nysba.org/OBANYLegalSummit.
The New York State Bar Association, with 77,000 members, is the
largest voluntary state bar association in the United States. It was
founded in 1876.
The Ontario Bar Association is the voice of the legal profession
in Ontario. As a branch of the Canadian Bar Association, the OBA
represents more than 17,000 lawyers, judges, law professors and law
students throughout the province.
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