ASAP Reporting Services

Arbitrator of the Month - Earl Cherniak

January 26, 2012

On Being a Commercial Arbitrator: Lessons Learned

Earl Cherniak was last night’s Arbitrator of the Month at ASAP and we had an exceptional turnout at the event. Earl (he insists we call him Earl, not Mr. Cherniak) spoke about his experience in commercial arbitration and the lessons he has learned throughout the years; “lessons learned the hard way”. Highlights of the evening included Earl’s humorous insight into becoming a commercial arbitrator while insisting on maintaining his day job as counsel. While Earl provided the intimate group with some valuable tips regarding the initial phase of arbitration, the retainer, the importance of conflict checks, etc., it is Earl’s personal stories on a variety of topics which captivated the audience. This resulted in an engaging Q&A session, which ultimately led to the conclusion that every good arbitration retainer must have an excellent cancellation fees’ clause!

The evening was a smashing success and our appreciation goes out to Earl for his informative and witty outlook on commercial arbitration. His paper is available through the following link: On Being a Commercial Arbitrator Lessons Learned by Earl Cherniak

We look forward to seeing you all next month when ASAP features Brian Casey as Arbitrator of the Month.

The Art of Lansdowne, Waters, Trautrimas and Ngo

February 16, 2012

ASAP Reporting Services hosted its second gallery event in a series promoting local artists in Toronto last night. A special thank you goes out to Le Gallery, Wil Kucey and Randy Gladman who helped curate the art on display. Artists present Wednesday night included Tristram Lansdowne, Scott Waters, David Trautrimas and Tom Ngo. The artists are bound by their mutual interest in exploring the manmade environment in a variety of mediums. ASAP is pleased to promote the work of these talented artists and we are proud to have their art on display in our state-of-the-art facility.

This collection will be on display until May 2012 at our Bay Adelaide facility. Anyone interested in viewing is welcome to contact us for a private showing at events@asapreportingservices.com

For further information on these artists, please visit Le Gallery

http://scottwaters.ca/
http://www.trautrimas.ca/art.html
http://www.tomngo.net/
http://tristramlansdowne.com/

11th Annual Vis Friendly Canadian Regional Round

January 28, 2012

“Mooting Across the Miles”
As the world becomes more interconnected through the rapid development of technology, law schools are capitalizing on it for the benefit of their students.

For this year’s annual Vis Friendly Canadian Round, where students participate in a friendly moot to prepare for the Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot held in Vienna and Hong Kong every year, students from four Canadian law schools connected with law students from other parts of the world via videoconference.

Teams from Osgoode Hall Law School, the University of Ottawa, the Université de Montréal, and Queen’s University linked up with teams in Bahrain, Egypt, Tunisia, and the United States.

“Videoconferencing is something that we have been hoping to do for some time,” said Osgoode law professor and team coach Janet Walker, who is also an organizer of the event. “We are thrilled this year to have state-of-the-art technology to provide high-quality video links for the rounds. With the facilities at the newly established Helliwell Centre at Osgoode Hall Law School and at ASAP Reporting Services in downtown Toronto, we have been able to include teams who might not be able to attend pre-moots.”

However, there were some minor technical difficulties at times.

“Our connections to the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport in Egypt and the University of Georgia in the U.S. were crystal clear, as long as we remembered to jiggle the mouse from time to time to keep the system on active mode,” said Queen’s assistant law professor and team coach Joshua Karton.

Also, the connection failed at one point during the Bahrain/Montréal round so they improvised by using teleconference and Skype on an iPad to continue the round.

Not only were students able to practise their mooting skills, but they also received feedback from arbitration practitioners including Barry Leon, a partner at Perley-Robertson Hill & McDougall LLP and head of its international arbitration group.

Arbitrator of the Month - John Judge

January 26, 2012

Commercial Arbitration in Toronto: The Past, The Present and The Future Challenges

Another successful Arbitrator of the Month event at ASAP. The wine and goodies were 5 star and John Judge spoke about International Arbitration inToronto, which is a subject near and dear to our hearts. Although we have challenges to overcome, we believe the arbitration community inTorontoneeds to come together. As a group, we can show the world thatTorontohas great talent, friendly laws, an amazing centre and some of the world’s most respected arbitrators. Not to mention the beautiful, multi cultural city ofToronto. Why not hold your arbitration in Toronto???

Women in Arbitration in Canada and Beyond

December 12, 2011

Dispute Resolution Committee of the International Section of the Canadian Bar Association

Monday evening ASAP and Fasken Martineau hosted “Women in Arbitration in Canada, and Beyond”. This event was organized by the Dispute Resolution Committee of the International Section of the Canadian Bar Association. This was a National seminar with attendees linked in to the Toronto location by videoconference. There were participants in Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, Montreal and Calgary.

Special thanks to Barry Leon for organizing the seminar and to the panellists: Louise Barrington, Janet Walker, Tina Cicchetti and Anne Marie Whitesell and to the co-moderators, Sheryl Beckford and Barry Leon. This distinguished panel of women gave valuable insights and strategies for both women and men interested in working in the arbitration world.

As always, the reception afterward was enjoyed by all! Delicious hors d’oeuvres by Daniel et Daniel and our signature vintage wines.

Arbitrator of the Month: Harvey Kirsh

November 24, 2011

Topic: Arbitration - Tales, Issues & Strategies

ASAP’s Arbitrator of the Month program continues to draw an elite crowd of litigators and arbitrators.

The excellent wines and delicious hors d’oeuvres by Daniel et Daniel were a huge hit as always and last night’s speaker, Harvey Kirsh, was fantastic.

Mr. Kirsh was very engaging and used practical experiences to creatively and effectively illustrate the benefits of using an experienced arbitral tribunal. Harvey also touched on the benefits to the economies of those cities that are used/known as a preferred location for arbitration. We at ASAP are determined to help increase Toronto’s profile for both domestic and international arbitration.

ASAP is taking a break from the Arbitrator of the Month program for the month of December but will be resuming the program January 2012. We will feature John Judge from Stikeman Elliot as our first arbitrator for 2012.

CCVS Graduation

November 3, 2011

The graduation ceremony was held in our Flagship room at ASAP’s Toronto office at the Bay Adelaide Centre. Staff in the office had a chance to meet seven new aspiring and enthusiastic court reporters, all of whom will be working with us in the future. ASAP’s Resourcing Manager, Genevieve, was most pleased to meet all of the reporters and will be their main contact for bookings. “I was very proud to watch all these hard working students graduate, they have such strong skills and will make enormous strides in the world of court reporting. I am excited to continue working with them so that they can achieve the very best in their careers.”

Many of the graduates have already been through ASAP’s mentoring program and have ventured out on their own. One reporter, Marion, has attained realtime speeds and has already proven to be of tremendous value to ASAP and the legal industry. Her first assignment was to realtime the speech of Bill Clinton in Montreal a few months ago. All of these new reporters are ready to sit in on arbitrations and exams and produce a written record of the proceedings. With plenty of practice and perseverance, they too are soon to join the small but growing number of realtime reporters in Canada.

Congratulations again to the CCVS graduating class of 2011!

ASAP Presents the art of Matt Bahen

October 26, 2011

Last night ASAP hosted an exhibit launch party for the amazing local artist Matt Bahen. It was a fantastic soiree with the who’s who of the legal and local art community in attendance. As usual, the wine was amazing and the nibblies were incredible (thank you Daniel et Daniel). Toronto-based artist Matt Bahen’s paintings simultaneously speak of the lonely destruction left on the field of battle and the optimistic return of nature as it re-introduces itself into the environment. Bahen uses these works to reflect his personal experiences with tragedy and healing.

Matt’s work will be featured here at our Bay Adelaide facility until the end of January. His paintings are absolutely stunning! Our founder Kim Stewart couldn’t resist and had to purchase one of the larger paintings currently hanging in our foyer. “Leaves of Grass” has found a permanent home at ASAP. Anyone interested in viewing Matt’s collection is welcome to contact us for a private viewing events@asapreportingservices.com If you’d like to find out more about Matt and his work visit his website at www.mattbahen.com

AIDS BEAT

October 14, 2011

ASAP was proud to support the AIDS Beat initiative this year. The theme of the evening was Las Vegas and the ladies at ASAP were pleased to dress up for the night.

CANFAR is the only national organization in Canada dedicated to privately funding HIV and AIDS research. We believe that research benefits everyone, everywhere.

Canada is a leader in HIV and AIDS research. With the help of generous donations, and events like AIDSbeat, CANFAR has been able to sponsor important Canadian HIV and AIDS research breakthroughs.

With your help, we will end AIDS through research.

Arbitrator of the Month: Yves Fortier

October 12, 2011

Topic: Ethics in International Arbitration

Mr. Yves Fortier is Chairman Emeritus of Norton Rose OR and is recognized as one of the top arbitrators in the world.