Dear Colleagues and Friends,
It gives me great pleasure to have
been invited by M. Andre Gagnon to write a few words for this inaugural edition
of “The Montreal Lawyer”, the first legal magazine to be published in English
in Quebec. I would venture to say that
almost every anglophone lawyer in Montreal has, at one time or another, been
asked how / why he or she chose to practice law in a French environment. To answer that question, I think it is
important to understand what it is to be a Montrealer and an “Anglophone lawyer”
practicing in this city. Notwithstanding
the present Charbonneau Commission hearings and our seemingly omni-present
infrastructure problems, we, Montrealers, have been and remain justifiably proud
of our city and its history. Indeed, Montreal
has long been recognized as one of the world’s great cities- a bilingual,
world- class, international metropolis, with a richness and diversity of cultures,
languages and vitality that makes it unique, not only in Canada and in North
America, but throughout the world.
This uniqueness also extends to the
practice of law in our city, particularly by members of the anglophone legal
community.
Firstly, the English-speaking
members of the Montreal Bar are not only highly bilingual - the highest of any
Bar anywhere – but arguably the most “polyvalents” juridically. Indeed, for almost a generation now, a
significant number of Montreal’s anglophone lawyers and an ever increasing number
of francophone lawyers have had the benefit of being trained trans-systemically
in an integrated fashion, both in the two great legal traditions of the civil
and common law.
A large proportion of our Bar’s
lawyers are thus able to draw upon their bijural background and serve their
clients in French and/or in English, in areas of private and public law that
transcend boundaries. Our lawyers are
to-day able to seamlessly offer clients a bilingual, comprehensive and
multidisciplinary expertise in such matters as mergers and acquisitions,
securities law, tax matters, class actions, civil/corporate and commercial
litigation, labour, employment and human rights, infrastructure, intellectual property,
aerospace, environmental issues, technologies, bio-medical law, and the
pharmaceutical industry, both on a local, provincial, national and
international level. This represents a
distinct advantage to our clients, be they native Quebecers or clients from
another province or country. The active
presence of bilingual, bijural lawyers in Montreal (anglophone and francophone)
will continue to allow us to attract to our city, clients who might otherwise
choose to litigate or do business in an “anglophone jurisdiction”, knowing that
their Montreal lawyer can handle any of their legal concerns.
The foregoing having been said,
there are challenges that do remain.
One such challenge involves
judgments of the Quebec Court of Appeal, which unfortunately are not officially
translated into English. Without an
official English translation, significant judgments of our province’s highest
Court on Charter and constitutional issues, litigation involving federal
statutes and other matters having national implications are not accessible and
are rarely referred to in other Canadian jurisdictions.
En effet, fournir une traduction officielle en anglais des jugements
importants de notre Cour d'appel permettra de mieux servir l'administration de
la justice au Québec et partout au Canada. Non seulement ceci renforcera le prestige et
la crédibilité du plus haut tribunal de notre province aux yeux de tous les
Québécois, mais ceci permettra également aux autres juridictions de bénéficier
de l'excellence de notre jurisprudence québécoise.
Improving access to justice is
another ongoing challenge in Montreal, as it is in virtually every major
metropolitan jurisdiction. Innovative solutions have been and will be
introduced here. We will have more to
say about this and other matters in future issues of this magazine.
We have a “first-class” legal
community in Montreal. It is my hope
that “The Montreal Lawyer” magazine will be able to capture and communicate to
its readership, the uniqueness ,vibrancy and excellence which is the Montreal
legal community, and the sense of both challenge and justifiable pride for the
anglophone members of the Montreal Bar to be able to practice their craft in
one of the world’s great cities.
On behalf of the English-Speaking
Section of the Bar of Montreal, I extend to “The Montreal lawyer” our sincerest
“félicitations” on your new endeavor and our very best wishes for your success.
View Ian M. Solloway's profile
