Ontario’s competitive iGaming market went “live” on April 4.
It is expected that the competitive market will have 30 to 40 operators – both grey market operators who are transitioning to the Ontario-regulated market and new entrants, some of whom are based in Ontario and other parts of Canada. While not all will be launching on April 4, most will launch over the next several weeks. With their launch will come marketing of iGaming products and the operator brands – some well-known, others less known, and others new to the space.
Don Bourgeois, Chair of the Canadian Marketing Association’s Internet Gaming Committee outlines what it means for iGaming operators and their advertising activities in this highly regulated industry.
Last week, Fogler, Rubinoff’s annual meal sponsorship to Lawyers Feed the Hungry, provided 250 people with a much-needed warm meal. Although we were unable to be there in person, we were glad to support this important program in our community.
Katherine Hensel was a guest speaker at the Law Society of Ontario’s International Women’s Day event where women leaders shared their experiences and barriers that they overcame to sustain their legal careers.
According to Katherine, who was one of ten featured speakers, “Senior counsel are obligated to address the challenges mothers face in the profession and call out any undue new barriers that make it even harder to carry out their legal practice.” To read the Law Times article, click here.
We sat down with Micheline Gray-Smith, who volunteers her time at the Ryerson Law & Business Clinic. The Law & Business Clinic provides free legal services in a variety of business law matters to entrepreneurs and small businesses that cannot afford to retain a lawyer. Micheline shared with us her experience and the mentorship opportunities she has been able to provide.
Micheline, tell us how you got involved with the Ryerson Business & Law Clinic?
I was first introduced to the organization as a first-year Associate by Rick Moscone. Seeing a Partner with a full practice make the Clinic a priority, tells you that it’s something important. His commitment inspired me to stay involved with the Clinic and my role has evolved over time. At the beginning, I was working with one group of students and I would supervise their work, provide them with precedents, give them instructions on how to communicate with clients, and coach them through the process of advising clients. Now, in addition to providing that guidance, I have taken on a mentorship role to coach our first-year Associates alongside the group of volunteer Ryerson students and I supervise the whole process – answering any questions and guiding the our Associates, the student volunteers and the Clinic’s clients through the program. The reason I stay involved in the program is twofold: one it’s helping under-served individuals and businesses who need legal services and potentially don’t have the resources to pay for them and secondly, it is being able to provide students with exposure to the practice of law, which can help them decide whether they want to pursue attending law school. I have mentored four cohorts of students and being able to stay in touch with them over LinkedIn and see what they’ve done with their careers after graduating from the Ryerson Law & Business Program is really interesting – especially when they decide to go to law school in part because of conversations and experiences I’ve shared with them.
What advice would you give to a new lawyer who is looking for more opportunity to give back to their own community?
I would say the most important thing is finding something that is rewarding for you personally because that will give you that extra boost in your contribution. For example, when I was in law school, I was involved in a similar law clinic program. It’s something that I really enjoyed as a law student. Now that I’m participating in this program as a lawyer, I remember what it was like as a law student – not really knowing what my career would look like; not knowing what practice area I would pursue; and discovering that along the way. It’s really rewarding for me to see students discovering what they want to do and how they want their careers to unfold. It gives me energy, a sense of purpose, and encourages me to dedicate the time because I know what it was like, especially having graduated so recently.
Does this experience give you a different perspective, which you can bring to your law practice?
Helping the businesses in this program is really interesting because you get to see their growth from a start-up stage as they figure out how to structure their business. After three years, I can look back at the companies we helped initially and see how the decisions that we made together impacted the trajectory of the business.
The experience has even helped me when working with our firm clients, whose businesses are more established, because I now understand why their entity is set up the way it is and what challenges they might have faced early on. Seeing the whole evolution and working with entrepreneurs is inspiring. I can understand how they got to where they are now and what types of decisions they had to make at a really early stage that led them to where they are. Sometimes it is about what legal advice they should have gotten — but didn’t, and how we fix that at the point when they seek our advice. The reason I stay involved in the program is twofold: one it’s helping under-served individuals who need legal services and potentially don’t have the resources to pay for them and secondly, it’s being able to provide students with exposure to the practice of law, which can help them decide whether they want to pursue attending law school.
What has been the most rewarding aspect about volunteering with the Clinic? Do you have an anecdote about an experience that really moved you?
Firstly, it’s a great opportunity to grow as a lawyer. Particularly as a young lawyer, it was a chance to interact closely with clients and be their main point of reference. Secondly, being able to give back to the legal community because we were all in that position at one point. Wondering whether we should go to law school and whether it was the right path for us and looking for someone who can give you that kind of guidance and mentorship. If you can be that for a student, it’s very rewarding. Thirdly, I enjoy seeing the impact that some of the services and advice the students provide have on the Clinic’s clients. We work with entrepreneurs who are taking a risk in starting something new, who are looking to pursue what is often a lifelong vision and start their business. Being able to contribute to that dream, even in a small way, is really rewarding.
To learn more about Ryerson Business Law Clinic visit: https://www.ryerson.ca/tedrogersschool/lawbusinessclinic/
Congratulations to our Partners on being recognized leading lawyers in the 2022 Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory.
Steven A. Cygelfarb – Property Leasing Albert M. Engel – Environmental Law Maurice V.R. Fleming – Asset Equipment Finance Michael B. Fraleigh – Medical Negligence Bill Hearn – Advertising & Marketing Law Katherine Hensel – Aboriginal Law Eric Hoffstein – Estate & Personal Tax Planning and Estate Litigation Karen Rosen – Asset Based Lending
Foglers takes pride in recruiting, supporting, and fostering the careers of women lawyers.
In honour of International Women’s Day, weare thrilled to announce the creation of our women@foglers mentorship program, spearheaded by Teodora Prpa and Hailey Abramsky, two young and driven female lawyers at our firm.
women@foglers is an internal program designed to cultivate our firm’s female talent by maximizing career development through guidance, support and one-to-one mentoring.
Congratulations to Kevin Shipley on being one of only 35 Canadians listed in the 2022 IAM Strategy 300 Global Leaders Guide. A slot in the 300 Global Leaders is a mark of a professional whose approach to intellectual property is recognized by clients and peers as truly strategic in nature.
In celebration of Black History Month, we had the pleasure of hosting a virtual event to hear and learn from the Honourable Dr. Jean Augustine, social justice advocate and the first African-Canadian woman elected to the House of Commons.
Everyone in attendance was inspired by her story and career, and her historic role in passing the landmark motion to designate February as Black History Month in Canada.
It has been a frigid start to 2022 so we were happy to participate in a winter clothing drive to to support New Circles Community Services
Foglers along with our friends at Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP, Adair Goldblatt Bieber LLP, WeirFoulds LLP, Weintraub Erskin Huang LLP and Israel Foulon Wong LLP were able to collect and donate hundreds of pre-loved winter coats, hats, scarves, glove shoes and boots to support the clients of New Circles Community Services in its efforts to #KeepTorontoWarm.
I’m listening. Keep talking. Four powerful words.
Today is #BellLetsTalk day, and this year’s campaign encourages everyone to keep listening, keep talking about mental health, and keep being there for each other.
Bell Let’s Talk Day is an important day to discuss and create awareness around mental health. This year our firm came together virtually to hear from Dr. David Goldbloom from CAMH, who talked about common misconceptions about mental illness and shared insights for supporting mental wellness.
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