The Employment Conditions of Public Sector Lawyers
March 4, 2022 | 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM Eastern
Zoom Meeting
The program will highlight and discuss the working conditions of lawyers in the public sector. The presentation will cover compensation, job security, the future of public sector lawyering in an era of contracting out and legal robots, efforts to organize for non-unionised lawyers and any recent or upcoming collective bargaining negotiations for unionised lawyers.
Moderator
Tom Ullyett, Co-chair, Public Sector Lawyers Section, CBA Yukon Branch, Whitehorse, Yukon
Speakers
Paul J.J. Cavalluzzo, Counsel, Cavalluzzo LLP
As the co-founder in his firm, Paul is a leading constitutional, labour and administrative law lawyer, arguing significant cases before the Supreme Court of Canada, the Courts of Ontario, and labour and administrative tribunals.
Paul was appointed by Associate Chief Justice Dennis O'Connor to act as lead commission counsel to the Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar. Previously, Paul acted as lead commission counsel in the Walkerton Inquiry. In this role, Paul was responsible for ensuring all necessary evidence was brought forward to determine the cause of the May, 2000 e coli water supply crisis.
More recently, Paul has been appointed by the Federal Minister of Justice to act as a Special Advocate in security certificate cases. In this regard, Paul acts as counsel representing the interests of persons alleged to be threats to the national security of Canada in top secret hearings before the Federal Court of Canada in Ottawa. Paul's role is to ensure that the top secret evidence relied upon by the government is reliable and that as much information as possible is released to the named person so that he is given an opportunity to defend against the allegations. Paul is presently acting in two security certificate cases which have been ongoing since February 2008.
Richard J.M. Fyfe, Q.C., Retired Deputy Attorney General, Ministry of Justice and Attorney General, Government of BC
Richard Fyfe will retire in mid February 2022 after more than 30 years in government. He’s been a practicing lawyer since 1986 and has a law degree from the University of Alberta, a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Victoria.
He was the Assistant Deputy Attorney General of the Legal Services Branch from December 2007 to June 2012 – and has been Deputy Attorney General in the ministry since June 16, 2012.
Richard was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2009 and received a Premier's Award for Leadership in 2006. He received the 2016 Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria and the President’s Medal from the Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch in 2021. Additionally, he’s been involved in both the National and BC Access to Justice Committees and has taught courses on labour and employment law at Royal Roads and Ethics and Professionalism at the University of Victoria Law School.
