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Bonnie Patrick*

Well, another Holiday Season is upon us with all the “stuff” that goes with it.  When I speak with colleagues who practice in different areas of the law than I, it never ceases to amaze me how each and every one of us holds our breath during this period of time, hoping that there will be no emergencies, or if there are, that our clients have lost our home phone numbers.

In any event, your Section Executive wishes all of you a safe and uneventful holiday with lots of time to spend with the people you want to be with.

We think we have a great newsletter this time around and ask that you take a look at all of our articles.  We think there is something here for everyone in our Section.  In particular, I turn your attention to Gary Gottlieb’s contribution as he has provided us with information about a Law Society Project where lawyers like us are encouraged to chronicle their experiences.  I encourage you to participate in this project, as not only do we learn from our own experiences, but hopefully, we will learn from the experiences of others and save ourselves a little grief.

The Ontario Bar Association and this Section have a lot to offer by way of future Continuing Legal Education as well as more social Section events held over dinner or breakfast.  Many of these are held jointly with other Sections, which provides you with an opportunity to meet other lawyers who may not be members of this Section.  For that information I refer you to the OBA’s website (http://www.softconference.com/oba/).

In particular, this Section is very proud to be offering a follow-up breakfast program to our “Retainers Presentation” last year at this year’s Annual Institute.  We will be providing you with practical tips for ensuring your fees and disbursements are collected after the retainer has been signed, the bill has been rendered and your client has not been heard from.  We hope to see all of you there.

And finally, anyone interested in participating on our Executive (we are small, but mighty) and/or would like to contribute an article (or two, or three), please contact anyone of us listed on the Executive list included in this newsletter.

Hope to see you at the Institute; and if not there, try to join your Executive at a CLE or other OBA get-together.

* Bonnie Patrick, Goulin & Patrick, (519) 258-8073, goulinpa@wincom.net.