Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Ethics in the Legal Profession- My column- April 2011

In Canada last week the profession had to deal with a different kind of ethical risk, but a risk which also emphasises the public duty of the profession. Eric Victor Cojocaru, had suffered brain damage during his birth at a British Columbia hospital. At the end of a 30-day trial of his medical negligence claim, Mr Justice Groves awarded over $5 million in damages. Or did he simply plagiarise his way to the award?
 

 At issue on appeal was whether the judge plagiarised the written submissions of the successful party. To use the more technical description of the question on appeal, the issue was whether the judge "committed an error of law in delivering reasons for judgment that consisted largely of a reproduction, without attribution".

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