The Centre for the Legal Profession, housed at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, will officially launch a new Program on Ethics in Law and Business this week.
According to the Centre’s Academic Director, Professor Anita Anand, the relevant question today is not whether a business decision is legal but whether it is right. The program’s aim is to draw attention to the ethical challenges that arise at the cross-roads between law and business, an approach that the Centre said has not been replicated elsewhere in North America. It comes at a time as there is increasing weariness about the behaviour of financial institutions and the spate of conflict of interest scandals, particularly those involving lawyers.
The program’s high-profile advisory board includes former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Frank Iacobucci, former Ontario lieutenant-governor Hal Jackman, and Howard Wetston, chairman at the Ontario Securities Commission. Focusing on research, public debate, and advocacy, the program’s launch will feature a panel that will canvass recent high-profile cases like Nortel Networks and YBM Magnex International.
With files from The Globe and Mail.
