THE LAWYER’S DAILY – Wellness: Envy is the enemy of mental health for lawyers

The heart of envy is this: we desire what someone else has. Here’s the problem: we don’t really know what others have. We have the outward signs and external trappings of what others have, which is not a reliable indicator of what they want, either. They are probably envying what someone else has. In essence, we’re envying what someone else appears to have.

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CANADA NEWSWIRE – Darryl Singer joins Diamond and Diamond as Head of Civil Litigation

As of June 1, the firm has officially opened its commercial and civil litigation division. The division will be led by Darryl Singer, a Toronto-area lawyer with more than 24 years of trial, advocacy and negotiating experience.

Singer brings with him his entire team of experienced lawyers, paralegals and law clerks from his former firm, Singer Barristers PC.

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THE LAW TIMES – Lawyer gets reprimand for advertising violation

Darryl Singer of Singer Barristers in Toronto, who represented D’Alimonte in the matter, says the matter was ultimately resolved jointly with the tribunal’s counsel and that D’Alimonte would be issued a reprimand — the lowest form of formal discipline under the Law Society Act.

“Mr. D’Alimonte was indeed found guilty of professional misconduct; he acknowledged that misconduct,” says Singer, noting that while D’Alimonte may have entered into an arrangement to pay an improper referral fee, no payments had been made.

Singer says the process to revamp the Merricks Law Group website to comply with the law society’s rules began last year after the LSO began its investigation.

It was taken down entirely in April, before re-launching recently, and is now in compliance with LSO rules, says Singer.

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THE FINANCIAL POST – Kathleen Wynne once promised to lower car insurance rates. Guess what happened next?

While car insurers say the reason for high rates is so much fraud, Lazar has another phrase for it: he calls it “excessive profitability.” The Financial Services Commission of Ontario — the regulator — is clearly not holding Ontario’s car insurers to account. What’s the point of a regulator that does not regulate? It’s superfluous. A fifth wheel.

In 2013, Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals promised to deliver Ontarians a 15-per-cent reduction in car insurance premiums. Wynne later said that it was a “stretch goal” — and instead of the promised reduction, we have had about a 2.5-per-cent premium increase. The Insurance Bureau says auto premiums in Ontario are now 45-per-cent higher than Alberta’s and about twice as high as those in the Maritimes.

Lazar estimates that cumulative premium overpayments might have been as high as $9.2 billion since 2001 or approximately 6.5 per cent of premiums, based on assumptions of lower operating costs and a more reasonable profitability benchmark. In the last five years alone, overpayments might have totaled $5 billion — 9.5 per cent of the total premiums paid during this past five years. This translates to an additional $143 per year for each policyholder.

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