Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

Yesterday’s rumpus in Room 1241 turned on a discrepancy between two lawyers and two law firms: Darren Sukonick of Torys (a big fish in the Toronto pond) and William Rogers of Cravath, Swaine & Moore (a bigger fish in New York’s much bigger pond).

Sukonick and Rogers differed on whether Hollinger International needed to disclose to the SEC the fact that Black et al. benefited directly from non-compete payments in the CanWest deal. Responding to Sukonick’s characterization of the issue as “dead,” Rogers retorted, “We didn’t think this was a close call.” In legalese, that’s a repudiation of biblical proportion. What these conflicting views mean for Black is hard to say. What’s certain is what this is doing for Torys’ reputation. (The answer: not so much.) At the end of Sukonick’s 12 hours of taped testimony, one juror was reported to have turned to a mate and said “Thank God”—sentiments echoed, I suspect, in corner offices throughout Torys.

Defence takes aim at Black prosecutor [Toronto Star]Sukonick’s advice ‘just plain wrong’: lawyer [National Post] Lawyer attacks prosecution witness’s testimony [Globe and Mail]