After five years spent at ground zero of a spreading financial disaster known as the Hollinger newspaper swap, Elizabeth DeMerchant was acutely aware of its toxicity. As the Torys LLP counsel watched from the sidelines, the reputations of one director, auditor, or legal counsel after another had been laid waste by scandal or suspicion.
The Court of Appeal for Ontario has ordered a new trial in the 2011 conviction of an alleged fraudster, arguing that the trial judge failed to adequately explain to the jury in her Vetrovec warning why the testimony of four accomplices required special scrutiny.