CTLA — Carole McAfee Wallace

Association Business

CTLA President’s Message

Having recently attended my first in person conference in years, it felt so good to see people again. There really is no replacement proceeding involving the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster, a session on the “Greening of Transportation”, a discussion for being able to embrace an old friend, or sit next to a new one, or move the conversation to a chic bar across the way. All of which cannot be done through a screen. Seeing the happy attendees at TLA’s successful Annual Conference in Williamsburg, Virginia makes me very excited to welcome you all to CTLA’s Annual Conference and AGM at The King Edward Hotel in Toronto, from October 13, 2022 to October 15, 2022.

The CTLA took a hard hit over the past few years (I know we are not alone). While we were not able to gather together and network, we did manage to achieve one of our other important goals – providing excellent legal education, focussed on transportation issues, presented by practitioners experienced in their field. Past President Heather Devine hosted the inaugural virtual Annual Conference and AGM in 2020 and Past President Jean-François Bilodeau organized our successful second virtual conference in 2021. As we finalize the plans for our upcoming in person conference, I am heartened by the number of “cold calls” I have recently received from young lawyers wanting Carole McAfee Wallace to find out more about the CTLA, and transportation law in general. They see the importance of developing expertise in a certain area of the law, and that transportation law is much more diverse than they realized. These young lawyers are joining CTLA and I look forward to their contributions and their ideas for the future of our association, and to meeting them in person at our conference in October.

The educational sessions at this year’s conference will cover all modes of transportation and some unique topics. This year’s conference will include a presentation from those involved in the class action on the impact of COVID-19 on merger and acquisition deal trends in North America, an overview of recent trends in insurance, presented by key players in the insurance industry, as well presentations on cross border trucking, marine and aviation. Our speakers are from across Canada, the US and Mexico. We are also tackling burnout in the legal profession – which appears to be on the rise – our presenter will speak from personal experience and lead a discussion on how to improve the legal workplace. In addition to our educational sessions, we are looking forward to the networking opportunities and events. The King Eddy is conveniently located downtown, and is an easy walk to great restaurants, the refurbished and recently reopened Massey Hall, as well as theatre and sporting venues. For those of you who are fans of Nomad with Carlton McCoy on CNN you will know that Toronto has some of the most diverse culinary experiences in any North American City (the Toronto episode aired on May 29/22). Our Dine Around evening, following our welcome cocktail reception, will be reflective of the diversity of Toronto’s restaurant scene. Our Can-Am competition is being finalized, and the annual Banquet Dinner on Saturday, October 15, 2022 will include the passing of the Chain of Office. Perhaps most importantly, I hope that in addition to seeing old friends again, we will get to know our new members and those in the early stages of their career, and that when we gather in person in October, we take time to reflect on CTLA’s role in the development of a strong transportation bar, and we think about how we can make our association even better.