Some 17 years ago I approached Frank Dimant, the then CEO of B’nai Brith with an idea. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could be part of the continuing legal education process for accountants and lawyers servicing our community? At that point in time there were few programs around that brought in first-tier professionals at a kosher venue that address both issues of interest from both a Jewish and secular law prospective. I explained that many people in our community are baby boomers set to inherit $1-trillion worth of wealth. With that much money on the line, estate litigation is inevitable because parents are living longer and are susceptible to chronic degenerative conditions. It was important that professionals serving our community knew how to protect their elderly clients and the beneficiaries. Frank and later Michael Mostyn (his successor) gave me their blessing and I recruited the people I most respected in the industry to help – and here we are. We started out with a small breakfast with less than a minyan of lawyers at a kosher restaurant.
One of the things that helped grow the popularity of the program was the support of Scotia Wealth Management in general and John Clegg of their organization in particular. They have been the key sponsor from the beginning and provided continued support because they understood the value of the program and the contribution to the professionals involved.
This year we expect close to 200 people. In this week’s CJN I write about this year’s event, the beginnings of the seminar and thank those who worked hard to make it a “must attend event” for professionals in the field. If you are interested you can download the May 24, 2018 CJN article here.
