Legal guru says blurry boundaries and the rise of the Internet is making his craft 'utterly unworkable'
His client, Maclean's, secured a big win last week when the Canadian Human Rights Commission dismissed a complaint against the magazine from Muslim critics. Still, famed libel lawyer Julian Porter is in no mood to celebrate.
Yes, the federal commission is the second agency after an Ontario tribunal to dismiss charges from the Canadian Islamic Congress that a 2006 article by Mark Steyn exposed Muslims to hatred. And yes, legal experts are betting that a pending decision from a third tribunal in British Columbia will reach a similar conclusion.
And yet, despite a string of winning battles, Mr. Porter, 71, has the air of a glum general. Seated in a small office atop a bank tower in downtown Toronto, surrounded by stacks of books, the lean, patrician lawyer absently rubs his wooden desk as if trying to erase a blemish.
The thing is, he explains, libel law is under siege.
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