Reb Steve will share coffee with Beth Tzedec member, author, motivational speaker, leader and mentor, Norman Bacal. They will have a discussion on Norman's second novel, Ophelia, which was chosen to be part of the BT Book and Film Club.

This week's conversation will be broadcast live to the Beth Tzedec Facebook page and YouTube channel. Comment with your questions for Norman on either platform!

Norman Bacal is the Globe and Mail bestselling author of Breakdown, a unique memoir tracing his career voyage along with the evolution of one of Canada’s most prestigious law firms, its unlikely rise to prominence, and its notorious collapse in 2014. Home to two former prime ministers, the firm had a storied reputation and the media painfully covered every moment of what they labelled, “the greatest failure in Canadian law firm history.”

In addition to building and running the firm, Norm was well known as one of Canada’s leading tax-entertainment lawyers, having financed billions of dollars of Canadian made film and television production over a 35 year career. He represented many of Canada’s production houses, along with icons such as MGM and  Warner Bros. He served on the board of directors of Lionsgate for almost ten years.

In 2014, at age 58, he began “rewiring”, engaging in a writing process that has seen him publish two books with two more on the way. His non-fiction is designed to instruct and mentor on organizational leadership and on development of young professionals. His two fictions are Shakespearean modernizations set as murder-mysteries: Odell’s Fall recounts the story of Othello, a leading Manhattan attorney, while Ophelia, to be published in spring 2021, is the story of Hamlet set against the backdrop of the generic drug industry.