I don’t know if you’re like me but despite being a heavy user of e-mail, I am still often puzzled by it. More specifically, by how we often fail to use it to its full potential.

How many times does it happen that you receive an e-mail from a professional contact, a client or a supplier/vendor, perhaps even from an important work colleague, and you have so much trouble deciphering its meaning that you pick up the phone or get on chat to ask the sender what exactly they want you to do?

Given how insanely busy so many of . . . [more]

Written by Daniel Standing LLB., Editor at First Reference Inc.

According to Transport Canada, distracted driving happens when the driver’s attention is taken from the road and is focused on something else, like texting, talking to someone in the car or on the phone, eating or drinking, or using the entertainment or navigation system. It is a serious problem; statistics in the National Collision Database reveal that distracted driving contributed to an estimated 21 percent of fatal collisions and 27 percent of serious injury collisions in 2016. In response to the threat posed by distracted driving, all Canadian jurisdictions introduced . . . [more]

Given recent events, examining the impact of criminal law on Indigenous people should be on the agenda of every criminal lawyer in Canada. Lawyers and judges need to understand that cases involving Indigenous accused persons and victims require specific knowledge and skills. Jonathon Rudin’s “Practitioner’s Handbook on Indigenous People and the Criminal Justice System” provides both the means to understand the case law and valuable insights into representing indigenous clients.

This book should be considered to be an “essential” reference work. Mention of this book has previously been made on Slaw. The first time was when it was announced that . . . [more]

Each Wednesday we tell you which three English-language cases and which French-language case have been the most viewed* on CanLII and we give you a small sense of what the cases are about.

For this last week:

1. Dr. Chuang v. Fogler Rubinoff, 2021 ONSC 5942

[21] The parties submit that none of the concerns expressed by the Court of Appeal in the recent decision of Butera v. Chown, Cairns LLP, 2017 ONCA 783, are relevant in this case. The parties are already before the court pursuant to the Defendant’s summary judgment motion and therefore granting partial summary . . . [more]

Leading Legal Disruption: Artificial Intelligence and a Toolkit for Lawyers and the Law
Giuseppina D’Agostino, Aviv Gaon and Carole Piovesan
2021 Thompson Reuters
ISBN 978-0-7798-9871-8

In an age where so many clients that I assisted were implementing machine learning systems and other artificial intelligence (AI) systems this book, Leading Legal Disruption: Artificial Intelligence and a Toolkit for Lawyers and the Law, is a welcome resource.

The book is a collection of essays that explore different facets of artificial intelligence and thereby, together, build up a more robust understanding for the reader on many of the practical and policy challenges that . . . [more]

The United States has taken the next step in its trade dispute with Canada and asked for the establishment of a panel to examine its complaint regarding Canada’s administration of its tariff-rate quotas (TRQ) allocations for 14 dairy products.[1]

In its request, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) [2] claims that Canada’s allocation of import quotas exclusively to “producers” violates the terms of Canada’s commitments in the schedule to annex 2-B[3] of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). The request was made pursuant to Article 31.6 state-to-state dispute resolution provisions available when a CUSMA party’s rights have been nullified . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Do Lawyers Read Anymore?
Neil Guthrie

I fear they do not, as these recent examples of lawyerly prose will suggest: bare with me, you have free rain, he is a real jem. … . . . [more]

The high-profile case of fashion mogul Peter Nygård has hit another milestone, with the Supreme Court of Canada recently dismissing his appeal of the denial of a judicial interim release (bail) decision, pending his extradition request to the U.S.

Nygård is charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking conspiracy, sex trafficking, transportation of a minor for prostitution, and transportation for prostitution, over 25 years. He was arrested on Dec. 14, 2020, pursuant to a provisional arrest warrant, under s. 13 of the Extradition Act.

The Supreme Court of Canada stated in R. v. St-Cloud,

[70] … in Canadian law,

Every week we present the summary of a decision handed down by a Québec court provided to us by SOQUIJ and considered to be of interest to our readers throughout Canada. SOQUIJ is attached to the Québec Department of Justice and collects, analyzes, enriches, and disseminates legal information in Québec.

PÉNAL (DROIT) : Un infirmier auxiliaire qui a touché l’anus d’une patiente sous prétexte d’évaluer son problème médical est déclaré coupable d’agression sexuelle.

Intitulé : R. c. Yanon, 2021 QCCQ 7295
Juridiction : Cour du Québec, Chambre criminelle et pénale (C.Q.), Gatineau
Décision de : Juge Richard Meredith
Date :  . . . [more]

Enforcing agreements and orders, those relating to parenting anyway, is difficult enough in family law disputes. Enforcing agreements and determinations in the context of parenting coordination, whose users are preternaturally predisposed to conflict, is another problem of another magnitude altogether.

In general, agreements reached in the parenting coordination process can be enforced like any other family law agreement, either under the law of contracts, which can be a bit cumbersome, or under whatever specific provisions may be available under the local family law legislation for the enforcement of agreements. (In most cases, agreements filed in court can be enforced as . . . [more]

Each Friday, we share the latest job listings from Slaw Jobs, which features employment opportunities from across the country. Find out more about these positions by following the links below, or learn how you can use Slaw Jobs to gain valuable exposure for your job ads, while supporting the great Canadian legal commentary at Slaw.ca.

Current postings on Slaw Jobs:

• Senior Specialist, Marketing Projects (Full-time) | Calgary, AB or Vancouver, BC
  (Bennett Jones)
• Hospitality Clerk (Full-time) | Vancouver, BC
  (Bennett Jones)