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Archive for March, 2017

“Truth, Justice, and the Ethical Way”: The Legal Ethics of Government Lawyers

Ever wondered what government lawyers and superheroes have in common? Although you are unlikely to see counsel in capes, flying through the metropolis, government lawyers and superheroes serve the public in the pursuit of justice. Both are accurately described as guardians of the public interest, albeit in very different contexts. Government lawyers and superheroes also hold great power and must use it to advance the public interest ahead of all else. And with great power comes great ethical responsibility.

The intersection of professional responsibility and the public service situates the unique role of federal and provincial government lawyers in the . . . [more]

Posted in: Law Student Week, Legal Ethics

20 Tips for a Smooth Transition From Student to Lawyer

For Law Student Week on Slaw, here is an abridged version of the LAWPRO article: “20 tips for a successful transition” – a guide for law students through the transition from student life to legal practice. See practicepro.ca/20tips for the full article.

  1. Honestly assess your strengths and preferences to identify what makes sense for you in terms of the type of firm and area of law you want to practice.
  2. Consider all the options: big firm, small firm, solo practice, government, in-house. Don’t just pursue the opportunities everyone else is pursuing – reflect on what is the best fit for
. . . [more]
Posted in: Law Student Week

Lawyers Behaving ‘Badly’: Should Lawyers Be Breaking the Rules?

The Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa is known for its expertise in social justice and in my experience many of my colleagues decided to attend this institution for this reason.[1] When I applied and accepted my offer of admission to the University of Ottawa I did so because I hoped that my professors would provide me with the knowledge and skills that I will need to practice law within a system of laws that is not “always a system of justice”.[2] I have not been disappointed in this respect. However as my time as a . . . [more]

Posted in: Justice Issues, Law Student Week

Legal Information’s New Coke Moment

One of the high points of the history of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries – L’Association canadienne des bibliothèques de droit (CALL-ACBD) was the “Quebec Riot” of 1989. Carswell had changed the Canadian Abridgment over the prior years, and law librarians intervened to ensure the major reference source in Canadian law continued to work for researchers and libraries, which were the primary customers for the service.

Part of this change was the result of a drive toward comprehensiveness and the resulting increase in volume of the books themselves, which no longer fit on libraries’ shelves, and the . . . [more]

Posted in: Legal Information

What Rights Do Commercial Landlords Have When a Tenant Defaults?

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has reaffirmed that when a commercial tenant fundamentally defaults on its lease, the landlord is entitled to treat the lease as ongoing and sue for rent, as it comes due, without any obligation to mitigate.

 

In the instant case, the tenant, Pet Valu Canda Inc., ceased paying rent to the landlord. The landlord did not terminate the lease and instead elected to sue for ongoing arrears of rent.

 

The landlord moved for partial summary judgment on the rent that had already accrued and was undisputedly owing at the date of the motion. . . . [more]

Posted in: Case Comment, Substantive Law

Tips Tuesday

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 research, writing, and practice.

Practice

The Obsessed Client (Part 3 of 9)
Ian Hu

This is the third post inspired from Justice Carole Curtis’s Dealing with the Difficult Client (written when she was a lawyer). The obsessed client is the one that emails you at 2 a.m. about an aspect of the case. The client can take up not just a lot of your time but also use up your firm’s resources – from

. . . [more]
Posted in: Tips Tuesday

David Versus Goliath – Lawyer’s Professional Responsibility & Self-Represented Litigants

The story of “David and Goliath” is a part of our cultural consciousness. Generally, the biblical tale is told as follows: a young shepherd battles a giant warrior and, using only a slingshot, comes out victorious. Today, the phrase “David and Goliath” represents a more secular meaning as a metaphor for improbable victories by a weaker party, better known as the “underdog”. A quick glimpse at popular culture illustrates that this “underdog phenomenon” has generated mass appeal – but why? Some scholars have said it is because the underdog story gives us hope for a fair and just world. However, . . . [more]

Posted in: Justice Issues, Law Student Week

What I Wish I Had Known in Law School

Each year LAWPRO asks its articling students to reflect on their law school experiences and how they relate to their early working experiences. Here are the thoughts of our current students Raymond Ashurov and Rahim Andani, as written by Sarah van Scheppen, Communications Coordinator at LAWPRO.

Keep an open mind

Many students enter law school with a preconceived plan of courses and the area of law in which they want to practice upon graduation. Both Raymond and Rahim said that this is one of the most common errors that new law school students make. Without experiencing a variety of courses, . . . [more]

Posted in: Law Student Week

Law Student Week 2017

In a decade of teaching legal ethics, I have come to realize that students bring different and often fresh viewpoints to their analysis of ethical issues in the profession. Slaw founding Publisher Simon Fodden agreed to provide a forum for our future colleagues at the bar to share these perspectives with a wider audience. We are fortunate that his successor Steve Matthews has continued to do so.

This year seven University of Ottawa students produced interesting and provocative that will be published by Slaw over the course of this Student Week (March 27th through 31st). The issues range from how . . . [more]

Posted in: Law Student Week

Wresting Authority From the Regulators: The Proper Role of the National Energy Board in Environmental Assessments

It is not every day that we have an opportunity to effect transformative legal change. It is natural, then, that when last summer a number of cabinet ministers announced the review of four key federal environmental laws, West Coast Environmental Law – along with other lawyers, academics, environmental groups, Indigenous peoples and the general public – took a keen interest. Through these reviews we have an opportunity to not only strengthen environmental processes and substantive legal protections, but to also transform the governance of environmental planning and decision-making.

This opportunity is perhaps most pronounced in the reviews of federal . . . [more]

Posted in: Justice Issues

Monday’s Mix

Each Monday we present brief excerpts of recent posts from five of Canada’s award­-winning legal blogs chosen at random* from more than 80 recent Clawbie winners. In this way we hope to promote their work, with their permission, to as wide an audience as possible.

This week the randomly selected blogs are 1. The Court 2. Western Canada Business Litigation Blog 3. Canadian Appeals Monitor 4. Clicklaw Blog 5. Family Health Law Blog

The Court
R v Bingley: Drugs, Discretion, and Deference

In 1994, Justice Sopinka warned against the dangers of expert evidence distorting the fact-finding process …

Western Canada . . . [more]

Posted in: Monday’s Mix

Balancing Safety and Freedom of the Press

The state of the media in Canada is increasingly precarious, with several newspaper chains demonstrating indicators of financial difficulty. Reader’s Digest filed for bankruptcy in 2009, and just last year Postmedia merged with Sun, La Presse in Montreal ceased weekday prints, Guelph Mercury went digital only, and the Toronto Star announced layoffs and shutdowns.

Except for some niche news outlets, newspapers might be soon just be a thing of the 20th century.

The biggest casualty in these financial woes is the lack of independent and investigative journalism, given the resources and difficulty in producing this type of content. . . . [more]

Posted in: Substantive Law: Judicial Decisions