Canada’s online legal magazine.

Archive for July, 2018

Wednesday: What’s Hot on CanLII

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. Meads v. Meads, 2012 ABQB 571

[1] This Court has developed a new awareness and understanding of a category of vexatious litigant. As we shall see, while there is often a lack of homogeneity, and some individuals or groups have no name or special identity, they (by their own admission or by descriptions given by others) often fall into the following . . . [more]

Posted in: Wednesday: What's Hot on CanLII

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, practice and technology.

Practice

Get More Mileage Out of the Friday Afternoon Doldrums
Allison Wolf

What’s the most productive day of the week? Most HR directors report that Tuesday has that honour. And the least productive? You guessed right! Friday. …

Research & Writing

How to Figure Out the Status of Proposed Federal Tax Legislation
Susannah Tredwell

While some of the paid tax resources provide reference tables that show what stage a

. . . [more]
Posted in: Tips Tuesday

Steam Whistle Brewing v. Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission: Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta Applies the R. v. Comeau Doctrine in the Latest Beer Case

On June 19, 2018 Steam Whistle Brewing and Great Western Brewing scored an historic victory against the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission: Madam Justice Marriott of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench declared Alberta’s beer mark-up regime unconstitutional, and awarded the brewers over $2 million in restitution. The full decision can be read here. The decision also marks the first time a court has been called on to apply the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent statement of the law in R v. Comeau with respect to the proper interpretation of s. 121 of the Constitution Act as it relates . . . [more]

Posted in: Administrative Law

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. Official Clio Blog 2. National Magazine 3. Le Blogue du CRL 4. Canadian Combat Sports Law Blog 5. NSRLP

Official Clio Blog
The 4 Stages of an Effective Client Intake Process

The intake process is an important part of the overall client lifecycle. It’s essentially the series

. . . [more]
Posted in: Monday’s Mix

Judicial Review Properly Initiated at Divisional Court

The first stop in the lawsuit against the Statement of Principles concluded this month, with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice upholding a motion by the law society to transfer the matter to the Divisional Court.

The Amended Application in this matter disposed of the injunctive relief originally sought, and instead seeks a number of declarations, including an interpretation and content of what the Statement of Principles obligation means, that the requirements are ultra vires the Law Society Act, and challenging the constitutionality of the requirements.

It’s the latter relief, the constitutionality of the Statement of Principles, that . . . [more]

Posted in: Education & Training: CLE/PD, Substantive Law: Judicial Decisions

Summaries Sunday: Supreme Advocacy

One Sunday each month we bring you a summary from Supreme Advocacy LLP of recent decisions at the Supreme Court of Canada. Supreme Advocacy LLP offers a weekly electronic newsletter, Supreme Advocacy Letter, to which you may subscribe. It’s a summary of all appeals as well as leaves to appeal granted so you will know what the SCC will soon be dealing with (June 22 to July 13, 2018 inclusive).

Appeals

Civil Procedure/Tobacco Litigation: Disclosure
British Columbia v. Philip Morris International, Inc., 2018 SCC 36 (37524)

Health databases constitute “health care records and documents of particular individual insured . . . [more]

Posted in: Summaries Sunday

Summaries Sunday: SOQUIJ

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.

TRAVAIL : Le Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales, qui a fait preuve de discrimination fondée sur la grossesse en refusant d’accorder un poste à une avocate parce qu’elle était enceinte, doit lui attribuer ce poste.

Intitulé : Association des procureurs aux poursuites criminelles et pénales et Directeur des poursuites . . . [more]

Posted in: Summaries Sunday

Electronic Wills – Update

In January of this year, I canvassed developments on electronic wills in Australia, New Zealand, England & Wales, the U.S. and Canada. Since that time, the Uniform Law Commission (ULC)’s drafting committee in the U.S. has been moving the file forward. I am not aware of any law reform action Down Under, and the Law Commission of England & Wales is still thinking about it. Canada is discussed later in this column.

UNITED STATES

In late July, the ULC will give first reading to an Electronic Wills Act. The “Annual Meeting Draft” is quite compact yet covers the . . . [more]

Posted in: Legal Technology

Resources on US Supreme Court Nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh

Earlier this week, American President Trump nominated Brett M. Kavanaugh from the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to take the place of Justice Anthony Kennedy who will be retiring as of the end of this month.

Who is Kavanaugh?

There are plenty of resources to figure that out.

The Library of Congress in Washington has published a page with resources about the nominee. The page includes links to articles and books by and about the nominee, to cases decided by him, to Congressional materials about his earlier nominations to federal judicial posts, and to web resources. . . . [more]

Posted in: Justice Issues, Legal Information: Libraries & Research, Substantive Law: Foreign Law

Status of Federal, Provincial and Territorial Cannabis Act

When legalization of cannabis comes into effect in Canada, which is scheduled for October 17, 2018, marijuana will no longer be listed as a controlled substance under the Controlled Drug and Substances Act and the consumption and incidental possession will no longer be a crime under Canada’s Criminal Code. . . . [more]

Posted in: Substantive Law, Substantive Law: Legislation

Aluminum & NAFTA Negotiations – a New Era of Global Trade?

Since the summer of 2017 Canada, Mexico and the United States have been negotiating with the objective of agreeing on a revised NAFTA—sometimes called NAFTA 2.0. Most observers take the view that the talks have not gone well to date. The U.S. Administration is now signaling that it wants to take a hiatus until after the Congressional mid-term negotiations in November. This, in spite of renewed pushes from Canada and the newly elected Mexican President’s calls to accelerate the talks. It seems that the parties cannot even agree on the timetable, and it has grown increasingly clear that there is . . . [more]

Posted in: Administrative Law

Thursday Thinkpiece: Anticipating and Managing the Psychological Cost of Civil Litigation

Periodically on Thursdays, we present a significant excerpt, usually from a recently published book or journal article. In every case the proper permissions have been obtained. If you are a publisher who would like to participate in this feature, please let us know via the site’s contact form.

Anticipating and Managing the Psychological Cost of Civil Litigation

Michaela Keet and Heather Heavin have published extensively about Litigation Risk Assessment. For access to some of this work, see the CREATE Justice website. Professor Heavin is Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, and Professor Michaela
. . . [more]

Posted in: Thursday Thinkpiece