Beyond your wildest dreams—First, you have to dare to dream!

Sometimes there is a fine line between pain and pleasure… dreams and nightmares. We have all had that experience of not being sure. I have worked with many clients that I have coaxed out on to thin ice to find that they were quite safe being there… and now very comfortable staying there.

What are your dreams? I have asked many a lawyer that question and I get answers like… “Be a great lawyer.” To me, that isn’t a dream… that is reality… generally they are already a great lawyer. . . . [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

Finding Annual BC Statutes
Susannah Tredwell

A holiday treat for those of us who carry out British Columbia legal research: BC Laws has just added historical BC annual statutes dating back to 1858. … . . . [more]

A couple of times in the past three years, we have looked at the use of free trade agreements to promote the reform or harmonization of the law on electronic commerce. The first article considered the general question of how these agreements are negotiated and suggested that they may not be the best vehicle for reforming technical commercial law. The people at the negotiating meetings tend to be economists, not lawyers, and negotiations may involve trading off provisions that are not readily severable without damage to the principles of the remaining law. A stronger role is needed for commercial and . . . [more]

Toronto likely has the most educated taxi drivers in the world.

Long dismissed as an urban myth, a 2012 study by Citizenship and Immigration Canada confirmed that over 80% of taxi drivers in Toronto are immigrants, the highest in any city in Canada, and many of them are highly educated,

Overeducation occurs both among Canadian-born and immigrant taxi drivers, but is at a higher rate among immigrants, especially among recent and very recent immigrants.

…

The distribution pattern of field of study for postsecondary-educated taxi drivers is quite different between the Canadian born and immigrants. For the Canadian born, nearly

I am currently conducting research to determine whether coercive control can be considered psychological harm for the purpose of the future harm exception to confidentiality and solicitor-client privilege.[1] My research is supported by the OBA Fellowship in Legal Ethics and Professionalism Studies. In that research I’m determining whether a lawyer can disclose, but doing that research has provoked me to wonder whether a lawyer should disclose.

In December 2017, Andrew Berry murdered his children, six-year-old Chloe and four-year-old Aubrey. Berry was convicted of second degree murder. Sarah Cotton, the girls’ mother, feared Berry, claiming that he had made threats . . . [more]

People have been talking more about failure in recent years, and they have been listing the things that haven’t worked out for them on social media or in failure resumes. I have been thinking about this too. I confess I don’t feel comfortable broadcasting a list of my failures here because we live in a judgemental world, though I assure you they happen. That said I think I am relatively comfortable with failures (presumably as a result of regular exposure), so I thought I would take this opportunity of writing a column that will be published on Christmas Eve . . . [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

Endangered Species Alert: Correct Use of the Apostrophe
Neil Guthrie

You may have seen the news that John Richards, the founder of the Apostrophe Protection Society, has decided to call it quits after 18 years of fighting for the correct use of the troublesome punctuation mark. Part of the reason is that Richards, a retired journalist, is 96 and needs to scale back his activities. … . . . [more]

Contrary to what you may have heard, there isn’t a crisis of free speech on campuses in North America. The evidence, as analyzed by the Niskanen Center, demonstrates otherwise.

This hasn’t prevented numerous states from introducing legislation around these concerns, or even the American President from signing an Executive Order around these concerns earlier this year.

That doesn’t mean that universities are free from controversy. There is pedagogical benefit to introducing conflicting viewpoints, but challenges in doing so effectively, as described in The Atlantic,

Schools teach many things. For the most part, though, they have not taught students

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.

CONSTITUTIONNEL (DROIT) : L’appel du jugement de la Cour supérieure ayant rejeté la demande de sursis provisoire quant à l’application des articles 6 et 8 de la Loi sur la laïcité de l’État est rejeté.

Intitulé : Hak c. Procureure générale du Québec, 2019 QCCA 2145
Juridiction : Cour d’appel . . . [more]

While attending the latest fête of yet another elderly, past-his-due-date lawyer, I was drawn into a hateful, envious reverie of what this passing generation benefited from: big game clients hunted down by golfing foursomes, cases settled over scotch, reputations defined by progeny than by proficiency, minorities oppressed, women suppressed, and partnerships by fiat and fealty but not effort and effect. Gazing warily into my sparkling glass, a thought slapped my face awake from reverie to reality: it is not so different now, than it was then.

As my attention fades in and out from the drone of the acceptance speech, . . . [more]