As the rate of COVID-19 vaccination increases in Ontario, many companies are asking their employees to return to the office in person. As a result, the “return to work” planning has sparked many discussions about improving the workplace. For example, “Six Steps to Make Your Legal Workplace Equitable” published in May 2021. Despite the proliferation of helpful articles on improving our workplaces, we still face barriers to adoption.

In the book The Behaviorally Informed Organization, there is an excellent article about confronting barriers to change. In the article, “Gut Check: Why Organizations that Need to be Behaviourally . . . [more]

I often think about how my role as a legal marketer draws a lot of similarities to the role of a lawyer. Legal marketers are driven by clients, are relied upon for our unique expertise, and our success is tied to positive outcomes and results. But, perhaps the most significant similarity is the simple idea that if you can build strong and trusted relationships with your clients, it can mean the difference between an ordinary career and one that truly thrives.

I canvassed some of my colleagues about how they perceived relationship building in our industry and how, in practice, . . . [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. Norheim v Chief Judge of the Provincial Court of Alberta, 2021 ABQB 465 (CanLII)

[38] While the privative clause does purport to preclude any judicial review, that is not the law. For at least the last 40 years, case law has held that no privative clause enacted by any Legislature can remove a Superior Court’s jurisdiction to review actions and decisions . . . [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

What Is a Supplement?
Susannah Tredwell

You will notice that some citations for acts contain the abbreviation “Supp.” (short for “supplement”). An example of this would be “Competition Tribunal Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. 19 (2nd Supp.)”. But what does this mean? … . . . [more]

On March 1, 2021, the long-awaited amendments to the Divorce Act, RSC 1985 c3 (2^nd Supp) came into effect, changing the word “custody” to the more accurate “decision-making”, expanding on the best interests of the child test, creating presumptions for relocation, and for the first time, recognizing family violence. In addition to these crucial substantive changes, there has been a bubbling excitement among the family law bar about the amendments’ emphasis on resolving family law matters through non-adversarial processes. (E.g.: here and here.) Except where there is family violence, and only where “appropriate”, . . . [more]

While Canada wrestles with the mounting tolls of historic deaths at residential schools, many are reconsidering how to celebrate Canada Day on July 1, 2021. There are calls for an independent probe, and even for criminal charges to be laid.

The upside is that this might be Canada’s moment of reconciliation, with unprecedented interest in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Accepting the realities of this past may be the first steps to creating a better future.

How the legal system deals with these issues is equally challenging, as illustrated by the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision earlier . . . [more]

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.

COMPAGNIES : Dans le contexte d’un long conflit familial, les attentes raisonnables de l’appelante quant au rachat de ses actions ont été frustrées; que cette situation résulte ou non d’une stratégie concertée des intimés ne change rien au fait qu’il s’agit d’une forme d’oppression qui doit être corrigée.

Intitulé :  . . . [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:

• Legal Assistant, Resource Team (Corporate & Litigation) (Contract role) | Edmonton, AB
  (Bennett Jones)
• Director, Legal (Full-time) | Toronto, ON
  (Insurance Bureau of Canada)
• Law Librarian (Full-time) | Calgary, AB
  (Bennett Jones)
• Director of Market Policy and Industry Relations (8+

If you are subscribed to Slaw posts by email, there is an important upcoming change that you’ll want to know about.

As of the end of June, Feedburner (our current provider of email alerts) is discontinuing its email services. As such, we’ve transferred our email subscriptions over to Mailchimp, with service beginning tomorrow morning.

What’s changing?

• At least for initially, we will only have one email subscription that includes all Slaw posts.
• Emails containing the previous day’s posts will land in your inbox from Monday to Friday. (The Monday email includes posts from Saturday and Sunday.)
• Category, comment and custom

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.

Litigating Artificial Intelligence

Authors: Jill Presser, Jesse Beatson, Gerald Chan
ISBN: 978-1-77255-764-0
Publisher: Emond Publishing
Page Count: 368
Publication Date: May 2021
Regular Price: $149 (softcover)

Excerpt: Chapter 17: Coda–Litigating in An Era of Thinking Software [Footnotes omitted]

Artificial intelligence (AI) has migrated from our imaginations into government departments, courtrooms, consumer products, . . . [more]

Several times each month, we are pleased to republish a recent book review from the Canadian Law Library Review (CLLR). CLLR is the official journal of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL/ACBD), and its reviews cover both practice-oriented and academic publications related to the law.

Abortion and the Law in America: Roe v Wade to the Present. By Mary Ziegler. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2020. xvii, 312 p. Includes timeline, notes, bibliographic references, and index. ISBN 9781108735599 (softcover) $33.95.

Reviewed by Margo Jeske
Emerita Law Librarian (Retired)
University of Ottawa
In CLLR 46:2

On . . . [more]