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.

The Legal Responsibilities of Healthcare Facilities in Canada. By Nicholas Léger-Riopel. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2020. 128 p. Includes table of contents and bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-433-49172-9 (softcover) $115.00.

Reviewed by Alisa Lazear
Manager, Community and Content
Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII)
In CLLR 46:1

The Legal Responsibility of Healthcare Facilities . . . [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. R v Russell, 2021 SKPC 31 (CanLII)

[27] I find the commentary by The Honourable Gilles Renaud, Ontario Court of Justice author of “The Sentencing Code of Canada – Principles and Objectives”, (2009) paragraph §3.52 helpful. Judge Renaud is referring to police officers, but I find it aptly gives the reason why general deterrence is required in such assaults against frontline . . . [more]

In a previous column, I looked at some principles behind awards of legal costs and expenses in Canadian domestic arbitration.

In international arbitration the general rule is that the unsuccessful party pays the successful party’s costs. The question, usually, is how much?

The high cost of international commercial arbitration is the main source of complaint by users of the system, according to a series of surveys by Queen Mary University of London between 2013 and 2018. Costs have continued to increase steadily. In large commercial and in investor-state disputes, they can be in the millions (or tens of millions) . . . [more]

A correspondent from Europe wrote me recently to ask if I had any thoughts about unhealthy work schedules and high billing pressures facing young law firm associates. I had assumed this was strictly an Anglo-American problem, but based on what my correspondent told me, it seems that wherever in the world there are sizeable full-service law firms, there are overworked and over-stressed lawyers inside them.

The usual expressions of concern are being made by bar associations and the firms themselves, and there’s been talk of task forces, educational webinars, voluntary programs, and so on. I told my correspondent that I . . . [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

Attention!
Neil Guthrie

The other day I received that now rather unusual thing, a letter. On the envelope, beneath my business address, was typed Attention: with my name after it. … . . . [more]

In Ontario (Attorney General) v. Clark (“Clark“), the majority (8 judges) of the Supreme Court of Canada held that Crown immunity precludes claims based on misfeasance in public office. Justice Côté dissented. Here I consider the policy underpinnings and ramifications of the two opinions. . . . [more]

You’ll see it every few weeks on LinkedIn. Somebody somewhere is complaining that LinkedIn is not Facebook. They’re usually complaining about it on LinkedIn, and the comments on these posts bear an earie resemblance to social media platforms that are not LinkedIn.

Joshua Titsworth says that despite being founded in 2002, the site has gone through significant changes since that time,

The truth about LinkedIn is that despite its intended use, it has always been a form of social media… Given the relatively community-based origins of the site, it may seem strange to take issue with LinkedIn for becoming too

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) : Les accusés, qui ont fait subir des sévices physiques à 6 de leur 8 enfants au cours d’une période de 25 ans, sont condamnés respectivement à des peines de détention de 4 et de 5 ans.

Intitulé : R. c. Monette, 2021 QCCQ 3992
Juridiction : Cour . . . [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:

• Associate, Corporate (Full-time) | Calgary, AB
  (Bennett Jones)
• Knowledge Management Lawyer–Corporate/Commercial (Full-time) | Calgary, AB
  (Bennett Jones)
• Policy Counsel Intern–Temporary Position (Contract) | Ottawa, ON
  (Federation of Law Societies of Canada)
• Legal Assistant, Employment Services Group (Full-time) | Toronto, ON

Written by Daniel Standing LL.B., Editor, First Reference Inc.

Employees who are unjustly dismissed cannot simply sit back, relax and wait for their payday in court. They have a duty to mitigate their losses by taking reasonable steps to find work elsewhere. In Wilson v Pomerleau Inc., 2021 BCSC 388 (CanLII), the plaintiff learned this the hard way, seeing his damages reduced on account of his lax approach to mitigating his losses. . . . [more]

A Warning for Law Firms

The first of the quarterly 2021 surveys appeared during April – and the news isn’t good for small and midsized law firms. Note these ominous words from Coveware, a highly regarded aggregator of global ransomware and cyber extortion data, which published the Coveware Quarterly Ransomware Report (Q1 2021):

“The most notable change in industries impacted by ransomware attacks in Q1 was the Professional Services industry, specifically law firms. Small and medium sized law firms continue to succumb to encryption ransomware and data exfiltration extortion attacks. Unfortunately, the economics of many small professional service firms