Bringing people-centered justice to all will fail if we wait for people to come to the door of a law office asking for help. Justice must be made as accessible as possible by going out to where people live or spend much of their time. The rural mobile law van operating in the Wellington County and North Halton area just west of the City of Toronto is so far showing success in expanding access to justice in a rural area by extending that proactive offer of service, making legal assistance at least more accessible than before. A six-month pilot project . . . [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. Samaniego, 2022 SCC 9

[1] Managing a criminal trial is a demanding task. This trial was no exception. It devolved into a nine-day, highly contested jury trial over a seemingly straightforward issue: whether Mr. Samaniego and/or his co-accused, Mr. Serrano, had possession of a handgun. The experienced trial judge had her hands full keeping the proceedings on track. Without . . . [more]

I teach a class at the University of Arizona College of Law called, Foreign, Comparative and International Legal Research. In my class, I discuss with the students the different ways in which this type of advanced legal research is dependent on constantly moving variables and components. Beyond a handout of the top five sources to consult, I instead strive to make the students understand that they need to create a research strategy, keep track of changes on foreign and international law, and consult a significant amount of non-legal information. All of this needs to be done while always evaluating . . . [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

Womxn
Neil Guthrie

No, that isn’t a typo. The spelling is deliberate, an attempt to decouple woman and women from that male-sounding second syllable. See this article, for example. … . . . [more]

It seems almost trite to say that we are living in strange times. One ‘emergency’ seems to follow another. Indeed, as normalcy recedes in our memories we now seem to have trouble determining if the strange events we confront really are ‘emergencies’ or just some kind new normal.

In Ontario, special measures made under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. E.9, to address the worldwide pandemic have been in place for almost two years. Under the British Columbia Emergency Program Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 111, not only have similar COVID measures been introduced, but . . . [more]

If you are an aspiring litigator, one of the most enjoyable and rewarding activities you may participate in are moot competitions.

The tradition of moots goes back a thousand years, to the earliest inceptions of the common law, where novices in the law would get accustomed to a grilling by more seasoned practitioners.

Although moots are an excellent tool for training, especially for developing and maintaining composure and presentation while under pressure, they differ significantly from the true practice of law in one area in particular. Whereas much of the outcome of a case will be informed by the demonstrated . . . [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.

PÉNAL (DROIT) : Le manifestant anti-vaccin François Amalega-Bitondo est acquitté sous l’accusation d’avoir omis de respecter une condition lui interdisant de «pénétrer à moins de 300 mètres» du premier ministre François Legault; vu l’absence de preuve de la commission de l’infraction, le tribunal s’est dit troublé par le fait que . . . [more]

After a slight delay owing – we think – to the pandemic, the National Family Law Arbitration Course will run later this year, in October and November, and be preceded by two single-day programs for lawyers and mental health professionals interested in parenting coordination. Before then, an advanced program on managing mediation-arbitration processes in family law disputes will run in May. There are few training opportunities in Canada aimed specifically at the out-of-court resolution of family law disputes, and if this is where you’d like to take your practice, I don’t know that better options are available.

Special program: Issues . . . [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:

• Lawyer (Full-time) | Etobicoke, ON (Kostyniuk & Greenside Lawyers)
• Real Estate Legal Assistant (Full-time) | Abbotsford, BC (Waterstone Law Group LLP)
• Litigation Association (Full-time) | Vancouver, BC (Bernard LLP)

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

As every workplace is unique, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to dealing with COVID-19. While some workplaces have mandated vaccination, others took a slightly toned-down approach. In CKF Inc. and TC, Local 213 (COVID Testing), Re, 2022 CarswellBC 198, a British Columbia arbitrator examined and upheld a policy that required weekly testing for those who refused to be vaccinated.

Background

The employer in this case is in the business of manufacturing single-use food packaging products like egg cartons and foam meat trays that are commonly found in grocery stores. . . . [more]

Why We Wrote This Article

The President of Sensei Enterprises, co-author Sharon Nelson, is a woman. She is involved with multiple groups and associations of women lawyers. For two years, she has been hearing that women suffered more than men during the pandemic and that they have “lost ground” professionally. So . . . along with her co-authors, who are accustomed to a woman leader, we set out together to learn and report on what has happened to women lawyers in the last couple of years and what they now want for their professional lives.

Life Pre-Pandemic was No Bed