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. Legal Feeds 2. The Treasurer’s Blog 3. Canadian Combat Sports Law Blog 4. All About Information 5. Canadian Privacy Law Blog OK

Legal Feeds
New report shows how arbitration in Canada is an increasing as a means of dispute resolution

A new report on international and domestic commercial arbitration by individuals and businesses based in Canada shows that arbitration is an increasingly popular way of settling disputes. By “working cooperatively and energetically, and together with Canadian businesses, governments, and institutions, the practice of arbitration will see significant growth in the coming years,” co-authors Barry Leon and Janet Walker said in releasing the report. …

The Treasurer’s Blog
Candidates for the Office of the Treasurer 2024-25

May 9, 2024 was the closing date for benchers to put their names forward as candidates for Treasurer for the 2024-25 term. The election will take place on June 19. Current Treasurer Jacqueline ends her second term on June 28 and the candidate elected as Treasurer will take office at the June 28 Convocation. This year, benchers Sidney H. Troister and Peter C. Wardle have been nominated. …

Canadian Combat Sports Law Blog
Ringside Doctors Publish Position Statement on Cannabis in Combat Sports

Today the Association of Ringside Physicians published a position statement on the use of cannabis in combat sports. (disclosure, I co-authored the paper contributing to the section discussion regulatory issues surrounding cannabis). In short the ringside doctors note that medical literature supports more potential harm from short term and long term cannabis use than benefits. They also note the artificial nature of positive drug testing which can detect metabolites for up to two months after discontinued use which can bear no relationship to actual impairment which is the harm sought to be avoided. …

All About Information
Alberta Court of Appeal Addresses Privilege in Post-Incident Reports

On April 26th, the Court of Appeal of Alberta affirmed a lower court decision that privilege in two post-incident investigation reports had been waived, also opining on the law governing whether the reports were subject to litigation privilege. The case arises out of 2015 pipeline failure. The operator initiated an investigation for multiple purposes, ultimately leading to the creation of several reports, including the two expert reports at issue. …

Canadian Privacy Law Blog OK
Important new Ontario court decision on privilege in incident response documentation

The Ontario divisional court has just released a decision, LifeLabs LP v. Information and Privacy Commr. (Ontario), 2024 ONSC 2194, that should grab the attention of Canadian lawyers who work in cyber incident response. I don’t know whether it will be appealed, but the logic of the decision is pretty sound. But I expect this isn’t over. In a nutshell, after a significant ransomware incident, LifeLabs was assisted by well-known cybersecurity and forensic consultants for the investigation, remediation and negotiation with the ransomware bad guys. As required by the relevant privacy laws of those provinces, they notified the privacy commissioners of British Columbia and Ontario, and the commissioners started a joint investigation. In connection with their investigation, the commissioners demanded to see the consultants’ reports and LifeLabs claimed they were privileged. …

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*Randomness here is created by Random.org and its list randomizing function.