Persuasion and law go hand in hand with the use of language that is often very complex. Writing has long been a go-to option lawyers use to build their personal brands. Some of their writing is meant to be consumed by other lawyers while other content is written for client and business development purposes. Writing for a file, however, is very different than writing for business development. Below are nine tips for improving business development writing. Understanding these tips—and the differences in writing styles—will make writing for business development much easier.

1. Have a purpose: Create content that is useful and

I never thought I’d be writing a Slaw column about why a Canadian court shouldn’t try to identify lawyers and litigants who could be “thought of as being” Muslim with the goal of trying to prevent those identified from appearing before a particular judge. Yet here we are.

Background

Recently it was reported that the Tax Court adopted a two-part screening initiative in relation to one of its judges, Justice David Spiro:

1. All files assigned to Justice Spiro were to be reviewed to try to ensure that he would not adjudicate a matter that had any parties, agents or lawyers

We can speak authoritatively about cybersecurity awareness for law firm employees because we give this training so often. Here are some of our tips to ensure you maximize the effectiveness of your training.

1. Take cybersecurity awareness training seriously and do it right.

A significant recent statistic is that human beings are involved in the success of 82% of cyber attacks. They tend to have crummy passwords, they reuse and share passwords, they click on links or attachments without thinking, they get emails which seem improbable and yet respond to them, and the list goes on and on.

We used . . . [more]

The most recent edition of Legal Aid in Canada by the federal Department of Justice reports that legal aid plans in Canada provided 1.2 million free duty counsel services; to people in-court and in-custody accused in criminal courts, appearing unrepresented in civil courts primarily in family court and at immigration hearings during 2019-2020.[1] The majority of duty counsel services were for criminal matters (86%), with 14% of services provided in civil matters. Duty counsel is an important part of legal aid in Canada and 1.2 million duty counsel services is an important milestone. The achievement of this milestone is . . . [more]

On June 24, 2021, in Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle v Baltimore Police Department,[1] the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit On Rehearing En Blanc decided that Baltimore’s use of an aerial surveillance pilot program violated the Fourth Amendment.[2] The court remanded the matter for further proceedings consistent with the opinion. In this article, I describe the technology that was used in Baltimore, review what transpired leading up to the decision, explain the decision, and suggest insights that Canada may take from the decision.

The Program

In March, 2020, the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) decided . . . [more]

The United States has taken the next step in its trade dispute with Canada and asked for the establishment of a panel to examine its complaint regarding Canada’s administration of its tariff-rate quotas (TRQ) allocations for 14 dairy products.[1]

In its request, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) [2] claims that Canada’s allocation of import quotas exclusively to “producers” violates the terms of Canada’s commitments in the schedule to annex 2-B[3] of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). The request was made pursuant to Article 31.6 state-to-state dispute resolution provisions available when a CUSMA party’s rights have been nullified . . . [more]

“I’m glad I didn’t win it in an individual [event] because this just makes it 10 times sweeter knowing that I’ve accomplished this history with girls that are also making history.” – Penny Oleksiak, Canada’s Most Decorated Olympian

The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games were full of lessons – ones of perseverance, patience, and teamwork. There were countless stories of teams having to adjust training schedules, transition to virtual coaching, manage endless health and safety rules, and more. Watching them rise to the occasion was inspiring and had me thinking about some of the obstacles that my own marketing and business . . . [more]

In 2021 the world has witnessed the abject failure of international organizations to curtail even the most grave human rights violations, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide (“atrocity crimes”). The situation in Afghanistan is one case in point.

In countries around the globe, international human rights law is routinely violated with impunity. Many are wondering what “human rights” mean when politicians and diplomats toss out the term with ease while remaining reckless or complicit in the face of human rights violations and atrocities.

Canada must act urgently to match words with actions

There increasingly grave concerns . . . [more]

The Federal Court of Appeal recently took the opportunity to clarify the procedure and criteria for determining whether a summary judgment motion is “appropriate”. Even 10 years after the Federal Courts Rules were amended to include summary judgment and trials, the Federal Court of Appeal noted that procedure “is rather unclear”.

In 2009, the Federal Courts Rules were amended to include motions for summary judgment and summary trials. For summary judgment, the rules (see Rule 215) provide that the Court shall grant judgment where the Court is satisfied that there is no genuine issue for trial with respect to . . . [more]

One of the biggest gaps in the first year law student’s ability to find a legal answer is the professor’s assumption that the average citizen (or beginning law student) understands the court system and the hierarchy of jurisdiction. Perhaps I am particularly ignorant, or perhaps the paucity of lawyers in my family left me prone to mistakes on this topic. Now that I teach research, I think about the mistakes I made in my first and second year and wonder how many of my students are suffering under similar misapprehensions.

This is a common danger for a teacher; as you . . . [more]

To make clear the necessity of privacy as a context for respect, love, friendship and trust is to bring out also why a threat to privacy seems to threaten our very integrity as persons. …

Charles Fried, “Privacy,” (1968) 77:3 Yale Law Journal 475–493

Article 1: Human dignity is inviolable. It must be respected and protected.

Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

Whereas respect for the dignity of human beings, equality of women and men, and recognition of their rights and freedoms constitute the foundation of justice, liberty and peace;
…

4. Every person has a right to

On July 30th, the Supreme Court of Canada issued a decision in York University v. Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright) that the university and its students were not required to pay the Access Copyright tariff intended to cover royalty payments associated with the distribution of the “readings” assigned in students’ courses at the university. While I have commented on the case more than once since it originated with Access Copyright’s 2013 suit against York, after the university stopped paying such tariffs, the Supreme Court ruling ended up hinging on an important distinction in the Copyright Act’s handling of collective . . . [more]