Derek Lacroix, QC has been at the helm of the Lawyers Assistance Program of British Columbia (LAPBC) since December, 1996. LAPBC provides confidential outreach, education, support and referrals to distressed members of the bar. Their clients and volunteers include judges, lawyers, articling students, paralegals, legal assistants, support staff and other members of the legal community.

How have the stresses, issues or crises that LAPBC assists with changed in recent years?

The nature of the issues has changed, as has the range. Take alcohol addiction for example. We saw a lot of severe crises associated with substance abuse and addiction in . . . [more]

This article is by Nora Rock, corporate writer & policy analyst at LAWPRO.

Recreational properties present a unique set of challenges. Here are some issues to keep in mind when obtaining title insurance policies for your clients’ purchases of recreational properties, to help ensure your clients’ interests are protected.

Legal description: If the property was created years ago, the thumbnail description on the PIN may be brief, for instance, “as in instrument 123456,” but the actual description in that instrument can be long and complex. It may have multiple elements: “Firstly,” “Secondly” and more. Older descriptions may not refer . . . [more]

Canada’s HST New Housing Rebate program, created under s. 254 of the Excise Tax Act, offers significant economic relief to qualifying purchasers of qualifying properties. However, the eligibility criteria are complicated, and have been strictly applied by courts. To avoid claims based on a client’s non-receipt of the rebate (or on having had it clawed back), a real estate lawyer must understand the rules. Only then will the lawyer be in a position to ask the questions that will establish whether or not the client is eligible for the rebate, and to appropriately manage the client’s expectations.

The rebate . . . [more]

Peer-to-peer rental networking sites, such as Airbnb and VRBO, provide homeowners with the tools with which to rent out all or part of their properties on a short-term basis. Homeowners may wish to rent out their properties occasionally in order to supplement their income, or they may have purchased the property entirely for income purposes. On its face, this seems like a simple way for a homeowner to make additional income. Only it is not that simple.

Although there is an almost infinite variety of types of rentals facilitated by peer-to-peer rental sites (rooms, apartments within homes, entire homes, condominium . . . [more]

On June 6, 2016, the Ontario government announced that changes to the Customer Service Standard under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) will come into force on July 1, 2016, and apply to all organizations providing goods, services or facilities in the province. . . . [more]

In Ontario most court documents are filed in paper, with e-filing appearing mostly to be a distant dream. Similarly, court documents, other than originating documents, tend to be served by fax and not by email. Everyone loves that fax confirmation page despite the fact that emails can come with a read receipt.

So should we be allowed to communicate with the court through email? Should the court be encouraged to communicate with litigants via email?

Email is a blessing and a curse. It is easy to use. It is fast. It is convenient. But on the other hand, important emails . . . [more]

This article is by Ian Hu, Claims Prevention and practicePRO Counsel at LAWPRO.

I recently spoke about preparing your client for trial and avoiding a malpractice claim at the Advocates’ Society “Practice Essentials: Managing Your Way to Trial Success” CPD chaired by Emily C. Cole and Norm J. Emblem. The CPD spurred us to create a Client Trial Preparation Checklist to help you cover the bases with your clients. I hope the thoughts below are helpful.

As you prepare for trial, the tendency may be to overlook your client. After all, you have an opening to prepare for, statements of . . . [more]

“Here I make an intelligent being out of a bunch of old wires, switches and grids, and instead of some honest advice I get technicalities! You cheap cybernetic shyster, I’ll teach you to trifle with me!”
And he turned the pot over, shook everything out onto the table, and pulled it apart before the lawyer had a chance to appeal the proceedings.

– The Cyberiad

Happy Monday! Like F. Tim Knight, I am getting back on the “blogwagon” this morning with an overdue post… also about AI following the session I was a panelist on at the recent Canadian . . . [more]

The Legal Marketing Association recently hosted its annual conference on project management, process improvement and pricing (P3) in Chicago. Billed as a forum where innovative practice management approaches are shared, the event continues to showcase progressive ideas and practical experiences from firms transforming the business of law.

It’s wise to take any presentation of best practices with a proverbial grain of salt. But you also have to give credit to those who proactively invest in new ideas and risk failure. That’s something we don’t see enough of in law.

Here are some of the ideas heard at this year’s P3 . . . [more]

We are excited to announce the recent publication, by Lexis-Nexis Canada Inc., of The Law of Limitations, Third Edition. The first two editions were written prior to the coming into force of the Limitations Act, 2002, so this new edition is the first to cover cases decided under the new Ontario regime.

Although Ontario cases receive the most coverage, the scope of the text is Canada-wide. Since publication of the second edition, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia have fundamentally reformed their limitations regimes, and this edition brings readers up-to-date on the related jurisprudence.

The third . . . [more]

The Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench has recently held that a party who held relevant electronic records must produce them in native format, rather than in TIFF format, although producing them in native format (in this case, Excel) could take six months’ work and cost $50,000. Alberta and Canadian law were admitted to require that such production be proportional to the stakes in the dispute and not unduly burdensome, but ordering the production in this case was held to satisfy those tests.

Bard v Canadian Natural Resources, 2016 ABQB 267 (CanLII)

This despite a litigation plan that contemplated production . . . [more]

In Quebec, to practise a profession or hold a professional title governed by the Professional Code, a person must have a permit and be a member in good standing of the professional order that governs the exercise of the profession. Quebec has 46 professional orders that supervise the practice of 54 regulated professions.

In response to recommendations in the Charbonneau Commission report on granting and management of public contracts in the construction industry, on May 11, 2016, the Quebec government tabled Bill 98, An Act to amend various legislation mainly with respect to admission to professions and the governance of . . . [more]