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

Thanks (Again)
Neil Guthrie

I wrote previously about thank-you (with the hyphen, it’s noun or adjective only – not the actual expression of thanks). Someone I follow on Twitter (@BrendanCormier) identified another problematic usage involving gratitude: thanks in advance, which he calls ‘one of the most insidiously awful phrases in the english language’. … . . . [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

An Apostrophe Catastrophe™ From Someone Who Ought to Know Better
Neil Guthrie

Seen in an e-mail from one of the big legal publishers (there are really only two, so that narrows it down; emphasis added): … . . . [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

Finding Older Newspaper Articles
Susannah Tredwell

While recent newspaper articles are reasonably easy to find (give or take a paywall), older newspaper articles can be a bit more challenging to locate. If a newspaper article you are looking for is not available through the paper’s website, the following resources may be useful in tracking articles down: … . . . [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

Social Media
Neil Guthrie

Increasingly, I’m seeing this with a singular verb: Social media is …, Social media has … While the phrase can logically be regarded as a singular concept encompassing different components (LinkedIn, Twitter and their ilk), I still don’t like it. . . . [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

Fonts: The Forensic and the Forward-Looking
Neil Guthrie

First, the forensic. In Re McGoey, 2019 ONSC 80, a bankrupt argued that two properties had been placed in trust for his children in 1995 and were not part of the assets available to his creditors in 2018. … . . . [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

Gross Negligence
Neil Guthrie

As a follow-up to my last tip, which was on strictly prohibited and strictly forbidden, what about gross negligence? This is a term we have imported from US law. Canadian (and English) judges and authors were not keen on it initially. … . . . [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

Finding UK Docket Materials
Susannah Tredwell

I’ve previously talked about how to find docket information about Canadian courts. If you’re trying to find information about the status of current British cases, there are a few options: … . . . [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

Strictly Ballroom?
Neil Guthrie

Strictly Ballroom is the title of a 1992 movie by Baz Luhrmann. What has this to do with legal writing? The word strictly. Like all adverbs, strictly is weak, even when it is meant to sound tough. … . . . [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

Neil Guthrie

Commas can be confusing, and one of the most common misuses is this: Join partner, Eleni Papadopoulos for this informative seminar on … Sometimes another comma will be placed after the person’s name as well. … . . . [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

A Bright-Line Test
Neil Guthrie

This phrase is frequently used by judges and lawyers: there are roughly 400 cases in CanLII which employ it. Notable among them is R v Neil, 2002 SCC 70, where Binnie J applies a bright-line test to identify lawyers’ conflicts of interest. … . . . [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

Finding the History of a Section of the Canadian Criminal Code
Susannah Tredwell

Unfortunately there is no easy tool that will allow you easily track the changes to a specific section of the Criminal Code over the years, but the following two resources may be helpful: … . . . [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

Permitting and Permissioning
Neil Guthrie

Related, and problematic. Permit as a noun meaning ‘licence’ is totally fine (In Canada, we require owners of guns to have permits), as is the verb form when it means ‘to allow’ (Smoking is not permitted). … . . . [more]