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

You’re familiar with the scenario: a momentary physical flare-up over nothing provides the employer with arguable grounds for termination. They’re arguable because there are no hard-and-fast rules that termination results in every case of physical violence. In a legal challenge, arbitrators pay close attention to anything the employee says to take responsibility for his or her actions or to show remorse. In 2022 CanLII 112111 (CA LA), we see how significant the mitigating factor of an apology-or the lack of one-can be. . . . [more]

While I help law firms deal with a myriad of issues, the top focus of my consulting advice in 2022 had to be Associate churn. So, here’s a two-part post on this issue. First, I want to speak to Associates who are considering leaving their firm. Next, I’ll speak to law firms about how to create conditions that will lesson Associate temptations to leave.

Last year I wrote an article for SLAW called “When Should You Leave” to help Associates understand when it makes sense for them to move firms. But today, I want to talk about why . . . [more]

Several times each month, we are pleased to republish a recent book review from the Canadian Law Library Review (CLLR). CLLR is the official journal of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL/ACBD), and its reviews cover both practice-oriented and academic publications related to the law.

Discrimination Stories: Exclusion, Law, and Everyday Life. By Colleen Sheppard. Toronto: Irwin Law, 2021. 222 p. Includes table of contents, bibliographic references, and index. ISBN 9781552215371 (softcover) $39.95; ISBN 9781552215388 (PDF) $39.95.

Reviewed by Julia Forward
Lawyer
Guelph, ON

Discrimination Stories: Exclusion, Law, and Everyday Life by Colleen Sheppard provides . . . [more]

The Authors Are Detox Veterans

While that heading might seem a little silly, it is absolutely true that fighting digital addiction is a true battle. It took us a long time to realize how deep our addiction was – and winning our battle against the “drug-like” compulsion to be online was not an easy victory.

So . . . if you know you need a digital detox, we hope that what follows with be useful to you. And take heart, there are many of us who have now graduated from addiction to a MUCH healthier way of living!

The History

Prof Sean Rehaag recently published, “Luck of the Draw III: Using AI to Examine Decision-Making in Federal Court Stays of Removal”. This research entered my feed as it pertains to immigration and refugee law. Indeed, the research demonstrates interesting trends related to Federal Court decisions and Stay Motions. For example, Winnipeg has the lowest grant rates across Canada at only 16.2%. For immigration practitioners, I will briefly discuss the conclusions of this paper and my own analysis. Prof Rehaag focused this paper on statistics and his methodology. The paper offers scant analysis of the underlying numbers. The paper is invaluable . . . [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.

FAILLITE ET INSOLVABILITÉ : Le juge de première instance n’a pas commis d’erreur en concluant qu’il ne peut y avoir de compensation entre des créances nées avant et après une ordonnance initiale plaçant un débiteur sous la protection de la Loi sur les arrangements avec les créanciers des compagnies; . . . [more]

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

Employees have important protections under workplace legislation that encourages them to bring forward complaints of health and safety issues so the employer can ensure the safety of all. If a complainant employee is the victim of perceived retaliation by the employer, they can seek a remedy. The litigation in 2022 BCSC 1558 (CanLII) highlights some of the legal issues that can arise. . . . [more]

The use of generative AI to produce text and image has raised many questions about how the law of copyright applies to these systems. There are two important aspects of these tools which implicate copyright: i) using training data obtained from third parties; and ii) the authorship and ownership of the output.

Generative AI typically refers to the use of artificial intelligence systems to produce text or images based on prompts or other inputs. Some popular examples are the DALL-E image generator and the ChatGPT chat system both from OpenAI.

In Canada, copyright is governed by the Copyright Act and . . . [more]

Tab Session Manager Plug-In for Firefox / Session Buddy for Chrome

When I’m doing research, there’s nothing worse than leaving a bunch of tabs open and having your browser crash or alternatively, you want to pivot from what you’re doing or shut your computer down without losing all of your tabs. I have been using Tab Session Manager for Firefox and it was another big game changer for me. It will automatically save my sessions but I can also manually save them as well and then restore those sessions at any time. Session Buddy for Chrome works similarly.

iDissent Firefox . . . [more]

What is the best way to begin a first mediation session? Some mediators start with a joint session (where the parties and their lawyers, if any) are present. Others prefer to begin with caucusing (meeting with each party, and their lawyer, separately). Research in the U.S. indicates that this divide is widening with more mediators using a caucusing approach to open discussions.

But WHY is this happening? To date, there has been little empirical research into this important topic.

The good news is that Art Hinshaw and Roselle Wissler (both of Arizona State University) have recently reported on a large . . . [more]

Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind… never mind. You get where I was going with that. And I thought my English degree would never be useful.

I’ve had several recent strategy consults with lawyers about opportunities to merge their small firms with other firms – some small, some quite large. It’s a tough decision with lots of pros and cons to sort through. I thought it might be helpful for folks considering a merger to set out some pieces of how I run the analysis.

Reasons to Merge

When I talk to lawyers about why they are considering merging, there . . . [more]