Confidentiality obligations are a fundamental part of all outsourcing agreements. As part of an outsourcing transaction, the customer and the service provider each agree to make Confidential Information available to the other but subject, in each case, to the limitations on use, disclosure and retention that are agreed to in the contract. Unfortunately, customers and service providers don’t always get it right and the parties sometimes find, after signing the agreement, that information intended to be kept confidential need not be or that information intended to be freely available is subject to unwelcome restrictions that limit its usability. In this . . . [more]

The problems aren’t always caused by unrepresented litigants.

• The Attorney General of Canada v. Maria Valde, 2011 ONSC 328
• “In the Matter of an Application pursuant to section 29 of the Extradition Act for an order committing the Respondent to await the Minister’s decision on whether the Respondent should be surrendered to the Republic of Hungary”
• [1] The Republic of Hungary seeks the extradition of Maria Valde a.k.a. Maria Ramsay to face charges for conduct considered criminal in Canada, namely fraud. For the reasons that follow, I dismiss the application.
• [7] The test for committal

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I’ve set out excerpts from just-released reasons. The words in square brackets are my comments.

Farrell v. The General of the Salvation Army, 2011 ONSC 317

• [2] The Plaintiff’s Amended Statement of Claim (“the Claim”) comprises 226 pages and 2,589 paragraphs, some incorrectly numbered. The Claim names 62 Defendants but contains repetitions of some of them. The claims against eight of the Defendants have been dismissed.[1] There are currently claims against only 13 Defendants.
• [3] The damage claim is $1,030,681,760. The Claim arises from alleged experiences the Plaintiff had during an 18 month stay at the Hope Shelter, an

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I read with great interest a recent article by Chris Anderson in Wired Features how video on YouTube is having the unexpected effect of allowing people to learn–and innovate–at an accelerated rate. He gives the example of people learning from one another how to dance, developing skills previously unheard of. Take for example the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers:

According to Anderson, many of these dancers were self-taught through Internet video, bringing together tricks and moves previously unknown in dance. Part of this is accelerated learning and innovation, he says, comes from people sharing what they know, so that others who . . . [more]

The perils of a shanked shot reflects a commonly appreciated risk of golf.

While Q&A sites have been around for as long as the web, the last year has seen a tremendous surge of innovation in this space. Quora is one of the hottest startups in the valley right now, and has experts in various fields answering questions on everything from “Why is Dropbox more popular than tools with similar functionality?” to “Why is honey dangerous for babies?”.

LawPivot brings the Quora concept to legal advice, allowing companies to confidentially ask legal questions of lawyers that have registered with the site. LawPivot employs a recommendation algorithm that will match . . . [more]

If you enjoy worrying the ambiguous spaces in legislation, or shaking your head at the foolishness of those who are wrongheaded about interpretation, you might like Lawrence Solan’s new book, The Language of Statutes, Laws and their Interpretation (University of Chicago Press, 2010, ISBN: 9780226767963—also available as an e-book, including what appears to be a 30-day “rental” for $7). His is a balanced, pragmatic view of statutory interpretation and the role of the courts, welcome, I’d say, in a U.S. climate where otherwise reasonable people can say that judges should simply apply laws mechanically and leave the creativity to . . . [more]

On occasion you will meet with people who are connected with a matter but not otherwise your client. For example, where you have met with several people during the creation of a business and will end up acting for the business but not for one or more of the individuals. Or, where you meet with the children of an elderly couple in the course of doing estate planning work. In these cases an “I am not your lawyer” letter can serve to make it crystal clear for which individuals you are and are not acting.

Here is a model “I . . . [more]

York University is the new home of the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice. The Forum is moving to York from the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Law and will partner with the York Centre for Public Policy & Law (YCPPL) and Osgoode Hall Law School on various socio-legal research initiatives.

“The Canadian Forum on Civil Justice is considered a leader in interdisciplinary research on civil justice,” says Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies Professor Lesley Jacobs, who teaches law & society and political science and is the director of the YCPPL. “It is a non-profit, independent, national organization established . . . [more]

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the release today of the 300-page report by the Turkel Commission, Part 1 of The Public Commission to Examine the Maritime Incident of 31 May 2010.

The incident is more commonly known in the media as the flotila raid, where Israeli military forces intercepted six ships attempting to break the blockade on the Gaza strip. . . . [more]

A lawyer’s ability to complain to a judge about the judge’s behaviour in court is about to be reviewed by the Supreme Court of Canada. The SCC will hear the appeal in Doré v Bernard. Gilles Doré was penalized by the Barreau du Québec for his letter to the judge of a case in which Mr. Doré had been counsel. Though the letter was marked private, the judge sent it to his Chief Justice, who sent it to the Barreau. More details are in this story in the Montreal Gazette. The text of the letter leads off the . . . [more]

The Canadian Centre for Elder Law, a division of the BC Law Institute at UBC, has released A Practical Guide to Elder Abuse and Neglect Law in Canada:

This comprehensive resource includes snapshots of the law in each of the thirteen provinces and territories, a comparative table that allows for quick reference, a set of guiding principles for working with vulnerable adults, and sections that discuss mandatory reporting of abuse and neglect, rules around confidentiality of personal and health information, and the relationship between mental capacity and elder abuse.  The guide also contains a lengthy list of resource agencies.

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