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.

PÉNAL (DROIT) : La demande en déclaration d’invalidité constitutionnelle de la règle de common law établie par l’arrêt R. c. Ladouceur (C.S. Can., 1990-05-31), SOQUIJ AZ-90111050, J.E. 90-905, [1990] 1 R.C.S. 1257, et de l’article 636 du Code de la sécurité routière est accueillie; avec le temps, le pouvoir reconnu . . . [more]

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

The beginning of Prince Hamlet’s soliloquy may have had a nicer ring to it, but the above title captures the essence of the issue in a recent British Columbia decision. In British Columbia (Director of Employment Standards) v. Kwok, [2022], the Court of Appeal sheds light on the limitation period that applies to a determination of the Director of that province’s Employment Standards Branch filed with the Supreme Court registry. Forced to choose between three options, the court settled on the longest one, a 10-year limitation period. As it turns . . . [more]

Periodically on Thursdays, we present a significant excerpt, usually from a recently published book or journal article. In every case the proper permissions have been obtained. If you are a publisher who would like to participate in this feature, please let us know via the site’s contact form.

Online Dispute Resolution: Filling the Void Left by Lawyers’ Monopoly on Legal Services and Compelling a Regulatory Reckoning in the Conflict Marketplace

2022 CanLIIDocs 1480

David Rainsberry is counsel at LAWPRO. David completed his Master of Laws degree (LL.M.) in June 2021 and now manages a complex portfolio of malpractice claims in . . . [more]

“I think it’s exciting. Marketing is exciting. Lawyers must embrace it.”
– Tom Curry, Managing Partner, Lenczner Slaght

For legal marketers, building strong, trusted relationships with partners and management is vital to a thriving career. If you’re lucky, you might even work at a firm with a savvy Managing Partner who understands the power of building a dynamic legal marketing function.

Tom Curry is the Managing Partner at my firm, Lenczner Slaght. When I first met Tom, I was immediately impressed by his knowledge and passion for marketing and business development. Tom is a legal marketer’s dream. He is . . . [more]

Each Wednesday we tell you which three English-language cases and French-language cases have been the most viewed* on CanLII and we give you a small sense of what the cases are about. La version française suit.

For this last week, the three most-consulted English-language decisions were:

1. Peters v Atchooay, 2022 ABCA 347 (CanLII)

[65] But regardless of onus, each parent is expected to make full disclosure and bring forward the best available evidence supporting their position on the appropriate Guidelines income for themselves and the other parent. The Guidelines require full disclosure throughout, while s 7.4 of the Divorce . . . [more]

Patent applications are filed, work their way through the patent office, some are granted and after twenty years, they expire. How many patents are actually granted, and now many make it to expiry?

I tracked the 42,000 or so patent applications filed in Canada with a 2001 filing date. All of these patents expired by the end of 2021. Overall, about 43% of the original applications were granted, about 18,000. About 105 were involved in litigation in the Federal Court.

Only about 17% of the original patent applications were granted and still enforceable in 2021 when they expired. About 30% . . . [more]

The Canadian Law Library Review/Revue Canadienne des bibliothèques de droit (CLLR) is currently welcoming article submissions from members of the legal community.

The CLLR is the official publication of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries. It is an open access, online journal published three times per year. Articles typically range from 2,000-4,000 words.

Prior to publication, all submissions are subject to review and editing by members of the Editorial Board or independent subject specialists; the final decision to publish rests with the Editorial Board. Independent peer review is possible if requested by the author. Please view the CLLR style . . . [more]

From across the border, Canadians have been watching the fallout from recent decisions from the United States Supreme Court. In its 6-3 decision in West Virginia v. EPA (West Virginia), released this past summer, the U.S. Supreme Court significantly limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

In this post, we examine the implications of the West Virginia decision: What are the effects of this decision during a global climate crisis? How does the U.S. Supreme Court decision compare to Canadian courts’ treatment of regulatory authority? And more importantly, how do we respond when a . . . [more]

We live in an information age, and the practice of law is built on the ability to access that information efficiently and accurately. Rapid advances in technology mean that the volume of data being generated is immense, and the task of staying on top of it is increasingly more difficult.

If your work involves electronic discovery, legal data and information management, records governance and privacy law, the Osgoode Certificate in E-Discovery, Information Governance and Privacy will provide you with the necessary skills and knowledge to remain at the top of your game. Navigating large amounts of information in the course . . . [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.

ADMINISTRATIF (DROIT) : Un service de police a procédé à une vérification à l’égard de l’appelante relativement à un empêchement ayant un lien avec les aptitudes requises et la conduite nécessaire pour occuper un emploi dans un service de garde et a divulgué 2 incidents, soit une tentative de suicide . . . [more]

Should judges make pop culture references in judicial decisions?

This column argues that they should not. As elaborated below, pop culture references risk being more obscuring than elucidating, more alienating than welcoming, and possibly soon out of date. While judges and lawyers may find pop culture references “fun”, the public isn’t well served by this practice.

For readers seeking a thorough overview of this topic, I recommend Michael Conklin’s recent article arguing that American judges should refrain from making pop culture references in their decisions. Many of the points I make here are shared by Conklin, and his article was . . . [more]

Each Friday, we share the latest job listings from Slaw Jobs, which features employment opportunities from across the country. Find out more about these positions by following the links below, or learn how you can use Slaw Jobs to gain valuable exposure for your job ads, while supporting the great Canadian legal commentary at Slaw.ca.

Current postings on Slaw Jobs:a

• Family Lawyer (Full-time) | Langley, BC
  (Waterstone Law Group LLP)
• Senior Conveyancer (Full-time) | Langley, BC
  (Waterstone Law Group LLP)
• Litigation Lawyer (Full-time) | Chilliwack, BC
  (Waterstone Law Group LLP)
• Litigation Associate (Full-time) | Vancouver, BC
  (Bernard LLP)