One Sunday each month we bring you a summary from Supreme Advocacy LLP of recent decisions at the Supreme Court of Canada. Supreme Advocacy LLP offers a weekly electronic newsletter, Supreme Advocacy Letter, to which you may subscribe. It’s a summary of all Appeals, Oral Judgments and Leaves to Appeal granted from Aug. 18 – Oct. 12, 2022 inclusive.

Appeals

Criminal Law: Hearsay
R. v. Schneider, 2021 BCCA 41, 2022 SCC 34 (39559)

Three questions: whether what the witness overheard had meaning, such that it was relevant to an issue at trial; whether what the witness overheard . . . [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.

PÉNAL (DROIT) : Le juge de première instance ne pouvait tirer aucune conclusion du fait que la plaignante avait accepté de revoir l’intimé avec un groupe d’amis après l’agression sexuelle alléguée; toutefois, cette erreur de droit n’a pas eu une grande incidence sur le verdict d’acquittement, et l’appel est rejeté. . . . [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:

• 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)
• Manager, Community

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

The law doesn’t easily tolerate those who sleep on their rights. In the world of wrongful dismissal, the adage “you snooze, you lose” rings particularly true. A recent decision of the Court of Appeal for Alberta (2022 ABCA 230) illustrates how an employee’s delayed objection to significantly changed terms of employment can leave them stuck with the changes. The court also provides helpful advice about factors that might serve to lengthen or shorten the amount of time an employee has to think before choosing to act. . . . [more]

Every law society in Canada places one key condition on candidates for law licensure: Unless you are an internationally trained candidate, you must hold a three-year degree from an accredited law school before you can begin the bar admission process.

As a result, virtually every domestically trained lawyer in Canada has a law degree, and most of us who entered the profession this way have never questioned that. We assume that, well, naturally you need a law degree to become a lawyer — even though it’s not “natural” at all, but the result of a decision by the profession’s regulators. . . . [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.

Performing Copyright: Law, Theatre and Authorship. By Luke McDonagh. Oxford, U.K.: Hart, 2021. xxix, 202 p. Includes bibliographic references, table of cases, table of legislation, and index. ISBN 9781509927036 (hardcover) $135.85; ISBN 9781509949168 (softcover) $69.75; ISBN 9781509927050 (ePUB & Mobi) $108.68; ISBN 9781509927043 (PDF) $108.68.

Reviewed by Dominique Garingan
Library . . . [more]

Video can be an absolute game changer in your business development arsenal. It provides the same benefits of developing great written content while allowing users to feel a connection with you as a person. It’s versatile, fun, informative and shareable on so many platforms.

If there is one thing that the pandemic has done, it has made people more comfortable on camera. Whether it is Zoom, Teams or Google Meet, we are more comfortable seeing each other on video now than ever before. When done right, video can capture the attention and understanding of your target audience in under two . . . [more]

“Only by understanding the biases of the media through which we engage with the world can we differentiate between what we intend, and what the machines we’re using intend for us–whether they or their programmers even know it.”[1]

Slaw previously published an excellent post written by Amelia Landenberger, Legal Information Librarian at the Boston University Fineman and Pappas Law Libraries. It outlines a research activity where students are asked to find a pair of black dress shoes online. The exercise reveals the complexity behind a simple research question. Students learn about personal bias, what questions to ask prior to . . . [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.

PÉNAL (DROIT) : La juge de première instance était fondée à rejeter la défense de croyance sincère, mais erronée, au consentement invoquée par l’appelant, après avoir conclu qu’il n’avait pris aucune mesure raisonnable pour s’assurer du consentement de la plaignante aux relations sexuelles.

Intitulé : Mentor c. R., 2022 QCCA . . . [more]

Rules that cry out for amendment. The need for simplicity and clarity. The desire to develop “innovative measures to ensure that the procedure in civil litigation is understandable by members of the public, the steps necessary to finalize a dispute are minimal and the cost of such procedure is reasonable.”

Those who watched the opening of the courts earlier this week would be forgiven for thinking that these are the words of Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz. In fact, they are taken from a report of the Civil Procedure Revision Committee authored almost half a century ago. In the last . . . [more]