It has struck me more than once – a shock, I admit, to my naivete – to find in a looming figure in our profession – a lawyer whose fame, power, and wealth I would never approach – an Achilles heel, a human folly, a single blow so powerful to the pedestal offering no return, as to bring me to my senses, a la Nietzsche in Ecce Homo: I would rather be a satyr than a saint! What was this discovery? A moral judgment of an inferred vulnerable trait: to step into the office elevator doors on a Monday morning . . . [more]

In a recent Alberta wrongful dismissal case, the court, using the oppression remedy analysis, ruled that the original and successor corporations and the directors and shareholders were liable to pay the full judgment. . . . [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.

No Legal Way Out: R v Ryan, Domestic Abuse, and the Defence of Duress. By Nadia Verrelli & Lori Chambers. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2021. vii, 199 p. Includes bibliographic references, table of cases, and index. ISBN 9780774838085 (hardcover) $75.00; ISBN 9780774838092 (softcover) $27.95; ISBN 9780774838115 (ePUB) $27.95; ISBN 9780774838108 (PDF) . . . [more]

Getting a motion date can be a herculean effort in Ontario. Currently the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has a patchwork of processes for scheduling. Different courthouses have different ways of scheduling court dates. Even finding out which dates are available can be frustrating.

It is problematic and an access to justice issue. Getting a date for a motion should be easy. Knowing how to obtain a date should be even easier. There is some guidance online, for example:

• Toronto’s process – https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/practice/practice-directions/toronto/civil-t/
• Central East process – https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/practice/practice-directions/central-east/civil-ce/ / https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/notices-and-orders-covid-19/ce-civil-proceedings/

The Central East Region has a Calendly process: https://calendly.com/ce-civil. This . . . [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. Palmer v. Teva Canada Ltd., 2022 ONSC 4690 (CanLII)

[312] Given the litigation design and the limitations on the available compensation, the access to justice considerations are not deserving of particular concern. If behaviour management means using the litigation process to give a defendant and other defendants an education of their responsibilities . . . [more]

I’ve previously argued that retired Supreme Court of Canada judges should not practice law. This column considers a distinct type of post-judicial activity: the private retention of retired SCC judges by powerful institutions to prepare reports in response to controversial events.[1] Such “fixer” work does not necessarily (and, in many scenarios, would not) involve the provision of legal services. However, it still raises concerns. As I outline below, retired SCC judges taking on this type of work risks threatening public confidence in the Supreme Court itself. I recommend that, going forward, retired SCC judges should decline such mandates.

What

Algorithms have become ubiquitous in our society, yet they are widely misunderstood. Many of these misunderstandings arise from widespread lack of understanding of the technical basis for what algorithms are and how they function, but even experts often don’t understand how they work, only that they do in many situations. This lack of understanding means that there are both rational and irrational calls for caution as they are adopted further. To balance the benefits from technology adoption and caution, we need to approach these issues carefully and consider what algorithms are being used for and what underlying technology and data . . . [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

Just supposing…
Neil Guthrie

In a recent e-mail, someone wrote What am I suppose to do? That should be supposed, obviously – but was it a typo or a more serious error? It could just be a typo, or else one of those spellings based on oral information only. … . . . [more]

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 July 14 – Aug. 17, 2022 inclusive.

Appeals

Criminal Law: Sexual Assault; Consent
R. v. Kirkpatrick, 2020 BCCA 13; 2022 SCC 33 (39287)

The legal question here is: should condom use form part of the “sexual activity in question” to which a person may provide . . . [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.

RESPONSABILITÉ : Le défendeur a tenu des propos diffamatoires à l’endroit de sa soeur et de son beau-frère dans des vidéos diffusées sur la plateforme TikTok en affirmant notamment que ce dernier est un fanatique d’Hitler pronazi et qu’il a été accusé de terrorisme, ce qui est faux.

Intitulé :  . . . [more]