Negotiation is the most common form of dispute resolution.

I recently heard that about 50,000 actions are started in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice each year. About 2,000 cases go to trial. The rest are resolved some other way – mainly negotiated settlements.

I don’t know how accurate those numbers are, but that’s an awful lot of negotiation.

The difficulty, in many cases, is that parties (and counsel) don’t really understand what they’re negotiating about. It’s not the merits of the dispute. It’s not even the dollars claimed on each side.

It’s the difference in value between a deal . . . [more]

This March, we reviewed the ruling in the Canada United States Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) challenge of Canada’s Dairy Tariff Rate Quotas (TRQs)[1]. The Panel found that Canada’s practice of reserving 85-100% of dairy TRQs for processors violated Article 3.A.2.11(b) of CUSMA. Citing the principle of “judicial economy,”[2] the panel members left it for the two sides to work out a solution without applying the strict guidelines the United States was seeking.

At the time, we queried whether the combination of the lack of a strict roadmap and strong domestic pressures in both countries would lead to further . . . [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

Confusion
Neil Guthrie

Oh, words. So useful, but so easily confused. Back story/background. Recently overheard in the hallway: That’s the back story to the file. Well, not quite. A back story is the fabricated biography that a spy is given as a cover, especially for the purposes of a future interrogation by someone hostile. … . . . [more]

Caitlin Cunningham is a JD candidate at the University of British Columbia Peter A. Allard School of Law and served as a student assistant to Assistant Professors Marcus Moore and Samuel Beswick for the Canadian Law of Obligations conference 2022.

On June 23 and 24, 2022, the Peter A. Allard School of Law hosted the third Canadian Law of Obligations (CLO) conference, held on the grounds of UBC’s Green College. The theme of the conference was The Power and Limits of Private Law. This edition of the conference honoured the accomplishments and career of Dr. Lionel Smith, the Sir . . . [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 June 16 – July 13, 2022 inclusive.

Appeals

Administrative Law: Delay; Standard of Review
Law Society of Saskatchewan v. Abrametz, 2020 SKCA 81; 2022 SCC 29 (39340)

Jordan does not apply to administrative proceedings; it deals with the right to be tried within a reasonable . . . [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 tribunal accorde une absolution conditionnelle à l’accusé, un ingénieur âgé de 30 ans qui a reconnu s’être livré à une agression sexuelle ainsi qu’à du voyeurisme; il a notamment tenu compte de l’absence d’antécédents judiciaires de l’accusé en matière de violence, de son jeune âge lors de . . . [more]

It takes four days for the public to turn away from news of a mass shooting in the United States (US). Within those four days, there will be up to eight more mass shootings and hundreds more gun-related deaths with little news coverage. Meanwhile, lack of effective laws and poor enforcement allow “crime guns” to filter through porous US borders to neighbouring countries.

After each mass shooting, gun control advocates demand that governments “do something.” US and Canadian legislators take piecemeal measures as they twist in hot winds of polarized uproar that pits “gun rights” against “gun control.” Strikingly . . . [more]

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

“I can’t hear you!”

When a litigant hears this from a court, tribunal or other decision maker, it either means that someone needs to speak up, or there is a problem with jurisdiction. Difficulties of the first variety are easy to fix, while those in the second category can be insurmountable. In the labour world, complainants sometimes appear to have more than one forum at their disposal, and while sometimes this is the case, it isn’t always, and the consequences of choosing the wrong one can be costly. In a recent . . . [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 most-consulted three English-language decisions were:

1. Portincasa v Taylor, 2022 ABQB 451 (CanLII)

[10] The Counterclaim is explicitly based on rights purporting to originate from the “1st Notice”, and that claims to enforce the effect of the “1st Notice”. The “1st Notice” appears to make absurd and illegal claims that are Organized Pseudolegal Commercial Argument [OPCA] concepts: Meads . . . [more]

To be an effective advocate, you must not only be highly skilled in specific and substantive areas of the law, but you must also ensure that you are able to advocate your case competently and confidently. You must also be adept at making sound, strategic decisions and are able to think on your feet when called upon. These skills are not perfected overnight.

Effective oral advocacy is a skill that requires constant refinement and practice and as lawyers gain years in practice, they are often called upon to take on more challenging and complex cases. But at the same time, . . . [more]

Bad news and tragedy surround us. The challenges appear to be enormous. Daunting. How do we hold ourselves up and make a difference in these times?

I believe that hope, grounded hope, is a necessary starting point.

Grounded hope emerges when we look at reality straight on, stand firm, and determine to believe that a better future is a possibility worth striving for.

This form of hope is an expression of “liberatory consciousness,” the framework developed by Barbara Love:

“Liberatory consciousness is a framework used to maintain an awareness of the dynamics of oppression characterizing society without giving