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 manifestant anti-vaccin François Amalega-Bitondo est acquitté sous l’accusation d’avoir omis de respecter une condition lui interdisant de «pénétrer à moins de 300 mètres» du premier ministre François Legault; vu l’absence de preuve de la commission de l’infraction, le tribunal s’est dit troublé par le fait que . . . [more]

After a slight delay owing – we think – to the pandemic, the National Family Law Arbitration Course will run later this year, in October and November, and be preceded by two single-day programs for lawyers and mental health professionals interested in parenting coordination. Before then, an advanced program on managing mediation-arbitration processes in family law disputes will run in May. There are few training opportunities in Canada aimed specifically at the out-of-court resolution of family law disputes, and if this is where you’d like to take your practice, I don’t know that better options are available.

Special program: Issues . . . [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:

• Lawyer (Full-time) | Etobicoke, ON (Kostyniuk & Greenside Lawyers)
• Real Estate Legal Assistant (Full-time) | Abbotsford, BC (Waterstone Law Group LLP)
• Litigation Association (Full-time) | Vancouver, BC (Bernard LLP)

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

As every workplace is unique, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to dealing with COVID-19. While some workplaces have mandated vaccination, others took a slightly toned-down approach. In CKF Inc. and TC, Local 213 (COVID Testing), Re, 2022 CarswellBC 198, a British Columbia arbitrator examined and upheld a policy that required weekly testing for those who refused to be vaccinated.

Background

The employer in this case is in the business of manufacturing single-use food packaging products like egg cartons and foam meat trays that are commonly found in grocery stores. . . . [more]

Why We Wrote This Article

The President of Sensei Enterprises, co-author Sharon Nelson, is a woman. She is involved with multiple groups and associations of women lawyers. For two years, she has been hearing that women suffered more than men during the pandemic and that they have “lost ground” professionally. So . . . along with her co-authors, who are accustomed to a woman leader, we set out together to learn and report on what has happened to women lawyers in the last couple of years and what they now want for their professional lives.

Life Pre-Pandemic was No Bed

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

For this last week:

1. Law Society of Ontario v. Diamond, 2022 ONLSTH 28

[37] From the consumer perspective, it is important that persons with legal issues be made aware of available legal services. Access to justice is advanced by allowing lawyers and paralegals to advertise their services. Advertising that conveys useful information can enhance consumer choice, awareness of legal entitlements and access to justice.

[38] . . . [more]

These days, I’m being asked to do a lot of presentations and training on law firm leadership. People with a marketing background tend to gravitate toward this area because so much of what we do focusses on helping to improve the leadership skills of the lawyers we work with – be if for practice groups, client teams, or simply to improve management of their own practice. I’ve been focussed on this for years, but it’s taken a while for law firms to get here…to understand how critical strong leadership is. Back in my days in a national firm, I created . . . [more]

The recent findings of an international trial monitoring panel in the case of United States v. Donziger reveal the failure of a New York court to ensure a fair trial in accordance with international law and human rights standards. As the panel concluded in their extensive report, critical changes are needed in laws, rules, and courtroom procedures to ensure that the methods of US federal courts match their longstanding mission to uphold the rule of law.

* * *

In September 2020, an international group of legal academics and practitioners (which include the writers of this article) convened to examine . . . [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 Read the Contract Susannah Tredwell As law librarians we should all know the value of reading a contract before we sign it. And yet… For librarians, some specific clauses in contracts to take note of are: Renewal of the contract – does the contract renew automatically? … . . . [more]

Due to social distancing measures during the pandemic, almost all documents during this time were signed digitally, as opposed to traditional (“wet signatures”) methods. Well before the pandemic, electronic signatures have been considered legally valid. Ontario, Alberta and B.C. have had statutes in place for over two decades recognizing the validity of electronic signatures, based on the Uniform Electronic Commerce Act of Canada (“UECA”) model legislation. However, there is still some variability between provincial legislation on how electronic signatures are used. Ontario‘s statute allows for these to satisfy any legal requirement, as long as it is reliable for . . . [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 a commis une erreur en recevant en preuve la déclaration de l’appelant postérieure à l’infraction, laquelle possède les caractéristiques d’une preuve de propension généralement irrecevable; vu la mauvaise utilisation de cette preuve par le jury, la tenue d’un nouveau procès est ordonnée. . . . [more]