In Custodia Legis, the blog of the Law Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. published a fun little roundup this week about various laws relating to Santa Claus:

“Local, federal and foreign governments are doing their regulatory best to speed his mail and ease his journey across borders with foreign livestock, regardless of his nationality or the emissions his vehicle produces.”

You may have also caught the article Santa Claus in court: From bingo prizes to custody hearings by Nathan Baker earlier this week in The Lawyer’s Daily. Santa apparently managed to get himself into a spot of . . . [more]

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

If you lost your job today, how are your chances for employment elsewhere? Depending on your industry, the answer could range from promising to dismal. In April 2020, when the pandemic was a new reality, the answer could have been different still. At that time, in the automotive industry, people were driving less. New cars gathered dust in dealers’ parking lots. Many thousands of jobs were affected, and sometimes courts were called upon to sort out the aftermath. In Hogan v 1187938 B.C. Ltd., 2021 BCSC 1021 (CanLII), Justice Gerow’s focus on . . . [more]

As part of a holiday party gift-exchange mixup, you have been accidentally given a time machine. Since the Rules of Professional Conduct don’t specifically say you can’t tamper with history, you may now use it to travel throughout all of the past and future. You decide to visit great legal moments along the timeline, because you’re weird.

Respond to the following scenarios with the choice that seems the most appropriate.

1. You are present as the Code of Hammurabi is finalized in 1750 BC. Impressed by your Fitbit, Hammurabi invites you to add a line to the Code. What do . . . [more]

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. Basaraba v. Bridal Image Inc., 2021 ONSC 8038

[26] I initially formed the view that there was no need to write and publish detailed reasons in this case. I have changed my view on the matter not from a desire to single out any of the counsel involved. They are in good company. The problem of parties failing to upload usable motion . . . [more]

The broad powers of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) were reinforced in the CRTC’s Compliance and Enforcement Decision CRTC 2020-196.

In the course of investigation of numerous complaints in relation to a short message service (SMS) phishing scam the person designated by the CRTC under Canada’s Anti-spam Law (CASL) (the “investigator”) issued a notice to produce to Hydro-Québec in relation to 10 service addresses and customer accounts.

Hydro-Québec is not the source of the SMS messages under investigation It is merely an innocent third party that has files that the investigator wants to review to assess the service, . . . [more]

Do we have the right to expect lawyers to conduct themselves “better” or at a “higher plane” than ordinary mortals [😉] (that is, everybody else)? Or, put another way, do we have the right to impose on them what we, and perhaps others, consider to be acceptable behaviour?

Three recent situations involving lawyers make me wonder whether we do. I’m thinking of the expectations some people — I think mostly women — have who believe lawyers have an obligation to represent someone accused of sexual assault and the complainants in a particular way (focusing on the example of Marie . . . [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

Well, That’s Different
Neil Guthrie

The data analytics unit at one of what we used to call the Big Four accounting firms exhorts us to Think different. Do different. Be different. Be different is fine (grammatically and as a matter of practice), but the other two? Oh, dear. … . . . [more]

Pronouns are currently a hot topic in the legal profession, following recent measures by Canadian courts to prevent the misgendering of courtroom participants. Directives in British Columbia now require lawyers and parties appearing before courts to proactively identify their titles and pronouns (see the directives of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, the Court of Appeal, and the Provincial Court). Other Canadian courts have followed suit. For example, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Ontario appellate courts encourage counsel and parties to share information about their titles and pronouns when introducing themselves in court.

Some object to these . . . [more]

I had the opportunity to review “Is Law Computable?: Critical Perspectives on Law and Artificial Intelligence” for the Canadian Law Library Review (46(4), 2021). This was edited by Simon Deakin and Christopher Markou and published last year by Hart Publishing (ISBN: 978-1-5099-3706-6).

This is the short version:

If you have any interest in artificial intelligence (AI), especially if it’s coupled with a desire to learn more about how developments in AI are related to law and legal technology, then this collection of papers has been compiled just for you.

…

While AI continues to seep into many areas

Over a year after Ontario introduced CaseLines to civil courts, nearly all matters are using this digital case management system. But it doesn’t mean they’re using it properly.

An unsuccessful partial summary judgment motion before Justice Dunphy in Basaraba v. Bridal Image Inc. illustrates this problem,

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) : Un ancien adjudant des Forces armées canadiennes se voit imposer une peine de 6 mois d’emprisonnement relativement à une accusation d’agression sexuelle à l’égard d’une caporale.

Intitulé : R. c. Gagnon, 2021 QCCQ 11908
Juridiction : Cour du Québec, Chambre criminelle et pénale (C.Q.), Québec
Décision de . . . [more]