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
Co-
Neil Guthrie
This prefix is overused. Certainly in co-conspirator, where it is unnecessary, as co- and con- both import the notion of joint action. That doesn’t stop US legislators from perpetuating the redundancy, however: … . . . [more]
As I write this, there is a very positive look on where we will be in September. Many firms are looking to a new hybrid work model. Companies are doing the same albeit maybe a little later in the year. We have gone from jokes about touching our faces, to complete lockdown, to a progressive work environment many have been asking about for years.
What does this mean for your relationships with clients and co-workers? No longer will you have to meet on Zoom. It will be possible to meet for a coffee. Once again you may “bump” into someone . . . [more]
Each Monday we present brief excerpts of recent posts from five of Canada’s award-winning legal blogs chosen at random* from more than 80 recent Clawbie winners. In this way we hope to promote their work, with their permission, to as wide an audience as possible.
This week the randomly selected blogs are 1. IP Osgoode 2. Michael Spratt 3. Law School Life & Beyond 4. Excess Copyright 5. Hull & Hull Blog
IP Osgoode
The Battle for Chips
Chips are the hotspot in the current China-US geopolitical and technological (geo-tech) battle. By stymieing Huawei’s reach of international customers’ communications and
On Friday, right before Ontarians were entering the long weekend, the Chief Public Health Officer announced that Canada may be entering a 4th wave. The likelihood of a resurgence will largely depend on how many people are fully vaccinated. An estimated 89.7% of all new cases are occurring in eligible but unvaccinated people, even though the Prime Minister recently noted there are enough doses to vaccinate everyone in the country.
Some post-secondary institutions in Ontario are making vaccinations mandatory for all students and employees, with the province considering making vaccines mandatory for certain occupations. Half of all vaccinated Canadians indicate . . . [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 révisable en décidant que la peine totale qu’il imposait à l’intimé devait être purgée concurremment, plutôt que consécutivement, à celle déjà imposée par un autre juge, dans un autre dossier et en lien avec des infractions distinctes.
Intitulé . . . [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:
As I approach my fifth anniversary working for the National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP) I find myself feeling reflective.
I could not have anticipated ending up working in the legal sphere, in the world of “access to justice.” Until 5 years ago I’d never heard that phrase, or had any real understanding of the justice system. My background is in libraries, among other things, and I’d never been involved in any kind of legal proceeding. So although I was well-educated and informed in general, and aware of many social justice issues, my knowledge of the legal world was (like the . . . [more]
Systemic racism can easily fuel discriminatory conduct, but it is notoriously hard to prove. In Ledger v Alberta Health Services and Alberta Justice and Solicitor General, 2021 AHRC 95, the Human Rights Tribunal of Alberta decided that an Indigenous woman’s case was dismissed too soon and should have instead gone to a full hearing. The decision provides a helpful overview of the law on discrimination, the interplay between race and changing societal values, and the prime importance of investigating and appropriately responding to discrimination complaints.
Eileen Ledger . . . [more]
The first years of a lawyer’s career are some of the toughest. These years aren’t only an important time for honing legal skills, they are also essential for navigating into areas of practice and ultimately a firm or organization that is a match for your interests, values, and goals.
In the AMP (Associate Mentoring Plus) program I run, all the mentors have worked at more than one law firm or company. Each of them has a story to tell about making career moves to work in firms, practice areas, and with clients who were the best fit for their interests, . . . [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. Meads v. Meads, 2012 ABQB 571
[1] This Court has developed a new awareness and understanding of a category of vexatious litigant. As we shall see, while there is often a lack of homogeneity, and some individuals or groups have no name or special identity, they (by their own admission or by descriptions given by others) often fall into the following
Not exactly a new subject, is it? And yet the pandemic has brought a new focus to technology addiction as way too many lawyers worked longer hours at home than they ever did at the office, their overtired, burning eyes fixed on their monitors.
As the pandemic receded and lawyers ventured out, we heard a regular theme about technology – “I can’t let go.” Finally, a chance to take a vacation emerged in the summer of 2021 and we proved to be pretty terrible at relaxing sans technology.
Your phone is . . . [more]
While there have always been “vaccine deniers”, or parents refusing to get their children mandatory vaccinations, I don’t think we’ve seen the degree of vehement objection as we have the protests against the Covid-19 vaccines. Yet vaccines have been proved to be the most effective way to bring the coronavirus under control. While there have been “breakthrough” cases of vaccinated people, most recent hospitalizations and deaths have been of unvaccinated people. And so the issue now is, “how about mandatory vaccinations”? Here I discuss the factors relevant to answering this question. . . . [more]
This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada | Ce projet a été rendu possible en partie grâce au gouvernement du Canada