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. Hamza v. Law Society of Ontario et al, 2021 ONSC 2023 (CanLII)

[27] The Notice of Application, affidavit and Factum filed by the applicant together amount to over 1,000 pages of rambling, pseudo-intellectual attacks on the LSO and the other respondents, expressions of his opinion on their character and integrity, racist and misogynist attacks on the respondents and the judiciary, arguments . . . [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

Finding WSIAT Decisions Online
Emma Durand-Wood

The Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT) has published a detailed tip sheet on finding WSIAT decisions online. It explains how to search by topic, issue, words or phrases and more. Step-by-step instructions are provided for searching by WSIB policy number, section of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, and with summaries. … . . . [more]

If you discover the secret to success at work, should you tell everyone else? I have always thought the answer was “yes, and see if you can get your breakthrough approved as a conference presentation, too, for your resume.” But this week I’m meditating on the reasons you may want to try some innovations without sharing them, at least at first.

After a year of the pandemic, everyone on my team is dying for a break, or just some balance. We talk about zoom fatigue and burnout in almost every departmental (zoom) meeting. So I assumed that if one of . . . [more]

The Canadian Judicial Council (CJC) was founded in 1971, under what is now Part II of the Judges Act, largely stemming from concerns from the Royal Commission of Inquiry from the Justice Leo Landereville affair.

The Council has 41 members, and in the modern world helps the Canadian judicial system keep up with the values of society. However, the the CJC has faced criticism over its policies and procedures in recent years.

The CJC has released several important guidance documents over the years, including the Ethical Principle for Judges in 1998. In 2006, the CJC released the Statement of . . . [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.

PROFESSIONS : La Cour d’appel infirme 2 jugements rendus par la Cour supérieure — l’un en civil et l’autre en pénal — qui paraissent s’appuyer sur des motifs incompatibles en ce qui a trait aux pouvoirs d’enquête du syndic d’un ordre professionnel et à l’obligation d’en divulguer l’objet.

Intitulé : . . . [more]

Can you spare 10 minutes to help researchers understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to legal services and its effects on the legal profession in Ontario?

A team at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law at Ryerson University is studying how the pandemic has affected legal clinics, law associations, law firms (lawyers, practitioners, paralegals, etc.), and other legal entities.

The purpose of the study is to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to legal services and in particular, how the changing circumstances have affected civil law firms, including their key performance indicators, revenue, costs, . . . [more]

The Law Commission of Ontario has been reviewing the principles and impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in the Canadian justice system for some years. Its three points of focus have been on the use of AI in criminal justice, in civil justice and in government. A report was issued in late 2020 on criminal justice aspects. It was described in Slaw.ca here.

The second report is on government uses, under the title Regulating AI: Critical Issues and Choices. As with the criminal paper, there is a helpful Executive Summary as well.

Regulating AI presents a lot of challenges, . . . [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:

• Operations Manager – College of Patent Agents and Trademark Agents (Full-time) | Remote/Canada
  (College of Patent and Trademark Agents of Canada)

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

The vague yet intriguing title of the case, in the Matter of B, 2020 ONSC 7563 (CanLII), foretells some of the secrecy and confidentiality of the facts behind the matter. The Honourable Barbara A. Campbell, Justice of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice authors an interesting decision sure to please any aficionado of the law of evidence. In it, she considers whether an employment agreement’s confidentiality clause sufficiently shields an employee from testifying about his or her employer in an investigation by the Ontario Securities Commission. Does the clause render the information . . . [more]

In my view, the simplest answer to this issue [videoconference or in-person] is, “It’s 2020”. We no longer record evidence using quill and ink. In fact, we apparently do not even teach children to use cursive writing in all schools anymore. We now have the technological ability to communicate remotely effectively. Using it is more efficient and far less costly than personal attendance. We should not be going back.

Justice Frederick L. Myers, Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Arconti v. Smith, 2020 ONSC 2782

What will be the place of virtual hearings in a post-pandemic world? Can . . . [more]

For all the hardship and tragic loss of human life that the current pandemic has wrought – even as we look for signs of the scourge’s end – it has had, I would hold, a positive effect on science. The last year or so has impressed upon many in the sciences that the more open and collaborative forms of research that mark the fight against Covid-19 will be worth retaining as a better way of doing science across the board. Among the earliest points of this opening, which came before the WHO classified this novel coronavirus, was the move of . . . [more]