In February, it was reported that the UK’s Legal Services Board was moving forward with plans to introduce “continuing competence checks” for lawyers. This could involve the regulator obtaining feedback from consumers, judges and peers; making quality assurance visits; and possibly even requiring formal revalidation of lawyers’ credentials.

In my last column, I discussed how the raison d’être of lawyer regulation is to ensure that anyone providing legal services will meet standards of professional competence and professional conduct. In Ontario, this is codified in s. 4.1(a) of the Law Society Act.

But I have long wondered: Is the . . . [more]

The Courts were busy in 2020 with some significant decisions in patent law addressing several substantive issues affecting the enforceability of patent rights in Canada. The following summary focuses on some of these decisions that may be of interest beyond those practicing patent law.

Computer-implemented Inventions – An area of significant an ongoing uncertainty has been the degree to which patents can be granted for software and ‘business method’ inventions. In Choueifaty v. Canada (Attorney General), 2020 FC 837, the Federal Court rejected the approach used by the Canadian Patent Office in reviewing these types of inventions to . . . [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. R v Stephan, 2021 ABCA 82 (CanLII)

[139] Expert witnesses must accept that their methodology and opinions may well be strongly challenged given the consequential role they play in the justice system. But in our pluralistic democracy, there is no place for weighing evidence, much less determining its admissibility, based on how someone speaks the language of the proceeding. It is . . . [more]

For all the lives lost and human suffering experienced as a result of this pandemic, the rapid biomedical response to this scourge has been a ray of light and hope. A number of open science approaches – including publishers making all of the relevant research open access – have led to accelerated genetic sequencing, vaccine development, three-phase clinical testing and approval and a global vaccination roll-out. The open science movement has also been spreading beyond the immediate questions of treating COVID-19.

It is influencing the opening of scholarly publishing, more generally, which is the area in which I work on . . . [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

Thoughts on the Oxford Comma
Neil Guthrie

When people hear I’ve published a book on writing, many of them ask for my views on the ‘Oxford’ or “serial’ comma, in that intense ‘please confirm my own view’ sort of way. The Oxford comma, so called because the University Press has long insisted on it, is used in lists: A, B, and C. Whether one needs the . . . [more]

The title of this post might sound straightforward, but discussions on measuring impact in research can be confounding. 

Much of what is already written about research impact, and many of the tools that are developed to measure it, focus on the STEM and social science disciplines. These tools have been more widely developed and used for scientific research due to the significant pressure in the sciences to provide measures of impact in grant evaluations, hiring, tenure and promotion, and reputation. Measurements of impact can also be used at the institutional level too for university rankings, to support program funding, and . . . [more]

Negligence is determined by a standard of care that a relevant prudent person would undertake, rather than the results that such a theoretical person would seek to attain or avoid.

Although Canada initially inherited the reasonable person standard from England in Vaughn v. Menlove, 1837 132 ER 490, it has developed significantly since that time. It as not, however, made exceptions for mental illness as in Vaughn, but has created a number of other exceptions, most notably for experts and professionals.

The standard set by the Ontario Court of Appeal in Crits v. Sylvester, and affirmed on appeal . . . [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.

COMMERCIAL (DROIT) : La demanderesse aura droit à 320 000 $ à la suite du dévoilement à ses concurrents, par la défenderesse, de ses secrets commerciaux dans le cadre d’un appel d’offres.

Intitulé : Equisoft inc. c. Éditions Protégez-Vous, 2021 QCCS 526
Juridiction : Cour supérieure (C.S.), Montréal
Décision de . . . [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 February 6 – March 12, 2021 inclusive.

Appeals

Criminal Law: Jury Selection Process; Curative Proviso
R. v. Esseghaier, 2019 ONCA 672; 2021 SCC 9 (38861)

The curative proviso in s. 686(1) (b)(iv) can be applied to cure jury selection errors, as here where both statutory . . . [more]

By Lewis Waring, Paralegal and Student-at-Law, Editor, First Reference Inc.

In Sole Cleaning Inc v Chu (“Chu”), an individual’s disparaging social media statements about her former employer were found not to be defamatory. Chu illustrates the way the legal system may from time to time, respond to digitally published statements that disparage an organization that may indeed have negative effects on that organization’s business. In short, Ontario law may allow individual disparaging comments about the former employer and only prohibit such statements in rare cases. This high standard reflects the value that Ontario places on protecting free speech, particularly in . . . [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:

• Director, People and Culture (Full-time) | Remote/Vancouver, BC
  (Ecojustice)