This submission comes from WeirFoulds LLP Law Library Manager Nairne Holtz, who is a member of the firm’s EDI (equality, diversity, inclusion) committee. When Nairne was asked to write a piece in support of legal history and Pride month in Ontario, the end product turned out to be more of a personal account. In the spirit of Canadian legal storytelling, and in support of Pride, Slaw is happy to be able to share Nairne’s story.

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I met my wife at work, a Bay Street law firm, in 1996. You could say we met cute. I was working in the . . . [more]

Nearly three years ago, I wrote here that the use of s. 33 in Ontario constituted “UnChartered waters.”

Given the successful appeal in that case, the use of the clause ultimately wasn’t necessary. However, I was fortunate to appear as an intervener before the Court to note that the potential use of the notwithstanding clause would presumably emerge in circumstances that were clearly pressing and substantial, and asked the Court to carefully scrutinize any such rationale as a result. That decision is still pending.

Perhaps because the case involved the elections of a single city (albeit the largest in Canada, . . . [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.

TRANSPORT ET AFFRÈTEMENT : Le jugement ayant retenu la responsabilité contractuelle d’Air Canada en raison de sa politique tarifaire discriminatoire à l’égard des personnes handicapées ou obèses qui ont dû payer des frais d’embarquement pour un accompagnateur ou pour un siège supplémentaire à bord d’un vol intérieur est maintenu.

Intitulé . . . [more]

Law should be drafted in a way that prevents litigation. Statutes, regulations, and precedents should ideally let people predict the decisions that legal authorities would make, if presented with certain facts. If the “shadow of the law” is sharp and clear, then people can avoid and resolve disputes instead of spending time and money litigating over them.

Often, however, it is difficult to create law that both keeps people out of court, and ensures that the resolutions they reach out of court are fair and just.

Amending Pleadings

Consider, for example, the law about amending pleadings. In the . . . [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:

• Associate, Corporate (Full-time) | Calgary, AB
  (Bennett Jones)
• Knowledge Management Lawyer–Corporate/Commercial (Full-time) | Calgary, AB
  (Bennett Jones)
• Policy Counsel Intern–Temporary Position (Contract) | Ottawa, ON
  (Federation of Law Societies of Canada)
• Legal Assistant, Employment Services Group (Full-time) | Toronto, ON

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

Many readers will remember the Bugs Bunny cartoons that featured an ostrich who would bury its head in the sand to avoid a predator or some other form of imminent danger. It turns out that ostriches do not really bury their heads in the sand to avoid problems, but the cartoon offers a nice analogy to the way the employer in Cybulsky v Hamilton Health Sciences, 2021 HRTO 213 (CanLII) handled one of its employees’ allegations of discrimination. In this case, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario considered the plight . . . [more]

Several times each month, we are pleased to republish a recent book review from the Canadian Law Library Review (CLLR). CLLR is the official journal of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL/ACBD), and its reviews cover both practice-oriented and academic publications related to the law.

The Legal Responsibilities of Healthcare Facilities in Canada. By Nicholas Léger-Riopel. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2020. 128 p. Includes table of contents and bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-433-49172-9 (softcover) $115.00.

Reviewed by Alisa Lazear
Manager, Community and Content
Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII)
In CLLR 46:1

The Legal Responsibility of Healthcare Facilities . . . [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 Russell, 2021 SKPC 31 (CanLII)

[27] I find the commentary by The Honourable Gilles Renaud, Ontario Court of Justice author of “The Sentencing Code of Canada – Principles and Objectives”, (2009) paragraph §3.52 helpful. Judge Renaud is referring to police officers, but I find it aptly gives the reason why general deterrence is required in such assaults against frontline . . . [more]

In a previous column, I looked at some principles behind awards of legal costs and expenses in Canadian domestic arbitration.

In international arbitration the general rule is that the unsuccessful party pays the successful party’s costs. The question, usually, is how much?

The high cost of international commercial arbitration is the main source of complaint by users of the system, according to a series of surveys by Queen Mary University of London between 2013 and 2018. Costs have continued to increase steadily. In large commercial and in investor-state disputes, they can be in the millions (or tens of millions) . . . [more]

A correspondent from Europe wrote me recently to ask if I had any thoughts about unhealthy work schedules and high billing pressures facing young law firm associates. I had assumed this was strictly an Anglo-American problem, but based on what my correspondent told me, it seems that wherever in the world there are sizeable full-service law firms, there are overworked and over-stressed lawyers inside them.

The usual expressions of concern are being made by bar associations and the firms themselves, and there’s been talk of task forces, educational webinars, voluntary programs, and so on. I told my correspondent that I . . . [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

Attention!
Neil Guthrie

The other day I received that now rather unusual thing, a letter. On the envelope, beneath my business address, was typed Attention: with my name after it. … . . . [more]