The Legal Health Check-Up (LHC) is an innovation that has been successfully implemented by several community legal clinics in Southwestern Ontario. Reviewing the outcomes of the LHC over the past 5 years reveals how this innovation has had transformative impacts on service delivery in 3 community legal clinics in Ontario. The LHC was first piloted by Halton Community Legal Services (HCLS) between October 2014 and January 2015, after which it became a permanent component of the delivery approach. Three other clinics began experimenting with the LHC at about the same time. Hamilton Community Legal Clinic, the Legal Clinic of . . . [more]

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries / Association canadienne des bibliotheques de droit (CALL/ACBD) is pleased to announce that LGBTQ2+ Law: Practice Issues and Analysis, Joanna Radbord, General Editor, is the winner of the 2020 Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing!

Members of the LGBTQ2+ community face unique hurdles, especially in areas of family, immigration, estates, and criminal law. LGBTQ2+ Law: Practice Issues and Analysis takes a practical approach to identifying and analyzing key LGBTQ2+ issues that arise in these various legal contexts. The first text of its kind, it draws on the expertise and . . . [more]

With widespread discussion around law enforcement and their interaction with young Black men, some people have tried to claim that these problems are not prevalent in Canada.

We know this to not be true on many grounds, but one of the early post-Charter cases was in 1997 with R. v. RDS, where the presiding judge took judicial notice of racial profiling that occurred in Halifax.

The Supreme Court of Canada rejected the calls of judicial bias, and upheld the trial decision. Worth noting is that the trial judge taking judicial notice of profiling was herself from the Afro-Nova Scotian . . . [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): L’accusé, déclaré coupable du meurtre au second degré de sa conjointe, devra purger 11 ans 1/2 d’emprisonnement avant de pouvoir bénéficier d’une libération conditionnelle, compte tenu de la dénonciation et de la dissuasion requises en raison du contexte conjugal, mais aussi de la déficience intellectuelle de l’accusé, laquelle . . . [more]

I am delighted to report that it is not too late to participate in the Canadian Association of Law Libraries 2020 Virtual Conference Series. This educational conference is being supported by legal information partner sponsors and there is no cost to attend. Register by following the links at https://www.callacbd.ca/2020-Virtual-Conference

We have some exciting sessions for our final week of learning:

My CALL-eagues and I hope that you are not suffering from Zoomsaustion and can join in.

Thank you to all our sponsors for this virtual conference series: LexisNexis, Thomson Reuters, CiteRight, Elsevier, Emond Publishing, HeinOnline, LLMC Digital, Lucidea, and vLex . . . [more]

Parenting assessments, known as custody and access reports, custody evaluations or bilateral assessments elsewhere, are commonly used in family law disputes in British Columbia whenever there is a significant difference of opinion about the parenting arrangements best suited for a child. However, in the absence of standards guiding the professionals who prepare these assessments, whether psychologists, clinical counsellors or social workers, the methodologies used to assess and describe the circumstances of the children and the capacities of their parents are as varied and unpredictable as the reports themselves. Thankfully, the number of execrable reports is dwarfed by the number of . . . [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 (newest first):

• Managing Director (Full-time) | Toronto, ON
  (Legal Information and Resource Network (LIRN)

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

The recent criminal case of R. v. Anwar, 2020 ONCJ 103 (CanLII) involved a constitutional challenge to various provisions of the Criminal Code dealing with prostitution. The challenge contained a distinct workplace safety consideration: it alleged that the interplay between the challenged sections created a legal regime which was intended to prevent sex workers from lawfully using third parties to protect them and to prevent them from associating with others for their mutual protection-aspects which are natural, expected and encouraged in all other sectors of the economy. Before eventually declaring . . . [more]

1. Is it real?
2. What does it cost if it happens?
3. How does it compare to the status quo?
4. Are there other risks that are important, too?

Whether we have overcome our storied risk aversion, or we have merely been given a more important risk to avoid, the legal profession in Canada is now struggling to adopt technology at a very fast pace.

And as might be expected, success is not evenly distributed. The difference between the people who take this opportunity for change and those who miss it will be how they think about risk.

Here’s . . . [more]

“It wasn’t that long ago in Canada when our justice system put a Black judge on trial for acquitting a Black boy of allegedly running his bike into an officer’s leg – her offence? Speaking truth to power by stating that sometimes police over-react when dealing with Black youth.” – Professor David Tanovich @dtanovich 

In R v S. (R.D.), 1997 CanLII 324 (SCC), R.D.S. was a young person accused of assaulting a police officer. At trial, the testimonies of the police officer and the accused differed in material ways. The trial judge acquitted R.D.S. after trial. The case . . . [more]

Sexual harassment in the legal profession is a serious problem. Anecdotal accounts abound, and empirical data reveals sexual harassment among lawyers to be a significant issue.[1] While the experiences of those subjected to sexual harassment are diverse, there is no doubt that, collectively, the impact on the wellbeing and careers of victims is profound.[2]

Professional conduct rules explicitly prohibiting sexual harassment have been in place for roughly 30 years. The enforcement of these rules has led, in some instances, to lawyer discipline, but has not, obviously, stopped sexual harassment in the legal profession. So, what more should law . . . [more]