In less than 15 years in the legal academy, Alice Woolley accomplished more than many do in an entire career. As she moves onto a new stage in her professional life, this post takes a moment to celebrate Alice for all she’s done for the legal ethics community in Canada and internationally.

For those readers who missed the news, on November 21, 2018, the federal Minister of Justice announced that Alice Woolley has been appointed a Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta in Calgary. And so, Professor Alice Woolley became Justice Alice Woolley. With this change in . . . [more]

One of the fundamental premises of a liberal democracy operating according to a particular view of the rule of law is that the police apparatus, while part of the executive branch, must be free of inappropriate political interference, although they may be subject to political direction within acknowledged bounds. Canada is neither a police or military dictatorship; we have civilian governments at all levels. Police have a certain discretion to act; the executive can determine how police resources are used, as long as it is not done in an arbitrary way; and there is judicial oversight of both police . . . [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.

Technology

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Law Society of Saskatchewan Library

You know what really grinds my gears? When I open a PDF file containing what appears to be digitally-formatted text and find that it is non-copyable and non-searchable. The ability to search, copy and paste text are essential functions of digital communications – so the idea that a text is born digitally and therefore ASCII (American Standard Code for . . . [more]

For the last year or so, our Lexum Lab team has been playing around with machine learning algorithms. ”Telling the fortune” of users based on their search history was one option, but this example showed us that it may not turned out according to plan. Instead our team came up with two applications promising to considerably enhance legal information retrieval. And we are currently looking for partner organizations who are interested in trying them out.

The first one is called Facts2Law. Using the latest deep learning techniques, it predicts the most relevant Canadian case law (and eventually legislation) when presented . . . [more]

Part I. The New Deal and Continued Uncertainty

On September 30^th, after 14 months of difficult talks, Canada and the United States announced the successful completion of their NAFTA re-negotiations. Whether the latest U.S. deadline was “real” or not, it is likely that both the Trump Administration’s threat that it would proceed with a U.S-Mexico agreement without Canada and the risk for the United States that such a bilateral deal would not pass Congressional review spurred both countries to make the last minute concessions that led to agreement in principle on the renamed United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (“USMCA . . . [more]

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Surely the winter holiday season wouldn’t be complete without the annual list of the most viewed cases from CanLII in the prior year. We’re not sure what legal information tidbit would complete other holidays, but we’re open to suggestions. Over recent years we have been averaging over 30,000 site visits per day on CanLII.org, and we are grateful for the ongoing support of the legal community and the trust Canadians place in us for their legal research needs. Interestingly no case released in 2018 made the top ten list. It will remain to be seen if this year has been . . . [more]

The Toronto municipal election earlier this year has attracted nation-wide scrutiny given the changes to council size and invocation of s. 33 in Bill 31. In an election already marred by confusion and uncertainty, there has also been some controversy around the candidates involved. One mayoral candidate, Faith Goldy, who has received a disproportionate amount of attention online, is described by The Globe as “a troubling extremist” and “manipulative monomaniac.” She is generally assumed to reflect the views of the growing “alt-right” across Canada, and as a result, many debate organizers have deliberately excluded her from events. Goldy’s . . . [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 devait appliquer un ratio de 1 jour pour chaque jour passé en détention provisoire, en application de l’article 719 (3.1) C.Cr. in fine, la constitutionnalité de cette disposition n’ayant pas fait l’objet d’un jugement d’un tribunal supérieur québécois. Intitulé : R. . . . [more]

In Canada, the available sets of arbitration rules are designed for corporate-commercial disputes and general civil disputes. None are designed for family law disputes, which is especially problematic in jurisdictions like British Columbia, where the Arbitration Act specifies the rules that will be used absent the parties’ agreement to the contrary. Those rules, by the way, are the domestic rules of the BC International Commercial Arbitration Centre, which are hardly ideal for family law disputes and require hefty payments to the Centre. As a result, in many jurisdictions lawyers taking a case to arbitration simply adopt the local rules . . . [more]

Whenever I see billboard or TV advertising for law firms, I worry. I don’t worry about the “dignity” of the legal profession; I worry about the people at whom these ads are targeted. Choosing the best possible firm can make a major difference in the long-term happiness and financial security of a person with a serious personal plight legal need (e.g. a personal injury, a divorce, or a criminal charge). Mass media ads almost never provide any useful information that would help someone in this position make an intelligent choice. The airbrushed photos, empty boasts, and gleaming boardrooms in these . . . [more]

On December 6, 2018, the Ontario Conservative government introduced Bill 66 – An Act to restore Ontario’s competitiveness by amending or repealing certain Acts in the legislature. Bill 66 impacts several employment and labour related laws, such as the Employment Standards Act, 2000 and the Labour Relations Act, 1995. This blog post outlines the Bill 66 changes and my thoughts on these continuous employment and labour law government driven changes. . . . [more]