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

Delete Unwanted Emails BEFORE You See Them
Luigi Benetton

I like exploring ways to improve my Inbox Zero habit. This habit enables me to effectively handle everything that comes at me via email. I do this by: putting the information in the right places, deleting or filing the original email. The email inbox is never the right place for contacts, calendar appointments, tasks or other things I need . . . [more]

Over the years, Slaw has been fortunate to create numerous partnerships with many Canadian legal associations and groups, with the goal of providing a platform for these groups to share their views and expertise with a broader audience. We’ve also found ways to extend the reach of Canadian legal publishers, including excerpts in our Thursday Thinkpiece feature and of course, our Sunday case law summaries from SOQUIJ, Supreme Advocacy and OnPoint Legal Research.

Today I’m pleased to announce a new content partnership formed by Slaw and the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL/ACBD).

Slaw readers will soon be seeing book . . . [more]

Law school tuition in Canada has been a contentious issue for many years now. Earlier this year, Canadian Lawyer magazine stated,

Law school tuition has steadily increased since professional school tuition was deregulated in the late 1990s. According to Statistics Canada, between the 1995-1996 and 2001-2002 school years, average law school tuition increased 61 per cent, accounting for inflation. The increase was particularly large in Ontario, where tuition shot up 141 per cent.

Since then, tuitions have risen, even at schools with relatively low tuition. McGill’s tuition, while still very low compared with that of other law schools,

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.

CONTRAT DE SERVICES : eBay Canada n’a pas commis de faute en retirant l’annonce placée par les appelants concernant la vente aux enchères d’une paire de chaussures alors que la plus haute mise était de 98 000 $.

Intitulé : eBay Canada Ltd. c. Mofo Moko, 2018 QCCA 1735
Juridiction . . . [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 as well as leaves to appeal granted so you will know what the SCC will soon be dealing with (September 21 – October 24, 2018 inclusive).

Oral Judgment

Criminal Law: Impaired
R. v. Cyr-Langlois, 2017 QCCA 1033 ; 2018 SCC (37760)

The Chief Justice: “A majority of the judges of the Court would allow . . . [more]

I have occasionally sought to highlight the activities and histories of legal and professional publishing businesses which, and/or whose people, I admire, or those which for one reason or another intrigue me or about which I may have some personal knowledge and opinions. Among these articles have been: Driving Mister Butterworth – 200 Years of Law Publishing; Tolley – Cento Anni!; Not All Animals Are Equal; Then There Were Two; A Most Ordinary Curriculum Vitae.

One such publisher is London-based but internationally targeted, Globe Law and Business. I am happy to declare a . . . [more]

On October 23, 2018, the Conservative Ontario government tabled Bill 47, Making Ontario Open for Business Act, 2018 to repeal certain amendments made by the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017 (introduced as Bill 148) that implemented reforms and more job protections under the Employment Standards Act and Labour Relations Act. In addition, Bill 47 repeals Ontario Regulation 375/18 dealing with public holiday pay and makes changes to the apprenticeship program.

Bill 47 is divided into three parts. Schedule 1 deals with changes to the Employment Standards Act, schedule 2 deals with changes to the Labour Relations Act . . . [more]

A couple of things you may not know about heart surgery: patients are given “cough pillows.” They use them the first few weeks after surgery, hugging them to their bodies to lessen the pain that comes with coughing, sneezing or even laughing after your sternum has been cut open.

And did you know that severe depression is often a side-effect of open-heart surgery?

Two years ago, CBA President Ray Adlington was recovering from surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm, clutching his heart pillow and too depressed to do much more than go from his recliner to his bed, where he . . . [more]

Periodically on Thursdays, we present a significant excerpt, usually from a recently published book or journal article. In every case the proper permissions have been obtained. If you are a publisher who would like to participate in this feature, please let us know via the site’s contact form.

Administrative Law in Practice: Principles and Advocacy

Title: Administrative Law in Practice: Principles and Advocacy
Authors: Lorne Sossin and Emily Lawrence
Foreword: The Honorable Justice Freya Kristjanson, Ontario Superior Court of Justice

ISBN: 978-1-77255-141-9
Publisher: Emond Publishing
Page Count: 320

Publication Date: June, 2018
Regular Price: $129 (print), $109 (e-book)

Excerpt: “Advocacy . . . [more]

Starting Nov 1 2018 PIPEDA requires businesses to notify the Privacy Commissioner and affected individuals of any privacy breach that poses “a real risk of significant harm”.

It also requires businesses to keep a record of all breaches of security safeguards that involve personal information, even if there is no risk of harm. It must include details of why a breach does not pass the reporting threshold.

So simply dealing with a potentially harmful privacy breach when and if it happens is not sufficient compliance.

The Commissioner can ask to see that breach record at any time. Failure to comply . . . [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. Oakes, [1986] 1 SCR 103, 1986 CanLII 46

1. The Chief Justice‑‑This appeal concerns the constitutionality of s. 8 of the Narcotic Control Act, R.S.C. 1970, c. N‑1. The section provides, in brief, that if the Court finds the accused in possession of a narcotic, he is presumed to be in possession for the purpose of trafficking. Unless . . . [more]