The Greek philosopher Heraclitus is quoted as saying the only thing that is constant is change.” As lawyers, we often resist the tides of changes, by resting on the comfort of status quo and the notion that stare decisis is written in stone.

The Court in Carter v. Canada (Attorney General) recognized that the doctrine of precedent is fundamental to our legal system, as it provides some certainty, but stated at para 44,

However, stare decisis is not a straitjacket that condemns the law to stasis.

Changing societal contexts and shifts in our understanding of the law have allowed the . . . [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.

SOCIAL (DROIT) : L’action de l’intimé de déneiger son automobile n’est pas reliée à son entretien mais à l’usage immédiat qu’il s’apprête à faire et elle n’est pas visée par l’exception du «préjudice causé par une automobile» inscrite à l’article 1 de la Loi sur l’assurance automobile; comme il s’agit . . . [more]

Following CanLII’s multiple announcements in the last weeks and months, we wouldn’t blame anybody for failing to see the big picture from these individual pieces. I thought I would use this column to recapitulate and give some perspective.

Individually, the steps we took in the last few years can be seen as merely incremental, but the overall result is that CanLII became a radically different beast, for the better of course. This post strings together these individual announcements with the objective of presenting a clearer picture of what CanLII has become, and to show its the increased potential.

Let’s start . . . [more]

The number of workers over the age of 65 has risen significantly in recent years. The increasing number of older employees who choose to remain in the workplace, combined with the elimination of mandatory retirement across Canada, has put into question the issue of the termination of benefits after an employee reaches the age of 65.

While most employers routinely terminate benefits at age 65, the changing workforce demographic has created a demand for benefits coverage for older workers. However, providing benefits to employees past the age of 65 can be difficult because insurers either will not provide the coverage, . . . [more]

1. Ask for help

The best time to seek help is as soon as you get stuck. Just like the nose on our face, it is incredibly difficult for us to see the thinking traps and habits that slow us down much less do anything about them. Asking for help is a sign of strength. Going it alone is just going to make your life tougher.

2. Get involved in their communities

The thriving lawyers I know are involved in their communities. This can be such activities as coaching soccer, singing in a choir, or sitting on the board of . . . [more]

Most of us have received a number of emails pointing us to revised terms of use and privacy/data policies, or asking us to consent. These have been driven by the GDPR, the new privacy regime in the EU.

Facebook’s starts with:

Hi David,

We’re updating our Terms, Data Policy, and Cookies Policy to make sure you know how your data is used so you can make the choices that are right for you.

(You have all taken the time to read, understand and make informed choices under these, right?)

Facebook has been under increasing scrutiny over what it . . . [more]

The City of Toronto owns over three million trees and wants Toronto to be known as “the City within a Park”. The Canadian Women’s Foundation has invested over $40 million in over 1,200 community programs and women’s shelters across Canada, to help women escape poverty and violence.

How do I know these things? Word of mouth. I’m on the board of an organization that receives funding from Toronto Parks & Recreation. The representative who comes to our board meetings is enormously talented at telling us interesting stories about the work of her department—stories we want to repeat. When I was . . . [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. Groia v. Law Society of Upper Canada, 2018 SCC 27

[1] The trial process in Canada is one of the cornerstones of our constitutional democracy. It is essential to the maintenance of a civilized society. Trials are the primary mechanism whereby disputes are resolved in a just, peaceful, and orderly way.

[2] To achieve their purpose, it is essential that trials . . . [more]

In the movie The Man with the Golden Gun, the Solex is a revolutionary device that is meant to solve the 1973 energy crisis. After killing its British inventor, an elite assassin steals the Solex to sell it to foreign powers. James Bond is dispatched to find the assassin and recover the precious device. Because this is a James Bond movie, as a matter of course, there’s also a laser.

Solex also stands for SolrCloud Lexum plugins, the latest iteration of the search engine Lexum deploys in all its products.

Lexum has used a wide variety . . . [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 research, writing, and practice.

Research & Writing

Finding Federal Regulations
Ken Fox

The federal Justice Department’s Consolidated Regulations are organized by regulation title. So how do you find all of the regulations passed under a given statute? Well, there are a couple of ways, the simplest of which is to go to the act itself in the Consolidated Acts, and select the first letter of the title in the A-Z menu. …

Practice

Mindsets . . . [more]

OK, I know … you don’t want to hear about how lawyers should learn how to program. And sure, many of you may not need to learn how to code. But with everything that’s bubbling up in and around the profession these days it might not hurt to at least consider familiarizing yourself with what goes on behind the scene.

If you find yourself agreeing with that premise, then you’ll find this nice short post on Programming Resources for Lawyers on the Ex Libris Juris blog useful. It’s brought to us by the folks at the Harris County Law Library . . . [more]

My last column gave a few tips on preparing for and responding to lawyers’ resistance to new technology. This time around, I’ll write about common lawyer personas – archetypes, if you will – and how to identify and interact with them.

The Brain. “Introverted” is an understatement for these lawyers. They’re rare and highly unique, completely happy to dive face and eyes into the law every day. They rarely interact with, well, anyone, really, preferring to stay in their offices among their books, papers, and databases. They are highly valuable, as their brains are ever-expanding databases of legal knowledge, . . . [more]