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

Your Queries Answered, Part 3
Neil Guthrie

From the mailbag! Baffled in British Columbia enquires, ‘I have this feeling that I shouldn’t use “hopefully” in the way that I do. Can you shed some light?’ Let there be light, Baffled. The standard meaning of hopefully is ‘in a hopeful manner’. Example: The articling student started work hopefully, confident that she would find the answer. There is . . . [more]

Last year, a friend asked me in all seriousness how I defined success. She confessed that she was feeling unhappy and almost obsessed by her own lack of success.

Her confession took me aback.

She is the most successful person I know. She is an entrepreneur who sold a business for seven figures. She now runs another profitable business doing work she greatly enjoys while also having the time to engage in high impact pro bono investments in the community. She is wealthy enough that she could retire tomorrow with all the comforts she could ever want.

If she wasn’t . . . [more]

The combined effects on Jordan and Cody on the justice system have been noticeable and palpable for anyone who regulars the courts, with 11(b) waivers by defence echoing the halls of courtrooms, and judicial pressure to have matters heard in a timely manner.

The impact on civil matters is even more pronounced. Without a Charter right to timely proceedings in private matters, many civil lawyers have been complaining about an even more pronounced delay in civil proceedings. The oft touted solution of increased judicial appointments obviously comes at an increased cost to the public purse, and so the government has . . . [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) : Dans le contexte de l’enquête et du procès criminel de 6 personnes accusées notamment de fraude, d’abus de confiance et de corruption, le tribunal autorise la divulgation, par la journaliste Marie-Maude Denis, des renseignements ou documents qui pourraient révéler ou qui seraient susceptibles de révéler la source . . . [more]

On 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 (February 15 – March 29, 2018 inclusive).

Oral Judgments

Criminal Law: Sexual Assault
R. v. A.R.J.D., 2018 SCC 6 (37715) Judgment rendered Feb. 13, 2018

The Chief Justice: “The appellant was acquitted at trial . . . [more]

Recent research comparing family law dispute resolution processes from the Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family and the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice provides fascinating insights on the views and attitudes of lawyers in Nova Scotia, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. The report, described in an earlier article by Jean-Paul Bevilacqua, concludes that while family law lawyers view litigation as useful for high-conflict disputes and cases involving risks to persons and property, litigation is not their preferred resolution process. The lawyers surveyed said that mediation, collaborative negotiation and arbitration are more likely to produce results that are in . . . [more]

On March 20, 2018, the Manitoba government introduced legislation that would amend the Employment Standards Code to, among other things, extend provisions for parental leave and leave for individuals to care for a critically ill adult family member.

The changes to the Employment Standards Code include: . . . [more]

It seems that interest in legal data has reached such a level of hype that people have started asking me about it unprompted, which is an interesting development. I had assumed that when I spoke to people about this I was buttonholing them, and that they wanted to be anywhere else and talking about anything else (except of course for Tim Knight, but that’s part of the reason we’re friends). It does make sense that it’s happening now. Legal data is interesting: it describes rules and systems that affect all our lives, it is commercially valuable, and it hasn’t . . . [more]

Canada has made significant changes to the Trademarks Act, mostly to make it more consistent with international practice. Anyone considering applying for a trademark might want to file before the new rules come into force.

What is the issue?

In early 2019 the trademark application process will undergo significant changes. The changes include:

• Not having to state first use dates or declare actual use
• Registration term reduced from the current 15 years to 10
• Adoption of the class system and a class based fee structure
• Proof of distinctiveness needed for some types of marks

Why does it matter?

CIPO fees . . . [more]

In When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, Daniel H. Pink (Yale law graduate) discusses the importance of timing. He references the research done on Israeli judges handling parole requests. The judges were more likely to grant parole in the morning than in the afternoon. The leading explanation for this discrepancy was judicial fatigue. However, when judges took breaks, the difference in the granting of parole requests minimized. The antidote was restorative breaks.

So, what makes a restorative break?

Daniel Pink recommends the following:

1. Take micro breaks. “Short breaks from a task can prevent habituation, help us maintain focus, and

We have said for many years that the cloud will generally protect a law firm’s data better than the law firm would itself. As more and more law firms adopt Microsoft Office 365, thereby moving to the cloud, we have come to the conclusion that a few words of caution are in order when law firms entrust their data to the cloud.

With huge volumes of law firm confidential data (and data from other verticals) moving to the cloud, it is no wonder that the bad guys are taking aim at the clouds. And there seems to be a shift . . . [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. CBRE Limited v 1223962 Alberta Ltd, 2017 ABPC 114

[10] The issue at trial related to the timing of the “triggering event” in which the commission would be payable. The plaintiff argued that the triggering event for the commission to be payable was either when the conditions were waived (August 4, 2014) or when the sale closed (August 28, 2014). Either . . . [more]