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) : Une manifestante du mouvement Femen arrêtée lors de festivités du Grand Prix de Montréal se déroulant sur la rue Crescent en juin 2015 est acquittée sous l’accusation d’avoir troublé la paix en vertu de l’article 175 (1) a) (i) C.Cr.; en outre, l’expression vocale des messages scandés . . . [more]

Research shows that about 80% of buying decisions, from cars to legal services, are made on recommendation from someone else. It’s that elusive ‘word of mouth’ that everyone says is the best way to promote a law practice, but few know how to generate.

The place to start is with your referral sources.

Do you know who referred your firm’s top 25 clients to you? Does it matter? If your firm is doing well, you may not think so. But successful firms look ahead: if your biggest source of referrals has just been taken over by an international conglomerate with . . . [more]

On June 1, 2017, Bill 148, The Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017 was tabled in legislature. The measures amend the Labour Relations Act and include some of the following:

1. Union certification

• Establish card-based union certification rather than voting, for the temporary-help agency industry, the building services sector and home-care and community services industry.
• Make the following changes to the union certification process:
  • Eliminating certain conditions for remedial union certification-allowing unions to more easily get certified when an employer engages in misconduct that contravenes the LRA;
  • Making access to first contract arbitration easier, and also adding an intensive mediation component

Forget the business attire, forget the hearing room, and forget regular business hours. The future may even be dispute resolution in your pyjamas. Necessity being the mother of invention, an increasing need for better access to justice and the means for delivering it means that your home computer, laptop, or mobile device can serve as the place where disputes are resolved.

In Cooper v. Canada (Human Rights Commission), [1996] 3 SCR 854 at para. 10, Lamer CJ noted that the rise of the administrative state has been marked by the creation of institutions other than the courts. While Lamer . . . [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. Antic, 2017 SCC 27

[1] The right not to be denied reasonable bail without just cause is an essential element of an enlightened criminal justice system. It entrenches the effect of the presumption of innocence at the pre-trial stage of the criminal trial process and safeguards the liberty of accused persons. This case requires the Court to clarify important . . . [more]

Lives filled with joy, meaning, and challenge come with stress. The good news? Research has shown that the idea that ‘all stress is bad’ turns out to be wrong. In fact, our bodies are equipped with an adaptive stress response that helps us master the challenges we face as we pursue lives of purpose.

Stressing well is actually essential for supporting our health and vitality. To learn more about this, I had a conversation with the founders of Greystones Health in Toronto, Dr. Joseph Steyr N.D and nutritionist Michelle Heighington. Together they offer an on-line course for lawyers called “Stress . . . [more]

Spring is upon us. Law school exams are over but students are still in law libraries, studying for the bar exam. These students are looking forward to becoming articled students and then lawyers. Others have received acceptance letters and are looking forward to starting law school in the fall. It is the circle of law.

I recently met a future law student, full of enthusiasm and excitement at the prospect of soon beginning law school. He was kind enough to write to me after the brief meeting and seek my advice on what to read to prepare for law school; . . . [more]

Thanks to everyone who re-tweeted and gave other shout-outs to my last Slaw post on vendor demos and webinars. Considering the feedback, I thought I’d continue on with a vendor theme in a few more posts.

In this post, I’ll relate a few vendor horror stories and explain why vendors should never ever ever repeat them. Of course, a caveat: I gathered these from a variety of sources/firms, who shall remain nameless.

But – I’d like to repeat that vendors are absolutely integral to our legal technology ecosystems, and note that most of my interactions, and those of my colleagues, . . . [more]

When the legislature codifies principles of common law, it can be perceived as a pruning of the living tree, helping to direct the law in growing in a specific direction, and sometimes preventing it from growing in other directions entirely.

The area of occupier’s liability is a perfect example of this. The Supreme Court of Canada conducted an exercise of statutory interpretation over the Occupier’s Liability Act, which was created in 1980, in the 1991 case of Waldick v. Malcolm. At the time, provincial legislatures across Canada were attempting to consolidate this area of law in their respective jurisdictions. . . . [more]

One Sunday each month OnPoint Legal Research provides Slaw with an extended summary of, and counsel’s commentary on, an important case from the British Columbia, Alberta, or Ontario court of appeal.

Garrioch v Sonex Construction Ltd., 2017 ABCA 105

AREAS OF LAW:   Torts; Motor vehicle accident; Vicarious liability; Consent of owner

~ Under s. 187 of the Traffic Safety Act, a vehicle owner’s vicarious liability extends only to the person to whom the owner gives consent to possess the vehicle. The owner is not vicariously liable for the actions of any third party to whom that person might then . . . [more]