The Mohawk Council of Akwesasne has done something historic. They have created the first indigenous legal system in Canada outside of governmental control, since the subjugation of First Nations by the current government and its predecessors.

The system is comprised of justices and prosecutors who do not have to have law degrees. The prosecutors are required to have some advocacy experience, but the Akwesasne justices will only receive a 10-week training from a law firm once passing the good character and reputation requirements.

The Akwesasne legal system will enforce 32 civil laws, ranging from the regulation of tobacco, wildlife conservation, . . . [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) : L’ex-maire Michael Applebaum échoue dans sa tentative d’obtenir un arrêt des procédures alors qu’il fait face à des accusations d’abus de confiance, de complot, de fraude envers le gouvernement et de corruption.

Intitulé : R. c. Applebaum, 2016 QCCQ 9202
Juridiction : Cour du Québec, Chambre criminelle . . . [more]

A private correspondent writes: “Have you ever heard of any cases on electronic chattel paper that is subsequently printed out (apparently called “papering out” in the biz) and the printed version being considered as an ‘original’?”

Views? What protections are there in law or in practice to avoid duplication of a record that should be unique, or at least have a single authoritative version?

On what basis is electronic chattel paper issued or used in Canada, if at all? UCC Article 9 makes special provision for it, and negotiable electronic records generally, but Canadian e-commerce law has not followed that, . . . [more]

What do you do? It is a seemingly easy question. It may be an invitation for small talk or formal proposal. But how do you respond? What things should you mention? How much should you say? It is an open-ended question that should be easy to answer and yet your response is dictated by where you are, who you are speaking to and what you have to offer them. Yikes!

The basic principle of a good response is to cover as much territory as you can in as small a space as possible. You do not know what will pique . . . [more]

Each Thursday 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.

The Right of Access to Justice Under the Rule of Law: Guaranteeing an Effective Remedy

Graham Sharp, 3^rd year student, University of Saskatchewan College of Law

Winner of the 2016 Christine Huglo Robertson Essay Prize. The Prize recognizes a paper that makes a significant contribution to scholarship concerning the administration . . . [more]

I recently attended an access to justice conference where the majority of speakers and attendees were white men. As a South Asian woman my presence felt conspicuous. This circumstance didn’t feel intentional or nefarious, it was clearly a matter of the organizers working within the default mode. The same default that is common not only in the legal world but also in other spheres such as academia and the technology sector.

This default is currently being pierced by humour and frank conversation. Recently, The Globe and Mail launched a new podcast called Colour Code that examines race in Canada. . . . [more]

So far, so good. My first few weeks at Robson Hall have been uneventful. We’ve had a few full group lectures in Legal Methods, where first year students are being immersed in practical topics ranging from basic legal research to how to think like a lawyer to exam-writing tips. Right now they ought to be finishing off their first case brief assignment, struggling with how to summarize 87 dense pages from the Supreme Court into no more than 6 double spaced pages.

So far, I have been most grateful for the course coordinator, Richard Jochelson. He just joined . . . [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 Vader, 2016 ABQB 505

[687] The culpable homicide of Lyle and Marie McCann is either a murder or manslaughter: Criminal Code, s 222(4). A homicide is murder (Criminal Code, s 230) if Mr. Vader killed the McCanns:

1. during commission of a robbery (Criminal Code, s 343);

2. if Mr. Vader intended to cause . . . [more]

A quote attributed to FBI Director Robert Mueller is “There are only two types of companies: those that have been hacked and those that will be”. The assessment of the Ashley Madison cyber-attack has lessons for all organizations who may face this risk.

July 15, 2015 a website run by Avid Life Media Inc. (ALM), called Ashley Madison targeted at people seeking a discreet affair, was breached by a group or person calling themselves The Impact Team. The personal information of members was threatened to be exposed unless ALM shut down the Ashley Madison and another ALM website. ALM did . . . [more]

Most people today are employees who drive cars and get married. Most people today deal with law only when they are fired, ticketed, or divorced. (It’s nice that the vast majority of people never interact with the criminal justice system.) So most access-to-justice issues have to do with employment, personal injury/traffic, and family law. This is because these are the main three areas of social complexity and government regulation in most people’s lives. When there is no complexity or regulation, there are few access-to-justice issues because there is no need for lawyers.

Tomorrow, most people will be freelancers (the gig . . . [more]

Apps are everywhere. A 2014 study found that there are roughly 18 million apps users in Canada and that Canada’s apps enterprises generate $1.7 billion annually. These numbers have presumably only increased in the last two years.

The market for legal apps, in particular, is significant and growing. Research that I’ve done along with colleagues at the University of Ottawa estimates that there are now several dozen apps available in Canada that purport to help with law-related issues. This number is continually growing. In the United States, the numbers are exponentially larger: hundreds of legal apps are available.

The developers . . . [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 and writing, practice, and technology.

Research & Writing

Save Time: Start With Secondary Sources
Bronwyn Guiton

Here’s a tip I always mention when I’m introducing students to the legal research process: you will save time if you start by consulting the leading secondary sources on your topic, rather than going straight to the legislation or case law. …

Practice

The Efficient to-Do List
Andrea Cannavina

Time is money. Three words which pretty much . . . [more]