Canada’s HST New Housing Rebate program, created under s. 254 of the Excise Tax Act, offers significant economic relief to qualifying purchasers of qualifying properties. However, the eligibility criteria are complicated, and have been strictly applied by courts. To avoid claims based on a client’s non-receipt of the rebate (or on having had it clawed back), a real estate lawyer must understand the rules. Only then will the lawyer be in a position to ask the questions that will establish whether or not the client is eligible for the rebate, and to appropriately manage the client’s expectations.

The rebate . . . [more]

Lawyers practice in a world where technology comes in smaller pieces that are increasingly integrated. Like David Weinberger’s Small Pieces, Loosely Joined, some of the best ways to benefit from technology come from adding incremental improvements. While some software requires you to wait for a feature to be added by the developer, other tools you use every day can be extended thanks to extensions and add-ons created by others.

How to Extend Your Web Browser

Two of the most common law firm software tools are the e-mail client and the Web browser. The predominance of the Microsoft Internet Explorer . . . [more]

Each Monday we present brief excerpts of recent posts from five of Canada’s award­-winning legal blogs chosen at random* from seventy recent Clawbie winners. In this way we hope to promote their work, with their permission, to as wide an audience as possible.

This week the randomly selected blogs are 1. The Stream  2. Labour Pains 3. Meurrens on Immigration  4. Canadian Legal History Blog  5. Clio Blog

The Stream
Pro Bono Going Public 2016 – Volunteer or Pledge Support Now!

In September 2016, over 100 volunteer lawyers will participate in the 9th annual free legal advice-a-thon to raise awareness . . . [more]

The much anticipated decision by the Court of Appeal in Trinity Western University v. The Law Society of Upper Canada was released this week.

Although the court upheld the Divisional Court decision last year, which itself upheld the law society’s decision not to accredit Trinity Western’s law school, this week’s decision was neither a condemnation by the courts of the school or a vindication of its opponents. Instead, it was a commentary on the role of a self-regulated profession, and the importance of maintaining our own autonomy.

The court touched on, briefly, the applicability of Trinity Western’s previous trip to . . . [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.

Jaguar Financial Corporation v. Alternative Earth Resources Inc., 2016 BCCA 193

AREAS OF LAW: Corporations; Oppression; Disclosable interest; Mineral exploration

~Shareholders are only entitled to relief for oppression if they can show they held a reasonable expectation with respect to the corporation’s conduct, and that said conduct oppressively disappointed that expectation. ~

BACKGROUND: The Respondent, Jaguar Financial Corporation, owned 18.55% of the Appellant, Alternative Earth Resources’, shares. The Appellant . . . [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.

CONSTITUTIONNEL (DROIT) : La conclusion voulant qu’une inscription commerciale rédigée seulement en anglais ou en anglais et en français mais dont les lettres sont du même format constitue une violation importante de la Charte de la langue française, tant à l’égard du critère législatif de la «nette prédominance» qu’à . . . [more]

The Manitoba government has responded to the agreement in principle to expand the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) concluded June 20, 2016. Manitoba’s Finance Minister Cameron Friesen wants all provincial and federal finance ministers to take more time to talk about the enhanced Canada Pension Plan before finalizing the agreement by July 15, 2016. . . . [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.

In Search of the Ethical Lawyer: Stories from the Canadian Legal Profession
© 2016 UBC Press. Paperback version will be available online and in bookstores July 1, 2016.

Author: Micah Rankin is an Assistant Professor at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC.

Editors: Alice Woolley is Professor of Law at the University . . . [more]

Most ADR practitioners know of the contributions of Carrie Menkel-Meadow [Note 1] to the conflict resolution field. She is a “founder” of the US “ADR” movement and continues to deepen and strengthen our global understanding of the field.

Professor Menkel-Meadow attended the 15^th ODR (Online Dispute Resolution) Conference in the Hague in May 2016 and published a helpful commentary on her experience comparing ODR with ADR [Note 2]. She began by suggesting that the modern “ADR movement” grew for three main reasons:

First, what I call ‘quantitative’ ADR – for cheaper, faster and more efficient docket clearing from

Nearly a year and a half ago, I got a little frustrated with a lack of progress toward increased access to justice and started this What if… list. I looked at the list again today, because lately I’ve been feeling just that way again.

I have been thinking about what is needed to effect the kind of change that is needed. Does A2J need a knight on a white horse riding in from a neighbouring kingdom to set things aright? Though that could make a great movie (I think a younger Al Pacino might play the knight?) it seems an . . . [more]

The possibility of optimism, Seth Godin explains…

“Is the glass half full or half empty?

The pessimist sees what’s present today and can only imagine eventual decline. The glass is already half empty and its only going to get worse.

The optimist understands that there’s a difference between today and tomorrow. The glass is half full, with room for more. The vision is based on possibility, the future tense, not the present one.

Pessimists have trouble making room for possibility, and thus possibility has trouble finding room for pessimists.

As soon as we realize that there is a difference between

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. Saeed, 2016 SCC 24

[1] The common law power of search incident to arrest is an ancient and venerable power. For centuries, it has proved to be an invaluable tool in the hands of the police. Perhaps more than any other search power, it is used by the police on a daily basis to detect, prevent, and solve crimes. . . . [more]